Appointment Policy Questions and Answers

General

Q. How does the new appointment process differ from the old?

A. The new legislation is less prescriptive and eliminates most of the procedural aspects of the current legislation. This means that deputies have much more flexibility to develop the types of processes that best meet their organization's strategic objectives and HR plans. At the same time, the legislation (PSEA s.16) requires that deputy heads respect Commission policy in exercising their delegated authorities.

Q. What is the most significant difference between the current and future systems?

A. In addition to the flexibility inherent in the legislation, the most significant difference is the increased emphasis on HR planning in the appointment process. The new system is not only about staffing vacant positions but using planning so that positions that have been identified as future vacancies can be filled more quickly. Where specific vacancies have not been forecast, HR planning can speed staffing by identifying current and future organizational needs which will be used to fill positions in the future. In the new system, understanding your appointment needs is essential. Without HR planning, organizations won't be able to fully access the flexibility inherent in the new Act. HR planning is also important in order to be able to support appointment decisions in front of the PSST.

Q. Why do we have different terminology - "policy" in English and "lignes directrices" in French?

A. We have used the language of the legislation, particularly PSEA s.16, which states that deputy heads are subject to any policies established by the Commission. The legislation translates "policies" as "lignes directrices".

Q. How did the PSC decide on where policies were needed?

A. Once the legislation was passed, a series of internal risk assessment sessions took place to identify key decision points in the appointment process and determine where direction was required, for example in new areas like informal discussion or complex areas like area of selection. While the Commission won't be establishing policy which dictates the selection process itself, policy was developed to support those common decision points and overarching issues (such as Employment Equity and Official Languages) that all organizations will face throughout appointment processes.

Q. Do deputy heads have to develop policy for all the stages of the appointment process?

A. No. Deputy heads are required to develop policy on Area of Selection and Corrective Action and Revocation. When they are developing their appointment system, they may also decide that other internal policies or guidelines are necessary for their organization.

Q. Do organizational policies have to look like PSC policies?

A. No. The PSC will be providing guides to developing organizational policy, but deputy heads will decide what is appropriate based on Commission direction and their business needs.

Q. How formal do organizational policies have to be?

A. The degree of formality will depend on the organization, but each policy must include those requirements identified in the PSC appointment policies. For example, a policy for a small organization might be less formal than for a larger organization because it has fewer levels of management or is less geographically dispersed.

Q. How free will organizations really be to set up their policies, processes, tools, etc.? What will the PSC be telling us to do?

A. Organizations will be free to set up their own policies, processes and tools as long as they respect the legislation and Commission policies. For example, there are some basic values such as fairness, transparency and access, and steps such as assessment and selection, that will have to be respected when making appointments. Commission policies will provide a general framework, within which organizations will have a great deal of room to customize their own approach.

Q. Will the PSC develop prototype policies for organizations to use so we don't all have to develop them from scratch? Why not?

A. No. One of the purposes of the new legislation is to provide flexibility to meet the needs of individual organizations, which is not possible if policies are set centrally by the PSC. Policies can be tailored to meet specific organizational needs.

This does not mean organizations all have to develop their policies from scratch. Groups such as the National Staffing Council and Council of small agencies have already discussed the need to share ideas and models as they are developed and the deputy head sub-committee on Staffing Models and Tools has started work on various staffing models.

Q. What will happen to the existing Exclusion Approval Orders (EAOs) when the new Act comes into effect?

A. The PSC is in the process of reviewing all EAOs to determine whether they are still necessary, and are the most appropriate way of achieving the purpose for which they were enacted. Consultation will take place before amendments are made or EAOs are revoked.

Q. What is the status of the current Staffing Manual?

A. The current Staffing Manual will continue to be in effect until the new legislation comes into force. At that time, it will only continue to apply to those actions begun under the old PSEA. The majority of information in the current manual will no longer apply under the new legislation. Any appointment actions begun after the PSEA 2003 comes into force must adhere to the new appointment policy framework. The format and content of support material for the PSEA 2003 are being developed.