Integrated Planning: Working through the Five-step Approach

Step 2: Scan The Environment

A. Current Workforce Analysis

Considerations

A key component of integrated planning is understanding your workforce and planning for projected shortages and surpluses in specific occupations and skill sets. Has the following information been analyzed for various occupational categories or functional communities?

• Demographics and employment characteristics (e.g. employment equity, designated groups, official languages, age profile, average age of retirement, years of service, employment type, leave usage, reasons for leaving, absenteeism, grievances, use of Employee Assistance Program)
• Skills/competencies (e.g. training/learning data, performance management data, language competencies)
• Internal workforce trends (e.g. eligibility for retirement, vacancy rates, turnover rates, internal staff mobility such as deployments, promotions, secondments)

Documents to Consult

Here is a list of documents you may find useful for this step.

• Results of discussions with employees, i.e. Employee Performance Management (EPM) and Learning Plan (LP) processes
• Reports on designated and excluded positions
• Public Service Employee Survey Results 

Roles and Responsibilities

• Deputy Ministers and/or Assistant Deputy Ministers:
  • Resource environmental scanning and forecasting activities to inform the integrating planning process
• Business Line and Branch Directors:
  • Evaluate the total HR capacity for a particular business line or within a branch or larger unit and make recommendations on the staff capacity that should reside in each division
  • Develop HR plans for their area of responsibility
• HR professionals/Advisors:
  • Help managers develop mechanisms to track and report on strengths, weaknesses and results of their integrated planning efforts;
  • Keep up-to-date and advise clients on promising practices in integrating HR planning;
  • Provide HR advice, strategies, tools, and relevant demographic data and reports to managers;
• Branch Divisions and Business Line Managers:
  • Evaluate and analyze actual and future HR needs
  • Provide information to Directors on employees skills and skills required to fill organizational gaps
• Employees:
  • Provide skills information and ensure skills are known to their Directors
  • Provide learning and development plans information

STEP 2A - TEMPLATE: Scan the Environment

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

Legend:

* Status: I = Indeterminate; T =Term; S = Secondment; A = Acting; LWOP = Leave without Pay; M = Maternity Leave; O = Other Leave of Absence

* Performance in the Position: E = exceeds requirements of position; M = meets the requirements; DNM = does not meet requirements (this does not necesarily indicate a performance problem, but may be due to insufficient time in current position.)

*OL: M = Meets OL of regular position; DNM = Employee does not meet OL requirements

*EE: Indicate if this person is a member of a designated group: A= Aboriginal; D = Disabled; W = Women; V = Visible Minorities (protected information once completed)

*Advancement Potential: 1- Potential to proceed to a higher level of responsibility immediatly; 2- Potential to proceed to a higher level of responsibility within one year; 3- Potential to proceed to a higher level of responsibility within two years; 4- Potential to proceed to a higher level of responsibility within three years

*Anticipated Vacancy: Retirement, Maternity Leave, Educational Leave, Leave without Pay

Step 2A Worksheet: Current Workforce Analysis

Worksheet of Key Positions Analysis

Considerations

Identification of Key Positions:

• Do you have or do you anticipate vacancies?
• Who is planning to retire?
• Do you plan to abolish the position once vacated?
• Do you plan to replace theses people? Re-define the task?
• Will you replace from within the organization or outside the organization?
• If within the organization, can the work be done by someone in a different region?
• Are there existing pools of qualified candidates?
• Have you identified potential employees for succession?
• Have you identified high potential employees? Are they interested? Do you need to develop them?
• Are there any labour relations implications?
• Will there be knowledge transfer issues?

Identification of Potential Candidates:

• Does your management team discuss and identify key talent in your organization?
• Do you have a strategy for developing and retaining talent?
• Based on the internal and external influences identified in Step 1, will the current structure and design of your organisation continue to support business objectives?
• Link the identification of key areas and key positions to current and future business objectives.
• Review key positions periodically because they may change over time, depending on developments in programs (e.g. new initiatives, sunsetting programs), changes in government direction, and the introduction of new technology

Documents to Consult

Here is a list of documents you may find in your Department or Agency that can be useful for this worksheet.

• Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA)
• Succession Planning and Management Tool
• Employee data, skills, education, interests, etc.
• Demographics of your unit, data on anticipated turnover, retirement and leave plans, etc.
• Current position data
• Attrition report

Roles and Responsibilities

All levels of management:

• Participate in the identification of key positions.
• Identify knowledge, skills, and abilities for key positions.
• Communicate to employees where the organization has identified critical or emerging gaps so that they can better tailor their learning plans.
• Reserve time for career development discussions with employees.
• Consult with stakeholders as appropriate. These include bargaining agent representatives and employees.

Employees:

• Learn about key positions and areas, and their skill requirements.
• Discuss their career interests and plans with their manager.
• Assess individual development needs with input from their manager.
• Learn about, and take advantage of, developmental opportunities.
• Complete a learning plan, keep it up to date, and ensure follow-through.

Human Resources:

• Develop HR tools for managers and employees.
• Provide timely advice and guidance to managers, e.g. by assisting in the identification of vulnerable or key areas and positions.
• Engage in and ensure ongoing discussions with bargaining agents.
• Ensure ongoing discussions with corporate planners and ensure that linkages are made to program management.
• Assist in the communication of key positions and areas to employees.

Step 2A - Worksheet: Key Positions Analysis

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

Worksheet of Key positions Analysis

Business Lines

*Key Positions

Position Name & Number

OL Profile of Position (e.g. BBB)

*Anticipated Vacancy (reason & date)

Skills Needed & Level of Complexity (Difficult, Average, Easy)

Position Hard to Fill

Availability of Replacement

Degree of Readiness %

*Degree of Urgency (Short term, Medium Term, Long term)

Risk Assessment if Position not Filled (High, Medium, Low)

Comments

Yes

No

Yes

No

Legend:

*Definitions of Key Positions:

- Strategic: Positions that carry significant importance in the strategic and operational decisions that affect organizational success

- Critical: Positions that would prevent critical activities from taking place if they were left vacant. If this function was not fulfilled, operations would suffer

- Specialized Leadership: Positions that require a specialty or expertise

- Essential: Position that is necessary for the employer to provide essential services to perform the duties of the position that relate to the provision of essential services

- Designated: Positions that under the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA) have duties that are necessary in the interest of the safety or security of the public

- Excluded: Positions that are excluded due to their managerial or confidential capacity and therefore the incumbent employees are not members of a bargaining unit

*Anticipated Vacancy: Retirement, Maternity Leave, Educational Leave, Leave without Pay

*Degree of urgency: Short Term = one year; Mid-Term = two to three years; Long Term = five years

Step 2A Worksheet: Current Workforce Analysis

Considerations

• Have all employees who are newly appointed to the core public administration successfully completed an orientation program that meets the employer’s knowledge standards such as the two-day Orientation to the Public Service program offered by the CSPS?
• Have first time managers at all levels successfully completed the required training so that they meet the employer’s knowledge standards prior to delegating authorities, such as the three-day Essentials of Supervising in the PS; managers and executives the five-day Essentials of Managing in the PS, in addition, executives complete a one-day induction to the PS? These courses are offered by the CSPS.
• Have all functional specialists successfully completed training and/or validated knowledge associated with their professional and legal responsibilities? Programs for Procurement, Material Management and Real Property and Information Management designed to meet the employer’s knowledge standards are offered by the CSPS. Different service providers may be contemplated for the other functional specialists.
• Do you know the percentage of employees who meet the language requirements of their positions? Do you know which employees do not meet the language requirements of their positions?
• Are administrative measures in place to ensure the bilingual functions are being carried out?
• Do the language requirements and language profiles reflect the duties of the employees as well as the obligations with respect to service to the public and language of work?
• Do you have a cyclical process to review the language requirements of positions?
• Do you conduct a systematic review of the linguistic requirements and linguistic profiles of all positions in the organization?
• Are there additional resources to support second language training initiatives?

 Documents to Consult

Here is a list of documents you may find useful for this worksheet.

