President's Message - A New Era in Staffing

Summer is almost here, but the Public Service Commission (PSC) is hard at work preparing for the implementation of the new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA). With implementation just around the corner, we are not wasting any time. Helping departments to manage their newly delegated authorities with our appointment framework is at the top of our list.

The appointment framework, which was finalized in March, was developed in collaboration with the human resources community, bargaining agents, APEX and deputy heads. Its three components - policy, delegation and accountability - are crucial to the implementation of the new PSEA.

With the new legislation, the public service has the opportunity to make the staffing system more flexible and to tailor policies to departmental needs. The appointment framework was created to balance that flexibility with strong accountability for merit and the staffing values. (Learn how the new framework applies to you and your department in Highlights of the New Appointment Framework.)

My biggest concern, as we near the dawn of a new era in staffing, is that departments will cling to the old way of doing things - finding it more comfortable to keep the old, cumbersome system than to develop innovative new solutions. On the contrary, this is a chance for real change and we must seize it.

The PSC will do its part. In the spirit of the new legislation, the PSC will maximize its delegation of authority to departments so that they can make the most of this opportunity. It is up to departments to follow through with inventive new approaches to staffing and policies customized to their specific human resources needs. Some proactive departments have already begun (read about some Noteworthy Practices that could help your department get ahead of the implementation curve.)

Throughout the implementation process, departments will need advice and support to help them interpret the new appointment framework. That's why the PSC, along with the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency and the Canada School of Public Service, are providing information sessions, as well as a series of guides and tools, to help everyone understand the changes to the legislation.

It is my hope that departments and agencies will embrace the upcoming summer as an opportunity to prepare their organizations for the new staffing regime, well before the December 2005 implementation deadline. With good planning, some creativity, and the guidance of the appointment framework, the public service can make the most of this monumental change.

Highlights of the new appointment framework

The new framework for appointments to and within the federal Public Service will come into effect in December 2005, along with the new Public Service Employment Act.

If you are a public service manager or human resources professional, you are probably wondering what the new appointment framework means for your department or agency.

What does this mean for departments and agencies?

Departments and agencies will use this framework to develop their own tailored appointment processes. Under the new framework, the authority to make appointments is delegated to deputy heads who are, in turn, encouraged to sub-delegate to managers. Managers with this authority can help put their organization's human resources plan into action.

What are the benefits?

With the new appointment framework, organizations will enjoy a more flexible, responsive and transparent staffing system.

Organizations can:

• integrate their human resources plan with their business planning and use these plans to drive their resourcing strategies;
• customize the appointment process to meet the needs of the organization;
• consider a full spectrum of job requirements in making appointment decisions;
• conduct their own recruitment; and
• appoint their own executives.

What about merit?

Under the new definition of merit, everyone who is appointed to the federal Public Service must meet essential qualifications. The new definition also allows managers to consider other merit criteria when making appointments, including:

• Qualifications that would be an asset to the work being performed; and
• Operational requirements and current or future organizational needs of the department.

These criteria can be used to determine whether a candidate is the right fit for the job, as long as the person selected meets the essential qualifications of the position.

What are managers accountable for?

First, managers with sub-delegated appointment authority are responsible for good human resources planning that takes into account all employer policies and the needs of their organization.

Managers are also responsible for knowing and understanding the terms and conditions of their sub-delegated authority. They must ensure that staffing processes are fair, accessible and transparent and conform to their organization's and the PSC's appointment policies.

What's new about the appointment framework?

The new internal appointment process has three new features:

1. Informal Discussion

When someone is eliminated from an internal appointment process, they will be given the opportunity to discuss the decision with the manager as soon as possible after the decision is made. This ensures communication throughout the appointment process and allows the manager to complete the process in a timely fashion, making appointments without delay. It also allows any errors to be corrected immediately, rather than at the end of the process.

2. Notification

A new process for notification provides an enhanced opportunity to deal with issues in internal appointment processes. Candidates are first informed of who is being considered for appointment. There is then a waiting period that provides an opportunity to resolve any issues. Finally, candidates are informed of the final decision, which opens the formal recourse stage.

