Meeting between Patrick Borbey, PSC President, and Ms. Nancy Gardiner, President, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

*Information valid as of October 2021

Introduction

Deputy Head

Nancy Gardiner was appointed as President of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) on September 1, 2021.

Nancy Gardiner is exercising the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) authority for the first time as Deputy Head (DH). A copy of the New Direction in Staffing (NDS) highlights for DHs is attached as Annex A.

Organizational Context

Mandate

FedDev Ontario is part of the Innovation, Science and Economic Development portfolio and is one of Canada's regional development agencies, each of which helps to address key economic challenges by providing regionally tailored programs, services, knowledge, and expertise.

FedDev Ontario’s core mandate is to strengthen southern Ontario's capacity for innovation, economic development, and growth. With its headquarters in Waterloo and offices in Toronto, Peterborough, and Ottawa, FedDev Ontario plays an important role in convening regional stakeholders to seek a common vision and encourage the development of coordinated plans. This includes collaborating with post-secondary institutions, not-for-profit organizations, the provincial and municipal governments, Indigenous and Francophone communities and businesses and with the broader business community.

Challenges

The effects of COVID-19 on southern Ontario's economy have been widespread and significant. FedDev Ontario has responded to the challenge by pivoting operations to support businesses, organizations, and communities impacted by the pandemic and transitioning its workforce to telework to continue delivering on its mandate.

A lack of permanent funding until 2019 made long-term planning challenging for the Agency. Recruitment, especially of bilingual employees, and retention have been challenging given the number of term positions.  

Experimentation

FedDev Ontario is implementing new and innovative practices, such as:

• The launch of a Growth and Surge Strategy for sub-delegated managers, in response to funds received following the announcement of Budget 2021. This strategy provides guidance and flexibilities to help sub-delegated managers allocate human resources in a consistent approach to meet growth or surge recruitment needs. 
• The development and implementation of an HR staffing planning tool, as the first phase of an integrated planning process.
• The creation of a talent conversation tool to support discussions between managers and employees during performance management agreement cycles.

Population and Staffing Activities

Population

FedDev Ontario is a small organization that has a population of 314 employees (as of March 31, 2021).

Please refer to Annex B for additional details.

Staffing Activities

In 2020-2021, FedDev Ontario processed a total of 239 staffing actions:

• 124 appointments to the public service (including casual workers and students)
• 43 casual workers
• 44 students
• 42 promotions
• 44 acting appointments
• 29 lateral and downward movements

Please refer to Annex B for additional details on staffing activities.

Time to Staff

There is insufficient data to provide time to staff results for internal or external staffing processes at FedDev Ontario.

Staffing Framework

New Direction in Staffing Implementation

As part of the NDS, FedDev Ontario has streamlined its organizational appointment policy to one policy and has put in place all the requirements.  The organization has shared its appointment framework with the PSC.

The organization is looking to capitalize on their permanent funding received and plans to look at its staffing regime in a more holistic manner in this upcoming year.

The Staffing Support Advisor (SSA) recently had discussions with the primary organizational contact about possible virtual information sessions, which should take place early in the new year. The organization is particularly interested in learning more about the future of work and the impact on organization (e.g. area of selection, talent attraction and retention, official language requirements of positions, etc.).

Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument Annex D Reporting

Use of the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order and the Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations

In 2020-2021, FedDev Ontario did not report any exclusion under the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order and Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations.

Approved Deputy Head Exceptions to the National Area of Selection Requirements for an External Advertised Appointment Process

FedDev Ontario reported that the DH did not approve any exception to the National Area of Selection.

Results of Organizational Cyclical Assessment

FedDev Ontario submitted its cyclical assessment on October 1, 2021. Once the SSA has completed its analysis, a meeting will be scheduled with the primary organizational contact to discuss considerations for future cyclical assessments.

Inquiries and Trend

Since the implementation of the NDS, FedDev Ontario has consulted the PSC on a variety of topics. The SSA and the primary organizational contact have discussed various staffing-related subjects and trends. Since April 1, 2021, the SSA received approximately twelve inquiries from the FedDev Ontario related to the following topics:

• PSC Staffing Dashboard updates
• Second language evaluation
• Cyclical assessment reporting
• Acting DH’s sub-delegated authorities
• Preference to permanent residents
• PSC information sessions

Oversight

Audits

Past Audits

FedDev Ontario was among the 14 organizations that participated in the Horizontal Audit of Student Hiring under the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) published in July 2021.