• TBS Policy on Learning, Training and Development (LTD)
• Directive on the Administration of Required Training
• Directive on the Administration of Leadership Development Programs. Management Trainee Program and Career Assignment Program
• The Canada Public Service Agency ( CPSA) Leadership Network web site
• The Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) web site:
• Department’s or Agency’s learning policy
• Department’s or Agency’s learning strategies and/or programs/guidelines
• Official Languages Policies

Roles and Responsibilities

• CPSA:
  • Develop Result-based Management and Accountability Framework (RMAF) for the Policy on LTD;
• CSPS
  • Provide Foundational Learning by designing and delivering learning for the public service;
  • Measures and reports on learning undertaken and the results achieved across the public service to assess knowledge acquisition;
  • Provide Strategic Advice to departments on how to develop and implement learning strategies to advance their corporate priorities;
  • Deliver best management practices by capturing the best and latest in public sector management practices to share across the Public Service;
  • Act as a learning-clearing house by creating high quality marketplace for learning solutions by setting standards, accrediting courses, evaluating learning products and publicly reporting all learner feedback.
• Deputy Head:
  • Ensure that their organizations have the adequate governance, strategies and capacity for the implementation of the LTD Policy, and that their employees are informed of this Policy and have the knowledge, skills and competencies to do their work;
  • Designate a required training coordinator and communicate the name of the Coordinator to CPSA and the CSPS;
  • Ensure that measures are taken to strengthen organizational leadership and promote innovation through the adoption of leading-edge management practices.
• Training Coordinator
  • Responsible for supporting deputy heads in fulfilling their responsibilities for the implementation of required training.
• HR Professionals and Learning Specialists:
  • Develop guidelines and directives to assist departments and agencies with the implementation of the Policy on LTD.
• Managers:
  • Ensure that their employees have learning plans to acquire and maintain the knowledge, skills and competencies related to their level and functions;
  • Support employees’ career development plans.
• Employees:
  • Develop their own learning plans and communicate them to their managers.

STEP 2A - WORKSHEET : Long-term Training 

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

 

Replacement Plan for Employees requiring Long-term Training
Position	Language Requirements	Current Employee	Learning Plan Developed		Language Training Plan Developed		Replacement Strategies	Duration of Training		Cost of Training	Cost of backfill
			Yes	No	Yes	No		Start	End

Employment Equity Worksheet

Considerations

• Has your organization conducted an employment equity workforce survey recently?
• Does your organization provide self-identification forms?
• Does your organization solicit self-identification information from new employees?
• Has the Canadian Human Rights Commission found your organization to be in compliance?
• Has the Canadian Human Rights Commission found that your organization has made reasonable progress against the employment Equity Plan?
• Has your organization integrated employment equity into the human resources and business planning process?
• Has your organization established an internal process to carry out accommodation requests?

Documents to Consult

Here is a list of documents you may find useful for this worksheet.

• Employment Equity Act
• Employment Equity Policy
• Policy on Duty to Accommodate Persons with Disabilities in the Federal Public Service
• Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA)
• Public Service Employment Act (PSEA)

Roles and Responsibilities

• Canada Public Service Agency (CPSA):
  • Provide orientation and interpretation services to departments and agencies in the analysis, development and implementation of employment equity strategies and activities in order to ensure results;
  • Consult and collaborate with employee representatives at the national level;
• Departments and agencies:
  • Provide a supportive work environment that will encourage employees to self-identify as designated group members and attract and retain designated group members
  • Develop an Employment Equity Plan
  • Conduct an employment systems review (if under-representation exists) and removing any barriers that may exist and that are not authorized by law
  • Develop strategies to address under-representation
  • Consult and collaborate with employees representatives of designated groups
• Managers:
  • Create and maintain barrier-free and inclusive workplaces within the units they manage.
  • Create and maintain representative workforces within the units they manage, including using positive policies and practices to increase or maintain the representation of designated group members.
  • Review their practices and systems to ensure they do not create barriers to the employment of women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities or members of visible minorities.
  • Consult with the employee to identify the nature of the accommodation required.
  • Provide training to employees on the use of any upgraded or new equipment or systems.
  • Ensure that employees are provided with information, including the advertising of employment opportunities, in a timely fashion and in multiple formats that are usable and accessible.
  • Allow employees to retain such technical aids, equipment and support materials should they move to another position within the core public administration and still require accommodation.
• HR Specialists:
  • Conduct a workforce survey and analysis for their organization based on the requirements of the Employment Equity Act.
  • Maintain the confidentiality of employees’ self-identification information and forwarding it at least quarterly to CPSA
• Employees:
  • Inform their supervisor or departmental or agency contact of their accommodation needs.
  • Provide their supervisor or departmental or agency contact with the information necessary to provide the appropriate accommodation.
  • Notify the organization if accommodation needs change.