3. Corrective Action/Revocation

Under the new legislation, deputy heads will have the authority to take corrective action and to revoke internal delegated appointments. This could occur if an investigation reveals an error, an omission or improper conduct in an appointment process.

What support will managers receive?

In addition to the support and advice available from human resources advisors in departments, the PSC is developing guides and tools for managers, available on the PSC's new PSEA web site. The Canada School of Public Service will also offer courses for managers on the new appointment framework.

The PSC Audit Manual

The Public Service Commission's (PSC) new audit manual provides its auditors with a rigorous and systematic approach to quality auditing. Beginning with the selection process to determine which audits to conduct, and following with the various phases of audit - planning, examination, reporting and follow-up - the PSC Audit Manual sets out the policies and framework to govern the conduct of all audits and studies performed by the PSC's Audit Branch.

The challenge in developing the PSC Audit Manual was two-fold - first, to develop audit policies that were consistent with current professional auditing standards, and second, to ensure that following these policies and guidance would permit the PSC to achieve its audit mandate.

A rigorous process was followed to address this challenge. Extensive research and consultation was conducted into the standards and best practices of other legislative audit offices, audit standards-setting bodies and other disciplines. The PSC also looked inward, interviewing senior managers for their insights into the organization's new oversight role.

PSC audit methodology emphasizes the importance of conducting audits within a quality management system. It builds a 'quality chain' into PSC audits with a process that includes challenge, review, consultation, advice and good project management.

An external review of the PSC Audit Manual concluded that, when followed, the manual will permit the PSC to achieve its audit mandate and meet the standards for compliance and performance auditing in the public sector.

The PSC Audit Manual also includes the PSC Audit Code of Professional Conduct, to complement the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service. This code addresses key ethical issues for auditors, such as independence, objectivity and avoiding conflict of interest, and adds to the professional discipline required in the conduct of PSC audits.

In January, PSC auditors were given extensive training on the PSC Audit Manual, its audit policies and framework, allowing the PSC to put its new manual to work immediately.

The PSC Audit Manual will be available on the PSC Web site soon.

Getting Ready for the New Public Service Employment Act (PSEA)

With the December 2005 deadline for the implementation of the new PSEA just around the corner, human resources professionals are eager to learn all they can about the policies of the new appointment framework. The Public Service Commission (PSC) wants to help.

In May and early June, the PSC is offering information sessions in the national capital region designed for operational staffing specialists under the current legislation - the human resources professionals who will provide advice to managers after the implementation of the new PSEA. Bargaining Agents were also invited.

These 'Get Ready' sessions covered all aspects of the new appointment framework and will serve as useful preparation for the upcoming PSC Appointment Framework Knowledge Test. Topics covered include: delegation and accountability; choice of appointment process and advertising; area of selection and assessment; selection and appointment; informal discussion and notification; corrective action and revocation; priority administration; lay-off, and; regulations. Other topics were addressed too, such as: the PSC Service Agency and some key related Employer Policies.

In June, similar sessions are being held in 8 cities across Canada - Montreal, Moncton, Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Vancouver. Registration for the "Get Ready" sessions is now complete and was coordinated by the Corporate Chiefs of Staffing.

The Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order is changing

The Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order (PSOLEAO) is the statutory instrument which enables, in some circumstances, the appointment of unilingual Canadians to bilingual positions. The Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations prescribe how the public service manages these individuals. Following an exhaustive review that began in 2002, these instruments are being revised to make them easier to understand and to minimize the instances in which the Order is invoked.

Under the new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) official language proficiency is considered an essential qualification in the application of merit. The challenge for the Public Service is to achieve an effective balance - both ensuring that public servants meet the language requirements of bilingual positions, while also giving unilingual Canadians the opportunity to compete for these jobs. With this challenge in mind, the PSC developed the new proposed PSOLEAO and its regulations.

Throughout the drafting of the proposed Order and Regulations, the PSC conducted exhaustive consultations that included: deputy ministers, the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, the Canada School of Public Service, the Association of Professional Executives, unions, bargaining agents and official languages advisors in the public service.

The new Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order will be implemented in December 2005, along with the new PSEA. Public consultation on the proposed new order will take place shortly.

