The effective establishment of a new HR management regime requires more
than new legislation and management infrastructure. It also requires a
cultural change accompanied by a new way of doing business and a new model
for the relationship between the Agency and all its partners.
In doing so, the Agency is guided in its day-to-day business by key
management principles.
In particular, it aims to be recognized as a central agency that is:
- leading by example: establishing the vision,
objectives, and principles of modern HR management and demonstrating the
benefits of the new HR management regime in its own organization—including
the integration of HR planning with business planning;
- a strategic partner: aligning HR and business
strategy—leading government-wide approaches to HR planning and
strategies, delivering integrated results-based HR policies and programs,
and working in partnership with departments and agencies to ensure public
service renewal;
- a champion for HR management excellence: providing
single-window access to HR policy expertise and leading-edge practices for
the public service, developing effective working relationships with
partners, listening to and enabling departments and agencies, andensuring
effective oversight and accountability; and
- an agent of change: facilitating
transformations through innovative and responsive leadership—practising
simplicity and clarity, clarifying HR management roles and
responsibilities, and demonstrating clear linkages between all HR
management disciplines and higher-level government objectives, such as
having the first sustainable development strategy related to human
capital.
Starting in 2006–07, departments and agencies (including central
agencies) are asked to ensure that their respective reports on plans and
priorities include an overview on how they integrate HR planning into
business planning, identifying main challenges, risks, and actions to be
taken in this area.
Indeed, integrated HR and business planning is the foundation for
assessing and understanding the current and future needs of departments
and agencies so that they can deliver on their business plans and
priorities. This is essential not only to promote healthy organizations
that retain competent, committed, and engaged employees, but also to
mitigate management risks associated with an ageing workforce, tight
labour markets, and technological changes.
In addition, effective HR planning is a fundamental prerequisite to the
successful application of the new principle of merit resulting from the Public
Service Modernization Act (PSMA)—see also section 2.3, "The
new HR management regime and challenges ahead."
With the PSMA, the new principle of merit moves away from the
rules-based concept of "best qualified" to a values-based
approach that allows managers to hire, more efficiently, the right fit for
the organization by considering the current and future skills needed
within the entire organization—not just for the job.
As a result, managers now have greater flexibility and discretion in
assessing candidates and making staffing decisions. However, managers are
also held accountable for their decisions, which must be based on sound HR
planning linked to business planning, so that they know what skills,
qualifications, and organizational requirements are needed, now and in the
future.
In doing so, one of the Agency's first steps in reinforcing integrated
HR planning with business planning was the creation of the Senior
Management Committee (SMC) to provide strategic guidance and direction in
this area in a focussed and dedicated manner.
Each member of the Agency's senior management team is part of the SMC.
This Committee is regularly kept informed of progress in all disciplines,
including official languages, workforce renewal, and employment equity. It
also makes use of the data gathered from various sources to support proper
planning of current and future needs, as well as to make any required
adjustments or course corrections, including influencing decisions about
staffing and recruitment. For instance, all EX resourcing is discussed at
the SMC before positions are created or staffing actions initiated. This
ensures consistency and transparency.
Moreover, as part of the Agency's action plan in reinforcing integrated
HR planning with business planning, a comprehensive survey on workplace
well-being was conducted to provide a solid base for providing essential
research insights into the drivers of workplace well-being and enabling it
to adopt results-based approaches to organizational improvements.
To prepare specifically for the 2006–07 planning cycle, the Committee
also held an HR planning retreat at the end of June 2005. Although HR has
been an integral component of past business planning sessions, it was the
first time that a retreat focussed exclusively on identifying areas where
HR support is required to ensure the organization is capable of addressing
its business needs for the current and foreseeable future. Equally
important was the emphasis placed on developing strategies to guide how
people are managed within the organization. During this planning process,
members of the SMC were asked to identify the most important HR issues for
their branches and the organization as a whole. Considerations included
the risks associated with the various issues in relation to the Agency's
current and future business; whether an issue applied to more than one
branch; whether strategies to address the issue fell within the Agency's
control; and whether there were measurable benefits to addressing the
issue.
Six priorities have been identified as they relate to HR management in
the Agency. For each priority, a series of objectives, activities, or
strategies has been or will be developed to assist the Agency in achieving
the desired outcomes.
These priorities are as follows:
- policy capacity is renewed;
- administrative capacities are increased;
- leadership capacities are strengthened;
- efficiency and effectiveness are optimized;
- corporate knowledge retention and transfer are addressed; and
- 2005 Workplace Well-being Survey and the Public Service
Employee Survey results are acted upon.
While these challenges cross-cut the Agency's program activities, they
are particularly important for the modernization of HR management,
including the implementation and long-term support of the PSMA; the
modernization of the job classification system; and the establishment of
effective HR planning and accountability systems.