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

Worksheet of Employment Equity Plan

Equity Group

Canadian Representation Status

Organizational Representation Status

EE Strategies to increase Representativity

1st Quarter

2nd Quarter

3rd Quarter

4th Quarter

#

%

#

%

#

%

#

%

#

%

#

%

Women

Aboriginals

People with Disabilities

Visible Minority

2B. Internal Analysis

Considerations

Identify factors internal to the organization that may affect HR capacity to meet organizational goals. 

Have you considered…? 

• Changes in legislation, policy platform, program delivery
• Labour management relations
• Changes to collective agreements
• Employee engagement
• HR initiatives (EE)
• Anticipated changes to funding levels
• Changes in leadership and priorities
• Organizational restructuring
• Corporate culture change
• Client satisfaction
• Capacity and quality of information
• Health and safety

Documents to Consult

Here is a list of documents you can find useful for this step.

• Business Plan
• DPR
• HR environmental scan
• Organizational charts
• Budget/financial information
• Outcome Projects
• PAA

Roles and Responsibilities

• Deputy Ministers and/or Assistant Deputy Ministers:
  • Resource environmental scanning and forecasting activities to inform the integrating planning process
• Business Lines and Branch Directors:
  • Support and provide clear business direction to Directors so they can link HR planning to future business needs
  • Ensure performance agreements for managers at all levels include the responsibility for integrated HR and business planning
  • Define the strategic directions for their branches as per people support outputs and outcomes (e.g. EE Plan, Executive succession planning, knowledge retention plan, Official Languages Plan, Workplace Improvement Plan)
• HR Professionals/Advisors:
  • Provide direction for the change management and capacity building process to facilitate integrated HR and business Planning
  • Support and coordinate the development of HR plans with managers
  • Provide advice and support in planning, forecasting, analyzing and identifying issues and trends having an impact on HR
• Managers
  • Use performance appraisal process and individual learning plans to determine employees skills; discuss business direction with employee; and evaluate opportunities for redirection of staff toward forecasted needs
  • Evaluate and analyze actual and future HR needs
  • Provide information to Directors on employees skills and skills required to fill organizational gaps
• Employees
  • Provide skills information and ensure skills are known to managers
  • Provide learning and development plans information

STEP 2B - TEMPLATE : Scan the Environment (Internal Analysis)

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

STEP 2B: INTERNAL ANALYSIS
Internal Factors	Key Internal Risks and Their Impact	Impact of Internal Risk on HR Capacity to meet Organizational Goals (Significant, Moderate, Minor)		Probability of occurrence (High, Medium, Low)	Mitigation Strategies (to resolve, adress or avert potential risks)
		Short Term (1 year)	Long Term (2 to 5 years)

2C. External Analysis

Considerations

Determine the most important environmental factors expected to affect workforce capacity, given known operational and HR priorities and emerging issues. 

Have you considered?

• Current workforce trends (e.g. retirement patterns, growing occupations, mobility)
• Demand and supply of employees in growing occupations
• Current and projected economic conditions
• Technological advancements which may make certain occupational positions obsolete or create new employment
• International policies that may affect your workforce capacity
• Immigration and/or regional migration patterns that may affect your workforce capacity
• Sources of recruitment
• Federal, provincial, regional realities.

Documents to Consult

Here is a list of documents you may find useful for this step.

• Demographic studies
• Public Service Human Resources Environmental Scan (2005) 

Roles and Responsibilities

• Deputy Ministers and/or Assistant Deputy Ministers:
  • Resource environmental scanning and forecasting activities to inform the integrating planning process
• Business Lines and Branch Directors:
  • Support and provide clear business direction to Directors so they can link HR planning to future business needs
  • Ensure performance agreements for managers at all levels include the responsibility for integrated HR and business planning
  • Define the strategic directions for their branches (e.g. EE Plan, Executive succession planning, knowledge retention plan, Official Languages Plan, Workplace Improvement Plan)
• HR Professionals/Advisors:
  • Provide direction for the change management and capacity building process to facilitate integrated HR and business planning
  • Provide advice and support in planning, forecasting, analyzing and identifying issues and trends having an impact on HR
• Managers
  • Evaluate and analyze actual and future HR needs

STEP 2C - TEMPLATE : Scan the environment (External Analysis)

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

STEP 2C : EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
External Factors	Key External Risk and Their Impact	Impact of External Risks on HR Capacity to Meet Organizational Goals (Significant, Moderate, Minor)		Probability of occurrence (High, Medium, Low)	Mitigation Strategies (to resolve, adress or avert potential risks)
		Short Term (1 year)	Long Term (2 to 5 years)

2D. Future Workforce Analysis

Considerations

Has the following information been analyzed for various occupational categories or functional communities?

