Representation and Hiring Targets

September 2023

Purpose

1. Communicate requirements set out in the Clerk's Letter on Implementation of the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion 
2. Provide an overview of our current representation data.
3. Present targets to improve representation.

Background

• Beyond the requirements of the Employment Equity Act to monitor and address underrepresentation, more recent drivers have accelerated the need to define hiring targets in support of diversity objectives.
• The Clerk's initial Call to Action and ensuing Deputy Minister commitments have clearly outlined the expectation that staffing plans need to be developed to show progress over the next few years.
• The Public Service is committed to hiring 5000 net new persons with disabilities by 2025.
• The Treasury Board Secretariat's Management Accountability Framework asks departments to provide evidence of their numerical staffing targets that go beyond comparisons of representation vs. workforce availability.

The population we serve is diverse

Racial Groups (2021 Census¹)

1 in 4 Canadians identifies as a member of a racialized group

2SLGBTQIA+³

4% of Canadians age 15+ identify as a member of a 2SLGBTQIA+ group

Gender identity (2021 Census¹)

1 in 300 Canadians aged 15+ are transgender or non-binary

Indigenous Peoples⁴

Canada's fast growing Indigenous population increased by 9.4% overall (total: 1,807,250 people) since the 2016 Census and now accounts for 5% of the total Canadian population

Ethnic Origin (2021 Census¹)

More than 450 ethnic and cultural origins were reported in the 2021 Census.

Disability (2017 CSD²)

22% of Canadians aged 15 or older have a disability

71% of these 6.2 million people have two or more types of disabilities.

¹ The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity

² The Canadian Survey on Disability (2017) Results from 2022 survey have not yet been released

³ LGBTQ2+ communities in Canada: A demographic snapshot

⁴ Indigenous population continues to grow – Results from the 2021 Census

We must reflect the people we serve.

The 2021 Speech from the Throne highlighted the importance of diversity and inclusion in the public service and committed to improve the collection of disaggregated data and develop an action plan to increase representation in hiring, appointments and leadership development.

The mandate letters direct Ministers to reflect the diversity of Canada in their hiring and to uphold the principles of gender equality, disability equality, pay equity and inclusion.

The Clerk of the Privy Council's Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service included a focus on disaggregating and publishing data about gaps in representation. This year's Letter on Implementation of the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion includes specific asks and consequential accountability.

The previous President of the Treasury Board announced government priorities to foster greater diversity, inclusion and accessibility in the public service.

We are making progress, but the transformational change required to realize the full vision of the Call-to-Action demands that we do much more.

The Clerk's Request

Set and communicate specific multi-year hiring and promotion goals for indeterminate positions for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees for:

• Entry-level positions
• Executive feeder groups
• Executives (including Directors or equivalents, Director Generals or equivalents, Assistant Deputy Ministers or equivalents)

Identify areas of underrepresentation in your organization where you need to advance significant change for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees. It may be in geographic regions, classifications, functions, and branches. Set and communicate multi-year representation goals for those areas. At the same time, identify and address where systemic overrepresentation may be occurring, such as in entry level positions, classifications, or term positions.

Set and communicate multi-year goals for inclusion indicators for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees.

Measures of inclusion may consist of a range of indicators and could be measured individually or in an index (examples of inclusion indicators: retention rates, mental health and well-being, engagement, empowerment, separation rates, racism, harassment, discrimination, and access to learning and development opportunities).

Workforce Availability for Finance

Overall Representation of Designated Groups

FIN's Public Service Employee Survey Respondent Profile

Representation Details by Group

Hiring and Departure Data

• Looking at our staffing data for the period of 2017 to 2021 we can see that our hiring and departure rates for designated groups have contributed to our lack of progress in closing gaps in representation:

• The University Recruitment (UR) campaign has, over the last few years, been able to achieve hiring rates in encouraging proportions for women and visible minorities.
• However, UR sometimes represents only 25% of our hiring and the remainder is composed of other actions such as deployments, mid-career, executive, administrative and internal services appointments.

Projected Impact of Proposed Targets (Overall)

Proposed Targets

• Using this historical hiring and departure data we calculated the minimum hiring rate we should aim for to attain the current WFA representation target in two years time :
  • 62% Women
  • 43% Visible Minorities
  • 19% Persons with Disabilities
  • 6% Indigenous Peoples
• Similarly, for EX representation to attain its current WFA representation target in five years time:
  • 63% Women
  • 28% Visible Minorities
  • 15% Persons with Disabilities
  • 7% Indigenous Peoples
• Maintaining the above target rates, provided the hiring volumes and departure rates are similar to the last five year's average, would lead to demonstratable progress.

Projected Impact of Proposed Targets (EX)

University Recruitment: Three Year Trend

Next Steps

Staffing Plans:

HR will be coming around to branches for planning discussions in the coming weeks. Staffing plans will need to take into account the departmental commitment to achieving targets.

Monitoring and timely communication:

Progress towards targets will be integrated in governance forward agendas.

Self-Identification campaign:

To align with launch of new questionnaire (early October 2023).

Develop language to be included in all EX PMAs:

To make efforts towards meeting EE targets.

Talent Management:

Develop strategies that purposefully addresses the needs to recruit, promote and retain employees in equity groups.

Communication Strategy:

In collaboration with the C&C develop a Strategy that informs FIN employees of efforts towards departmental efforts.

Annex A - Historical Staffing Data

Annex B: Current Representation by Branch

Annex C: The New Self-ID Questionnaire

Annex D: Links to Call to Action forward direction message to deputies and Implementation of forward direction

Annex E: Call to Action items for immediate implementation