Of the 202 appointment processes examined as part of the audit, 6 were from FedDev Ontario. The objective of the audit was to determine if student hires under the FSWEP are compliant with key legislative, policy and regulatory requirements and to better understand practices and challenges related to the use of FSWEP.

Current Audits

FedDev Ontario is not included in any PSC audits that are underway.

Investigations

No investigation was conducted by the PSC for FedDev Ontario in the last 5 years.

Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey Results

Overall, FedDev Ontario’s Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey (SNPS) results present some differences in comparison with other small-sized organizations and the public service.

Below are key findings from FedDev Ontario’s 2018 SNPS results:

• 58.0% of employees agreed that people hired can do the job, compared to 67.1% in organizations of similar size, and 53.8% in the federal public service.
• 46.7% of managers agreed that the NDS has improved the way they hire and appoint persons to and within their organization, compared to 69.7% in organizations of similar size, and 56.1% in the federal public service.
• 89.7% of managers agreed that within their organization, is it administratively burdensome to staff a position, compared to 79.3% in organizations of similar size, and 87.9% in the federal public service.
• 21.5% of managers indicated that they have limited or no understanding of the provisions that help veterans gain employment in the federal public service, compared to 30.4% in organizations of similar size, and 34.2% in the federal public service.

Diversity Profile

FedDev Ontario is above the representation for women at 64.1% and for members of visible minorities at 29.5%.  However, FedDev Ontario is slightly below workforce availability (WFA) for the following:

• Indigenous peoples are slightly underrepresented at 3.8% of its workforce, while the WFA is 4.0%; and
• Persons with disabilities are slightly underrepresented at 8.9% of its workforce, while the WFA is 9.0%.

Table 1 - Diversity Profile

Designated Group	Public Service Work Force Availability (WFA)	FedDev Ontario As of March 31, 2020	FedDev Ontario EE data from As of March 31, 2019	Representation across the Public Service of Canada
Women	52.7%	64.1%	65.9%	55%
Indigenous peoples	4.0%	3.8%	2.4%	5.1%
Persons with Disabilities	9.0%	8.9%	8.7%	5.2%
Members of Visible Minorities	15.3%	29.5%	24.5%	17.8%

*Source:

Employment Equity in the Public Service of Canada 2018-2019 Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Employment Equity in the Public Service of Canada 2019-2020, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The organization should take action to close the gap for Indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities and continue to make merit-based appointments of members of the designated groups when required to ensure ongoing representativeness of its workforce.

The following array of solutions may be useful as FedDev Ontario continues to build a representative and diverse organization:

• The Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) includes provisions that enable managers to:
• Target designated group members through the area of selection for advertised appointment processes
• Establish and apply an organizational need to appoint designated group members
• Use external and internal non-advertised appointment to appoint designated group members
• The PSC offers recruitment solutions that target designated group members:
• Request referrals of designated group members when using student programs such as the FSWEP and Post-Secondary Co-op and Internship Program, with a plan that could include eventually recruiting students into the public service
• Advertising through the student program Research Affiliate Program to recruit students of designated group members
• Request referrals of designated group members when using certain inventories, such as Post-Secondary Recruitment (PSR)

The Clerk of the Privy Council asked senior leaders to commit to making measurable change to the diversity and inclusiveness of the public service which includes the creation of staffing plans to close representation gaps for employment equity groups.

The below data sent to organizations in February 2021 by the President, highlights the gap in representation of persons with disabilities (PWD) at FedDev Ontario from 2018-2019 and the estimated level of recruitment required to close this gap within the next five years, taking into consideration factors such as attrition.

