Message from the President: the New PSC

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This has been a year of change for the public service, and especially, for the HR community. The Public Service Commission is no exception. We have a new president, new commissioners and, most importantly, new legislation for the management of human resources. Now that the new Public Service Employment Act is being implemented, we're ready for a new era in public service staffing. Are you?
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Audit at the PSC

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Implementing the New PSEA

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News from the PSC

ISSN 1712-8749 INFO-PSC

Message from the President: the New PSC

Welcome to the first issue of the new Public Service Commission (PSC) newsletter, INFO-PSC. In the months to come, I hope that you will take the time to read and subscribe to this publication to get all the latest news and useful information from the independent agency that protects non-partisanship and safeguards the integrity of staffing in the Public Service of Canada.

I can't think of a better time to offer this newsletter to you. After all, the Public Service is changing — especially for those of us who manage human resources.

The Public Service Modernization Act received Royal Assent in November 2003, putting in place new legislation to govern how staffing is done and overseen in the federal Public Service. This is good news. Now we can start doing things differently.

The PSC, as an organization, has already changed under this new legislation. Provisions creating a new Public Service Commission are in place and a new Commission has been appointed. (Please take a moment to read about our new Commissioners' distinguished careers). Our organization will continue to change as we work with departments and agencies to implement the new Act by December 2005.

For example, by April of 2005, we will create a quasi-autonomous service agency within the PSC, so that we may continue providing recruitment and assessment services to departments.

At the same time, as the "new" PSC, we are responsible for overseeing the integrity of the appointment process. One of our first challenges is to implement an effective oversight program under the new legislation. To start, we have developed new vision and mission statements to better reflect our new mandate.

We are communicating with departments about what we expect their hiring practices to be, namely: fair, transparent and accessible to Canadians. We are developing an appointment framework to guide departments as they create staffing policies that meet their specific needs and support these key values. In addition, we are rebuilding our audit capacity and updating our accountability and monitoring programs.

In the midst of these changes, we remain committed to promoting employment equity and achieving a Public Service that reflects the diversity of Canadian society. Last spring, we launched a new Framework for Employment Equity Programs to assist departments and agencies in achieving a representative Public Service.

We continue to report to Parliament on the health of the staffing system. Last October, we tabled our 2003-2004 Annual Report. On the whole, we found that the Public Service staffing values and management principles are being respected and that managers are appointing competent employees within a complex and often cumbersome system. We believe that the new legislation offers departments and agencies the opportunity and flexibility to improve the operation of the new system and address some long-standing issues that we have observed in the staffing system for a number of years. For example, the PSC has long noted the importance of human resources planning. Many departments continue to come up short in this area, leading to a continued reliance on short-term and casual hiring. We are also concerned about the under-use of valuable programs like the Post-Secondary Recruitment Program.

The PSC, with its strengthened responsibility for oversight of the staffing system, will closely monitor how federal organizations use this opportunity to take their extended authorities and address these and other issues.

These are some of the changes underway at the PSC that will affect staffing throughout the Public Service. I feel strongly that these are positive changes, signalling our arrival on the threshold of a better staffing system. Those of us who have been managing human resources in the Public Service know that it hasn't been easy. For years, managers and HR professionals have been struggling to manage the often overwhelming day-to-day demands of their jobs, rushing from one transaction to the next, with little or no time to strategize about how to meet future demands.

The bad news is that there will always be daily pressures that distract us from the big picture. The good news is that, under the new legislation, we have more choices for how we cope and a requirement to do better planning. We have the opportunity to innovate using the flexibilities allowed under the new staffing regime (read Moving Forward on the New PSEA).

My hope is that this newsletter will give you some of the knowledge and support necessary to do just that.

Maria Barrados, PhD

Budget 2005-2006 - Priority Administration

On February 23, 2005, the Government tabled the 2005-2006 Federal Budget. The Budget, and the Expenditure Review it contains, sets out some big changes for the Public Service that will affect many departments and employees. While it will be some time before the full impact on the workforce is determined, the fact remains that some jobs will be affected. The Public Service Commission (PSC) will play a role in assisting the departments and public servants who are touched by this restructuring.

Employees whose jobs are relocated, eliminated or outsourced will become eligible for status as priority employees. A priority employee is one who is entitled, by the Public Service Employment Act and the Public Service Employment Regulations, to be appointed ahead of all others to any position in the Public Service for which they are deemed qualified. There are several types of priorities, including persons whose positions have been declared surplus or those who have been laid off by their department.

The PSC uses a national, interdepartmental and on-line inventory, called the Priority Administration System, to match priority persons with vacant positions. Departments register their priority persons in the inventory and must search the inventory prior to staffing any vacant positions in their organization. The System screens and refers to departments all priority persons potentially qualified for their position. Once a priority person is referred to them, departments must assess the candidate and, if found qualified, appoint them ahead of all others.