• Demographics and employment characteristics (e.g. employment equity, designated groups, official languages, age profile, average age of retirement, years of service, employment type, leave usage, reasons for leaving, absenteeism, grievances, use of Employee Assistance Program)
• Skills/competencies (e.g. training/learning data, performance management data, language competencies)
• Internal workforce trends (e.g. eligibility for retirement, vacancy rates, turnover rates, internal staff mobility such as deployments, promotions, secondments)
  

Have you identified the factors that will affect HR capacity to meet organizational goals?

Internal factors:

• Changes in legislation, policy platform, program delivery
• Labour management relations
• Changes to collective agreements
• Employee engagement
• HR initiatives (EE)
• Anticipated changes to funding levels
• Changes in leadership and priorities
• Organizational restructuring
• Corporate culture change
• Client satisfaction
• Capacity and quality of information
• Health and safety

External factors:

• Current workforce trends (e.g. retirement patterns, growing occupations)
• Demand and supply of employees in growing occupations
• Current and projected economic conditions
• Technological advancements which may make certain occupational positions obsolete or create new employment
• International policies that may affect your workforce capacity
• Immigration and/or regional migration patterns that may affect your workforce capacity
• Sources of recruitment

Documents to Consult

Here is a list of documents you may find useful for this step.

• Guiding Principles documents on EE, L&D and OL
• Results of discussions with employees, i.e. Employment Performance Management (EPM) and Learning Plan (LP) processes
• Reports on designated and excluded positions
• Public Service Employee Survey Results
• Business Plan
• DPR
• HR environmental scan
• Organizational charts
• Budget/financial information
• Outcome Projects
• Demographic studies
• Public Service Human Resources Environmental Scan (2005)

Roles and Responsibilities 

• Business Lines and Branch Directors:
  • Define the strategic directions for their branches (e.g. EE Plan, Executive succession planning, knowledge retention plan, Official Languages Plan, Workplace Improvement Plan)
  • Evaluate the total HR capacity for a particular business line or within a branch or larger unit and make recommendations on the staff capacity that should reside in each division
• HR Professionals/Advisors:
  • Provide HR advice, strategies, tools, and relevant demographic data and reports to managers
  • Provide advice and support in planning, forecasting, analyzing and identifying issues and trends having an impact on HR
• Managers:
  • Evaluate and analyze actual and future HR needs
  • Use performance appraisal process and individual learning plans to determine employee’s skills; discuss business direction with employee; and evaluate opportunities for redirection of staff toward forecasted needs

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

STEP 2D-1: FUTURE WORKFORCE ANALYSIS: Short Term (1 Year)
Forecast of Short Term HR Requirement (1 Year)
Location	Business Lines	*Anticipated Business Changes	Impact of Changes on HR Needs	Forecasted Positions	Group & Level	Future Key Skills Required	*HR Strategy	Impact on OL	Impact on EE	Comments

Legend:

*Anticipated Changes: I = Increases; D = Decreases; NC = Changes

*HR Strategy: IA = Internal Appointment; C = Competition; AS = Assignement; EEC = EE Candidate; AC = Acting; D = Deployment; DO = Developmental Opportunity; S = Secondment; C/A = Contract/Agency; Ca = Casual; ST = Student

Click here to download Excel spreadsheet

STEP 2D-2 : FUTURE WORKFORCE ANALYSIS: Long Term (2 to 5 Years)
Forecast of Long Term HR Requirement (2 to 5 Years)
Location	Business Lines	*Anticipated Business Changes	Impact of Changes on HR Needs	Forecasted Positions	Group & Level	Future Key Skills Required	*HR Strategy	Impact on OL	Impact on EE	Comments

Legend:

*Anticipated Changes: I = Increases; D = Decreases; NC = Changes

*HR Strategy: IA = Internal Appointment; C = Competition; AS = Assignement; EEC = EE Candidate; AC = Acting; D = Deployment; DO = Developmental Opportunity; S = Secondment; C/A = Contract/Agency; Ca = Casual; ST = Student