• Representation of PWD: 8.7%
• WFA for PWD: 9.3%
• Gap between WFA and representation: 0.6%
• Closing the gap: PWD population increase required to reach WFA over 5 years: 1
• Closing the gap: Recruitment of PWD required to achieve population increase over 5 years (estimate): 2

Priority Entitlements and Veterans

Table 2 - Priority Entitlements and Veterans

Fiscal year	Attributable to service (statutory)	Not attributable to service (regulatory)	Total
2015 (July 1) - 2016	0	0	0
2016 - 2017	0	0	0
2017 - 2018	0	0	0
2018 - 2019	0	0	0
2019 - 2020	1	0	1
2020 - 2021	0	0	0
Total	1	0	1

Source: Priority Information Management System

Appointments of Persons with a Priority Entitlement

From April 1, 2021, to August 31, 2021, FedDev Ontario did not appoint any person with a priority entitlement (PPE). 3 PPEs were appointed during the fiscal year 2020-2021.

Appointments of Persons with a Canadian Armed Forces Priority Entitlement

Since the coming into force of the Veterans Hiring Act on July 1, 2015 until August 31, 2021, FedDev Ontario has made one appointment of persons with a Canadian Armed Forces Priority Entitlement. This appointment was made during the fiscal year 2019-2020.

Priority Clearance Requests

From April 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021, FedDev Ontario submitted 134 priority clearance requests: 88 during 2020-2021 and 46 since the beginning of the current fiscal year.

Table 3 - Priority Clearance Requests

Priority Clearance Type	Amount	Percentage
Internal advertised processes Internal advertised (22) Appointment from a previously established pool (2) Employment Equity (EE) process (1)	25	19%
Internal non-advertised processes	20	15%
External advertised processes External advertised (26) Appointment from a previously established pool (2) EE process (4)	32	24%
External non-advertised processes	35	26%
Appointment of persons with a priority entitlement (includes term and indeterminate appointments)	3	2%
Student bridging	16	12%
Section 43	2	1%
Total	134	100%

Source: Priority Information Management System

COVID-19 Related Priority Clearance Requests

Since the Priority Entitlements Program began monitoring priority entitlement clearances related to Covid-19, FedDev Ontario has submitted 11 requests to the PSC: ten in 2020-2021 and one in 2021-2022.

Persons with a Priority Entitlement

As of August 31, 2021, FedDev Ontario had activated three employees in the Priority Information Management System.

Non-Partisanship in the Public Service

The designated political activities representative (DPAR) for FedDev Ontario is Sylvie Munyanganizi.

In accordance with the PSEA, deputy heads may not engage in any political activity other than voting in an election and public servants are required to obtain permission from the Public Service Commission prior to seeking nomination as a candidate in an election at the federal, provincial/territorial or municipal level.

The PSC has never received a candidacy permission request from FedDev Ontario employee.

The results of the 2018 Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey demonstrate that FedDev Ontario employees have an overall higher awareness and understanding of political activities and non-partisanship than the public service as a whole. For example:

• 89.1% of FedDev Ontario employees indicated a moderate to great awareness of their rights and obligations for engaging in political activities, compared with 80.1% for the public service; and
• 97.3% of FedDev Ontario employees indicated they understood their responsibilities to be politically impartial in carrying out their duties as public servants compared with 92.3% for the public service as a whole. 

Recruitment Programs

Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities

FedDev Ontario did not participate in Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 of the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities (FIPCD). Cohort 3 will be launched in the fall of 2021.

The FIPCD is a great initiative to contribute to the Government of Canada’s Accessibility Strategy which aims to increase the economic inclusion of 125 persons with disabilities who have limited work experience, by developing key skills for future employment.

The program also offers for a 50% salary reimbursement to hiring departments for the duration of the internship period. In addition, the program provides managers and interns with career coaching services and tools to support the interns’ development such as recommended training offered by the Canada School or Public Service.

Should FedDev Ontario wishes to hire interns, they may contact the PSC to explore this option at: cfp.diversitedetalent-talentdiversity.psc@canada.ca

Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities / Indigenous Student Employment Opportunity

FedDev Ontario submitted 2 requests for referrals for Students with Disabilities and 1 for Indigenous Students through Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) between April 30, 2020 and September 30, 2021.

The Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities (EOSD) and the Indigenous Student Employment Opportunity (ISEO) are excellent recruitment options to increase diversity in the workplace by hiring students living with disabilities or indigenous students. Managers and students are provided with resources, such as onboarding tools, training, and networking events.