Exclusions on Compassionate Grounds - New Agreement with Health Canada

The current Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order (PSOLEAO) allows the Public Service Commission (PSC), under some circumstances, to exempt people from meeting the language requirements of their positions on compassionate grounds.

The exemption applies to people who are unable to fulfill the language requirements of a bilingual position because of a long-term or recurring physical, mental or learning impairment. These individuals may request an exemption from the PSC.

In order to process these requests properly, the PSC needs an expert assessment of the requester's medical or psychological ability to learn a second language.

To this end, the PSC has entered into an official agreement with Health Canada. When a health problem or learning impairment is in question, Health Canada will be the PSC's sole provider of analysis and advice, whether it be in assessing persons or in reviewing specialist reports. In cases of hearing disorders, the PSC will continue to perform the assessment by applying audiogram results to the scale developed by a speech language pathologist.

For more information, please consult the PSC's recent Letter to Heads of Human Resources.

Worth Noting - Ideas You Can Use!

As departments gear up for the implementation of the new PSEA, many are thinking about how they can do staffing better. If you're looking for good ideas, you may want to start with some of these.

Have a transition plan. Departments can develop their own Human Resources Modernization Transition plans. A transition plan establishes a governance model and specifically addresses staffing and human resources planning. It can also address collaboration between unions and management, classification, labour relations and learning.

Know the risks! Some organizations choose to establish a Staffing Monitoring Program. This program encompasses a review of all facets of staffing based on a risk assessment that identifies areas of low, medium or high risk for the organization.

Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best. Your department or agency may wish to invest in regularizing its workforce. We know of at least one department that, proportional to the rest of the Public Service, hires more indeterminate employees than temporary ones. The department's term hiring has decreased substantially and the majority of its term appointments are made competitively.

Communication is the key. Using a personalized electronic journal to allow employees to ask questions about staffing is one creative way to encourage open communication. Answers can then be published on-line for all employees to see.

For more ideas on how to simplify and improve staffing in your department, consult the PSC's Annual Report for 2004-2005, due out this fall.

Building a Diverse Executive Cadre

The Public Service strives to represent the interests and serve the needs of all Canadians. This requires a diverse Public Service, led by a diverse team of executives. The Public Service has long recognized this by continuing to build representation of employment equity group members in its Executive ranks.

Social Development Canada (SDC) and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) tackled this challenge head on. In 2004, these organizations approached the Public Service Commission (PSC) about running a competition to hire members of employment equity (EE) groups at the executive level. The idea was to meet the need for fresh leadership in their organizations and, simultaneously, increase the diversity of their Executive cadres.

In late March 2004, SDC and HRSDC began a competitive process for EX-1 positions, open to EE group members within the Public Service. The process attracted 442 applications, including 264 visible minorities. In the end, 12 employment equity candidates were appointed, including seven members of visible minority groups.

The success of this initiative inspired another. Last month, the PSC, working with 11 departments including SDC and HRSDC, opened another targeted competition for EX-1 positions. This competitive process was open to visible minorities in the general public. Approximately 1,200 applicants have responded. Each of the 11 departments involved has committed to hiring at least one of the successful candidates.

Competitions targeted to members of one or more of the EE groups are an easy and effective way to build a representative organization. The PSC encourages these initiatives, and will work with departments who are considering a targeted competition of their own. For more information on improving your representation in the Executive Group, please contact Marc-André Gratton, HR Project Manager at (613) 992-0974 or by e-mail at marc-andre.gratton@psc-cfp.gc.ca.

The PSC Service Agency - Service Provider of Choice

The PSC is establishing a new Service Agency as part of its continuing effort to provide high quality services and support to departments.

While this means some restructuring and realignment of resources, the Service Agency will continue to have a presence in all regions of Canada . In fact, it has introduced standardized service levels to ensure that the needs of departments are met consistently across the country. The Service Agency is committed to these standards, and is fostering a sound service culture through client satisfaction surveys, tracking and monitoring of service quality. All of this is built on a solid business decision-making model and a good human resources strategy.

With its knowledgeable staff and years of experience providing resourcing and assessment services, the PSC Service Agency is a valuable resource for departments. When departments receive full delegation of authority in December 2005, the employees of the Service Agency will be there to provide the expert services they need.