One of the Agency's key responsibilities is policy development and
implementation. The Agency's ongoing capacity to deliver and support
quality, innovative, and comprehensive HR policy is critical, particularly
given the new HR management regime. However, the Agency's strategic policy
capacity is severely at risk. In particular, there is a
significant shortfall of policy analysts and there is a large number of
the existing pool of policy experts that are eligible for retirement
within the next two to five years. As a result, strengthening policy
capacity is a top priority for the Agency over the planning horizon.
Similarly, the greater use of technology, expenditure reviews, and a
greater emphasis on knowledgeable workers led to sharp decreases across
the public service in its administrative staff. This is true for the
Agency as well. The administrative capacity is a key
ingredient to improved accountability, transparency, and probity. With
fewer administrative and support staff, or where there is instability,
there is a greater likelihood of errors in key areas such as contracting,
records management, purchasing, and even HR administration. It also
impacts negatively on the workload of managers and employees. This
shortfall of administrative capacity appears at different levels across
the Agency and, as such, is another priority for the organization.
Past practice in many public service organizations has been to select
or promote future leaders based on knowledge or technical
expertise rather than on competencies and ability to lead and manage
change. A consequence of this is that organizations are less able to
adapt, particularly in periods of rapid change or growth. The Agency is
experiencing such a period of change and growth. With an ageing workforce
and with certain sunset programs winding down, as much as one third of the
Agency's Executive Group could leave in the next two years. At the same
time, other programs and responsibilities are on the upswing, including
learning, policy renewal, shared services, performance monitoring, and
reporting. As a result, a third priority for the Agency will be to attract
and hire high-performing leaders, while developing the ones in place so
that there is an adequate pool of leaders with the right competencies to
manage the workforce.
As a direct result of the staff shortages mentioned above, there is
also a necessity to move to more effective and efficient approaches to
reduce the volume of internal competitions, as well as to facilitate and
improve the Agency's hiring and staff retention processes.
For instance, it is not unusual to have managers competing—often
unknowingly—for scarce resources to fill their vacancies, thereby
contributing to frustration and delays, not to mention dissatisfaction. As
a result, managers and HR staff within the Agency must work more closely
together, including exploring the possibilities of re-engineering internal
processes and systems; reviewing the organization and classification
structure; developing a top-down and bottom-up HR planning process; and
working collaboratively to meet their current and future needs in common
priority areas.
A fifth challenge is corporate knowledge retention and
transfer, particularly in the context of theanticipated
departures caused by retirements, promotions, deployments, and
resignations. There are currently no structures or processes in place to
ensure knowledge retention and transfer, nor has succession planning been
carried out. There is also a lack of standardization in approaches, and
new employees do not receive consistent or comprehensive orientation to
the organization, its business, or its management principles. All of these
can weaken the Agency's capacity to meet its strategic objectives.
Finally, in 2006–07 and beyond, the Agencyhas a priority to act upon
the Workplace Well-being Survey and the 2005 Public Service
Employee Survey results. The survey "Building a Better
Workplace" was a pilot project launched by the Agency to identify the
right workplace conditions to generate high levels of employee engagement.
It involves not only assessing current organizational performance but also
acting to improve upon it. Results from this survey were shared with
management, employees, and their representatives last fall. A series of
drivers were identified and, of these, the report highlighted five in
particular as requiring increased attention. These were:
- enhancing management effectiveness;
- opening channels of communication between staff and
executives;
- focussing on employees' career progress;
- reducing barriers to productivity; and
- ensuring fair and transparent staffing processes.
It was also recommended that the Agency make workplace well-being a top
priority; involve staff in developing solutions; celebrate successes;
establish targets and hold managers accountable; and assess progress
annually. A series of initiatives have been developed (or some are under
development) to address issues raised in the most recent Public Service
Employee Survey.
A change management and organizational development team has also been
established within the Agency to assist each branch in coping with all the
aforementioned challenges and implementing changes, both internally to the
Agency and externally, on initiatives related to departments and agencies.
In addition to the HR challenges presented in section 4.2 above, the
Agency will pursue further progress in the following key areas:
- the integration of HR planning with business planning;
- the refinement of the organization's results structure and
related performance indicators;
- the improvement of internal and external communications; and
- the strengthening of the corporate policy and strategic
planning functions.
2006–07 will, indeed, be the first year for departments and agencies
in integrating HR planning with business planning in a systematic manner.
This new discipline will require several iterations before it reaches
maturity. The challenge for the Agency will be to lead by example by
improving how it integrates HR planning with business planning in its own
organization, setting the path for other departments and agencies, and
succession planning for critical mission priorities.
Similarly, another challenge will be to lead by example by making
further progress as it relates to the Agency's results structure. While
the Agency established a comprehensive strategic planning and results
framework (including mandate, strategic outcome, program activities, and
key results areas), our performance measures must be further developed
and/or refined.
Communications is a third challenge for the Agency. Its mandate,
strategic positioning, priorities, and targeted results must be better
understood both internally and externally.
Another challenge for the Agency is to continue to build up expertise
in strategic functions, including communications, finance, internal audit,
strategic planning, and HR management. This includes a better integration
and co-ordination between these areas, particularly as it relates to the
corporate policy and strategic planning functions.
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