The candidates from both these initiatives are available year-round in the FSWEP ongoing inventory.

• Number of available students in EOSD: 4,811^{Footnote 1}
• Number of available students in ISEO: 2,204^{Footnote 2}

Federal Student Work Experience Program

FedDev Ontario submitted 11 requests for referrals from FSWEP between April 30, 2020 and September 30, 2021. This program remains an excellent way for an organization to renew its workforce and bring new energy, ideas and approaches to its workplace. The number of available students in this program is 73,740. ^{Footnote 3}

Post-Secondary Recruitment

In 2020-2021, FedDev Ontario submitted 4 requests for referrals from existing Post-Secondary Recruitment (PSR) inventories to staff a total of 4 positions (CR-04, IS-02, EC-02 and CS-01), for which 18 candidates were referred.

The 2021 PSR Campaign will be launched at the end of October and will feature two new inventories open to all departments:

• Business, Project Management and Government Programs which will cater to a wide range of program needs across the government.
• Programs and services to Canadians – Officer Level (PM-01 targeted PWD).  In partnership with ESDC, this initiative is expected to support all departments that provide services directly to Canadians.

The candidates will be partially assessed and available in the spring.

In the interim, many candidates remain available to be hired into the public service in a variety of fields. These inventories and pools have recently been updated.  Candidates are encouraged to self-declare in all our talent products:

• Careers in Human Resources
• Careers in Administrative Services
• Careers in Policy, Economics and Social Sciences
• Careers in Project Management, Procurement and Contracting
• Careers in Communications
• Careers in Information Technology and Information Management
• Careers in Science, Nursing and Engineering
• Careers in Technical Fields and Labour and Trades

Policy candidates can also be recruited from these inventories:

• The Emerging Talent Pool (ETP) features candidates ready for EC-04 positions or equivalent.
• The Recruitment of Policy Leaders (RPL) pool features candidates ready for EC-05 to EC-07 positions or equivalent.

Participation in Initiatives Related to the Hiring of Indigenous Peoples

Although we have not collaborated with FedDev on specific initiatives, the Indigenous Career Pathway (ICP) is an initiative that may be of interest to them for the hiring of Indigenous People.

The PSC’s Aboriginal Centre of Expertise and the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer have developed an ICP that provides expertise and support in Indigenous recruitment, including the following tools:

• The Inventory of Indigenous Applicants which facilitates the matching between hiring managers and candidates by sourcing indigenous talents from existing inventories of the PSC and proactively promoting their profiles to federal organizations.

As of September 15, 2021:

• 14 graduates are currently available with previous student experience within Government of Canada.
• 12 pre-qualified candidates in various pools are currently available at various groups and levels such as AS-03, PM-03, EC-04, EC-07 and EC-08
• The Indigenous Recruitment Toolkit is an evergreen guidance document for managers and human resources (HR) advisors, providing a repository of tools, resources, and advice on indigenous recruitment. The toolkit is currently being updated, as a result of lessons learned, and feedback received from managers and HR advisors through a survey. The update, which will be ready in the fall, will include new resources and good practices on outreach activities, and interview administration.

 More information about the Indigenous recruitment programs is available on the Indigenous recruitment – Information for hiring managers website.

Staffing Support

Public Service Commission Representatives and Organizational Contacts

The Staffing Support Advisor (SSA) assigned to this organization is Chantal Séguin, the primary organizational contact(s) is Mariane Baril-Parent, Director, Human Resources, Centre of expertise and the Head of HR is Raquel Fragoso, Director General, Human Resources.