Corporate Recruitment Programs: What can they do for you?

With the implementation of the new Public Service Employment Act in December, 2005, managers will have full responsibility for recruitment. The PSC's Service Agency can help with a variety of tools, including corporate recruitment tools that are quick, efficient and tailored to managers' individual needs.

Post-Secondary Recruitment

The Post-Secondary Recruitment (PSR) program is the PSC's longstanding recruitment tool for hiring recent university graduates. The PSR is now being revised to better meet managers' needs.

What can it do for you?

The PSR is a program that is well recognized on university campuses across Canada and around the world. The program traditionally attracts a rich pool of applicants, many of whom have self-identified as employment equity group members. Most importantly, the PSR allows managers to recruit quickly and efficiently.

Hiring can be done in one of two ways - either by advertising opportunities with a customized poster or by requesting referrals from an existing PSR inventory. Customized posters can include specific educational criteria, language qualifications or even targeted questions to assist in the second-level screening of applicants. Managers can also access a selection of Personnel Psychology Centre (PPC) tests, such as the Situational Judgement Test, which are organized and administered by the PSC. In other words, the logistics are managed for you.

Once a manager initiates a customized poster with no testing, referrals can be made in as little as 48 hours. If, on the other hand, several organizations share similar recruitment needs, the PSC may suggest that they work together to create a targeted inventory that is either tested, using PPC evaluation tools, or non-tested.

The PSC is now reviewing the PSR in light of the new Public Service Employment Act, which will come into effect in December, 2005. It has consulted both users and non-users of PSR to determine how this tool can be improved to better meet their needs. While consultations will continue into the fall, the PSC has so far learned that managers favour a tool that gives them access to targeted, tested inventories. This includes inventories that are also language tested in reading and writing. These and other ideas are now being explored, and changes to the program will be announced shortly.

While the PSR is a year-round program, its major campaign takes place each fall, beginning the Tuesday after the Labour Day holiday. This timing enables managers to assess and make offers to candidates before they graduate.

If you're a Public Service manager looking for university graduates to join your team, now's the time to start thinking about joining this year's fall PSR campaign. Ideally, the PSC would like to hear from you before June 30, 2005.

For more information, please consult the PSR website and the manager's website (available to federal public servants only).

You may also call the PSC directly to speak with a PSR Coordinator, a list of coordinators across the country is available on our website or you can contact Marjorie Emmanuel at (613) 944-4447.

New Recruitment Tool - Recruitment of Policy Leaders

The PSR is a great tool for entry-level hiring and can be a key part of a department's succession plan. However, if a department wants to boost its policy leadership capacity and is looking for policy relevant experience, it may wish to consider the Recruitment of Policy Leaders (RPL) program.

Co-developed with Natural Resources Canada, this customized program was recently launched by the PSC's Service Agency to meet the specialized needs of departments wishing to recruit policy leaders. RPL helps departments hire highly educated, sought after Canadians with graduate level scholarships and awards - many of whom would not normally consider a career in the federal Public Service.

The 2005 RPL campaign took place in January, attracting 903 Canadians with graduate, law or medical degrees; policy experience; demonstrated leadership, and; a willingness to learn a second official language.

To attract these exceptional Canadians, a comprehensive approach to communications was taken. All Canadian and some foreign universities were targeted. Public servants who had participated in similar recruitment programs in the past were sent as ambassadors to selected universities to speak about opportunities in the Public Service. Also, policy leaders, assistant deputy ministers and/or deputy ministers actively participated in assessments both in Canada and abroad.

Successful candidates were paired with an ambassador with a similar background to mentor them and to help establish a network of contacts for second-round interviews. A partially assessed inventory is being established and candidates have been matched with departments, based on their educational and policy backgrounds.

Departments with a Staffing Delegation and Accountability Agreement have been given the authority to appoint RPL candidates without competition to non-executive positions within their departments. If you are interested in accessing this inventory of talented Canadians, please contact Louise Dubois at (613)943-2132 or Rima Khouri at (613)947-9206.

The 2006 RPL campaign is coming soon. For more information, please look under RPL on the PSC's website.