The PSC follows the progress of its priority referrals and monitors results. We also provide departments with information and training on priority administration.

Changes in the workplace are never easy. To make this transition as smooth as possible, the PSC will offer its expertise to employees displaced by the process. The PSC counsels priority persons on a number of topics, including: their entitlements, the PSC referral process, and, in the case of surplus or lay-off priority persons, the effect of the Work Force Adjustment Directive on priority entitlements.

We have sent a letter to Heads of Human Resources informing them of the PSC's role in priority administration and encouraging them to share this information with employees.

Recent Audits - What We've Learned

Our recent audits of the Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), revealed a number of problems in the management of human resources in these two small organizations. More importantly, we learned a number of lessons that we want to share with all departments and agencies.

Lesson #1: The strategic planning of human resources activities must be part of the business planning process, even in small organizations.

Canadians expect and deserve a competent Public Service that is appointed without bias on the basis of merit in a way that is fair, transparent and equitable. Therefore, doing human resources right is essential to delivering your mandate. Management needs to play a strong role in this function.

Some problems uncovered by our audits were brought about by a lack of strategic planning and/or the lack of an adequate staffing framework

A lack of strategic HR planning leads to ad hoc staffing— the kind that is time-pressured and puts the staffing values at risk.

The truth is, all organizations - both large and small - need a staffing framework. It is within this framework that effective HR planning can take place. A good staffing framework - consisting of plans, policies, monitoring and clear roles and responsibilities - puts your organization in the position to successfully carry out staffing activities, even when operational pressures are high. It allows departments to conduct processes that are fair and transparent, and provides the opportunity to be open and honest with employees about staffing actions from the outset.

Lesson #2: Staffing values need to be an inherent part of the culture of an organization.

Senior managers and those at the working levels must all be committed to the staffing values.

Sometimes problems stem from a lack of knowledge of the staffing values at various levels of the organization. Following our audit reports, employees at both the OPC and the MPCC received training on the staffing values. However, training is just one part of the solution and can only be considered effective if it results in a change in behaviour throughout the organization.

Lesson #3: All staffing activities must be properly documented.

In many cases, the PSC was unable to confirm that the staffing values were upheld in staffing actions, simply because the documentation to do so did not exist. It is impossible for our auditors to determine if merit was respected in staffing activities, if these activities are not adequately documented. While other evidence may be very helpful, official documents are generally the most reliable.

In 2002, the PSC sent a letter to Heads of Human Resources alerting them to our concern about the lack of staffing documentation in departments. Our two recent audits of the MPCC and the OPC revealed that this may still be a problem. The PSC's Audit Branch is conducting an ad hoc file review to determine what progress has been made by departments on this issue.

Lesson #4: Everyone must understand their role and responsibility in managing human resources.

Everyone has a role to play in managing human resources well. Managers need to act in keeping with the staffing values. Human resources advisors need to advise managers on how to conduct their staffing activities to ensure they respect the values and the merit principle. Deputy Heads are accountable for these activities. They need to paint an accurate and complete picture of the most significant issues facing their organizations in their Staffing Accountability Reports.

Poor staffing performance has repercussions, up to and including the removal of delegated authority to carry out appointments. The staffing values are in place to help departments hire the best candidates to fulfill their mandates — failing to uphold these values in staffing actions means that you may not get the best employee for the job. Recognizing the gravity and importance of this, the PSC has committed to making the terms and conditions of our delegation agreements with departments more explicit, to ensure that departments fully understand what is expected. This process is already underway and we expect a new delegation instrument to be in place by December 2005, in time for the implementation of the new PSEA.

Moving Forward on the New PSEA - Focus on Staffing Events

With the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) set to come into force in December 2005, we have a lot of work to do to get ready for a new era in staffing. The Public Service Commission (PSC), the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC) and the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) got the ball rolling last summer by launching a series of events called Moving Forward on the New PSEA: Focus on Staffing.

This series was held to inform departments and other stakeholders, including unions, of what to expect with the new appointment framework. More importantly, these events were an opportunity to receive feedback on the proposed framework, as departments prepare to develop their own staffing policies under the new legislation.

The introductory event was held on June 9, 2004 and was attended by over 300 delegates from 70 organizations. The second session, held on September 29 and 30, 2004, was by invitation only and initiated a more in-depth exploration of the implications of the new appointment framework and employer policies.

Finally, the last event was held on November 9 and 10, 2004. Delegates shared preliminary feedback from their departments and heard presentations on the specifics of implementation. Delegates were asked to provide final written feedback from their departments for December 1st, 2004.

In addition, the PSC has been consulting with executives across the country as part of the Association of Professional Executives annual consultation process.

The PSC, PSHRMAC and the CSPS are reviewing the comments received with a view to making changes before officially launching the new appointment framework in the Spring of 2005. For further information on any of the Moving Forward on the New PSEA: Focus on Staffing events, please consult the the conference materials which are posted on the PSEA Web site.

The New Appointment Framework

Next spring, the Public Service will have a new appointment framework. This framework will guide departments in determining how to make appointments in their organizations. So, what is an 'appointment framework' anyway?

Simply put, it is a set of broad policies to govern how appointments are made in the Public Service. What makes the appointment framework different from a traditional policy suite is the flexibility it allows deputy heads — the flexibility to develop policies tailored to their department's specific needs.

The appointment framework can be broken down into three parts: appointment policy, delegation, and accountability. In keeping with the spirit of the new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), the policy component of the framework is not prescriptive. Rather, it comprises high-level statements and requirements for the key decision points in an appointment process — the points at which merit tends to be most at risk.

Under the appointment framework, the PSC continues to maximize its delegation of appointment authorities and encourages deputy heads to sub-delegate those authorities to the lowest possible level in their organization.

However, the framework balances this freedom and flexibility with a strong emphasis on the accountability of those exercising authority. Deputy heads are expected to answer for how they use their delegated responsibilities. To ensure that this accountability is in place, we have the Staffing Management Accountability Framework. This tool, based on the policy and delegation obligations, sets out the requirements that deputy heads must meet, as well as the indicators that will be used to evaluate performance.

For more information on the new appointment framework and the new PSEA, please visit the PSEA Web site.

A New Approach to Political Activities

In December 2005, the Public Service Commission will implement a new approach for public servants who wish to take part in political activities.

The new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), gives the Public Service Commission an expanded role to play in protecting the political impartiality of the Public Service. Specifically, the PSC will provide guidance to departments on the rights of public servants to participate in political activities; determine whether to grant permission or leave without pay to be a candidate in an election; and investigate allegations of improper political conduct by public servants.

So, what is considered a political activity? The new PSEA defines it as: "carrying on any activity in support of, within or in opposition to a political party; carrying on any activity in support of or in opposition to a candidate before or during an election period; or seeking nomination as or being a candidate in an election before or during the election period." The new PSEA applies to involvement in federal, provincial, territorial and municipal politics.

Does this mean that you cannot put a campaign sign on your front lawn during the next election? Not necessarily. The PSC's goal in designing this new approach is to, as much as possible, allow public servants to exercise their right to participate in political activities, while recognizing the need to maintain the impartiality of the Public Service.

It is important to note that, although the PSC will be playing a greater role in monitoring the political activities of public servants, departments will still have an important part to play. For example, departments are responsible for: informing their employees of the changes to the Act; determining whether an activity that an employee wishes to engage in is appropriate; providing input to the PSC regarding an employee's request for permission for leave; and for providing requested information when the PSC conducts investigations.

The PSC is now consulting with departments, unions, the Association of Professional Executives, Federal Regional Councils and others on the proposed policy. Some consultations have already taken place. For example, in October, 2004 experts in the fields of human resource management, public administration, politics and law were interviewed.

The PSC is now seeking feedback from all levels within departments and encouraging deputy ministers to include their regional offices in their consultations. If you wish to find out more about the new provisions or the consultation process, please contact Danielle Carrière-Paris, Strategic Policy Advisor, PSC at danielle.carriere-paris@psc-cfp.gc.ca.

The PSC is Changing

Although the new PSEA will not be fully implemented until December, 2005, the passing of the Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA) on November 7, 2003 has already brought with it a number of significant changes for the Public Service Commission (PSC).

The first major change for our organization was the transfer, on April 1, 2004, of Language Training Canada and Training and Development Canada to the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS).

April 1, 2004 was an important day for the PSC. On that date, a number of the PSC's other longstanding programs were also transferred to the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC). These transferred programs include: The Management Trainee Program (MTP); the Career Assignment Program (CAP); the Accelerated Economist Training Program (AETP); the Accelerated Executive Development Program (AEXDP); the Assistant Deputy Minister Prequalification Process (now discontinued); Interchange Canada; and the Labour Market and Demographic Research units of our Research division. This transfer of programs has helped the new PSC focus more clearly on its service delivery and oversight roles

The PSC now needs to adjust its organization to best serve these two roles. That's why, on April 1, 2005, it will create a quasi-autonomous service agency within the PSC. This agency will provide the PSC's recruitment and assessment services and will report directly to the President. The creation of this service agency will complement the restructuring we have already done to strengthen our oversight capacity. This oversight mandate is carried out by three branches of the PSC: the Merit, Policy and Accountability Branch, the Recourse Branch and the PSC's new Audit Branch, which was created on April 1, 2004.

Finally, the PSC has also revised its Vision and Mission statements to better reflect its new mandate.