PREPARED BY:

Chantal Séguin
Staffing Support Advisor

APPROVED BY:

Lynn Brault
Director General, Staffing Support, Priorities and Political Activities Directorate,
Policy and Communications Sector

Gaveen Cadotte
Vice-President, Policy and Communications Sector

Annexes:

Annex A – The New Direction in Staffing (NDS) highlights for DHs
Annex B - Data on Population and Staffing Activities

Annex A

Highlights for deputy heads

A New Direction in Staffing – A Merit-Based System That is Effective, Efficient and Fair

Appointment Policy

New focus on core requirements to provide sub-delegated persons with greater discretion in making an appointment

• One Appointment Policy, no duplication of legal requirements
• Broader focus on values-based system, away from rules-based system
• Appointment Policy supported by streamlined guidance:
• A roadmap to the legislative, regulatory and policy requirements
• Options and considerations for decision making where there is discretion
• Clear expectations for priority entitlements
• No restrictions on assessment methods for EX appointments
• Exceptions to National Area of Selection approved by deputy head

Delegation

• New ability to customize organizational staffing system based on unique context and evolving business needs
• Deputy heads establish a direction on the use of advertised and non-advertised appointment processes
• Deputy heads to establish requirement(s) for sub-delegated persons to articulate, in writing, their selection decision
• Clarity on requirements related to investigations
• Attestation form to reinforce the accountabilities of sub-delegated persons

All PSC monitoring and reporting requirements now found in the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument

Monitoring and Reporting

Monitoring built by organizations, targeted to their needs

• Annual Departmental Staffing Accountability Report no longer required
• Annual reporting to the PSC limited to:
• Use of Public Service Official Language Exclusion Approval Order
• Exceptions to the National Area of Selection approved by the deputy head
• Results of any internal investigations
• Actions taken following any PSC investigations or audits.
• Deputy head responsible for ongoing monitoring of organizational staffing system based on the organization’s unique context
• Assessment of adherence to requirements, based on organization’s own risks, every five years, at a minimum.

PSC Oversight

System-wide focus

• Government-wide compliance audit every two years
• Renewed Survey of Staffing administered in alternating years with government-wide audit
• System-wide effectiveness and efficiency reviews to support continuous improvement
• Targeted PSC audits as a result of identified system-wide or organizational risks or at the request of deputy head
• Investigations conducted when there is reason to believe there was political influence, fraud or improper conduct in an appointment process

This document should be read in conjunction with the PSEA, the Public Service Employment Regulations, the PSC Appointment Policy and the PSC Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument.

Annex B

Population by tenure as of March 31, 2021

Population by language requirements as of March 31, 2021

Population by occupational group as of March 31, 2021

Population by region as of March 31, 2021

External indeterminate hires by occupational group, 2020-2021

Staffing by region

* Regional distribution excludes unknowns

Staffing Activities by appointment process type

• Includes indeterminate and specified term appointments
• Excludes lateral and downward movements, deployments and acting appointments of less than 4 months
• Includes only appointments where the staffing process type is known (43% to 87% of appointments)

Staffing by appointment type

Staffing by tenure

Key findings - Staffing and non-partisanship survey (2018)

• 58.0% of employees agreed that people hired can do the job, compared to 67.1% in organizations of similar size, and 53.8% in the federal public service
• 46.7% of managers agreed that the New Direction in Staffing has improved the way they hire and appoint persons to and within their organization, compared to 69.7% in organizations of similar size, and 56.1% in the federal public service
• 89.7% of managers agreed that within their organization, the administrative to staff a position is burdensome, compared to 79.3% in organizations of similar size, and 87.9% in the federal public service.

Student program hires

Post-Secondary Recruitment Program and former student hires

*Hiring of former students includes indeterminate and term hires with experience in a federal student recruitment program within the last 10 years.

Internal time to staff

External time to staff

Technical Notes:

• The Time to Staff for internal appointments is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an internal advertisement and the date of the first Notice of Appointment or Proposal of Appointment (NAPA) from the Public Service Resourcing System for internal term and indeterminate positions. As NAPAs are not required for all internal staffing actions, this measure is limited to reporting on internal promotional appointments
• Only estimated term and indeterminate appointments/notifications are included (deployments, casual and acting appointments are excluded)
• The Time to Staff for external appointments is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an external advertisement and the date of the first estimated appointment of an individual from outside an organization subject to the Public Service Employment Act for term and indeterminate positions. Only estimated term and indeterminate appointments/notifications are included (deployments, casual and acting appointments are excluded)
• Because data between systems is linked using a deterministic match, errors in data linkage are a potential source of measurement error

Sources:

• Hiring and staffing activities data are derived from information received from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Incumbent File.  The Incumbent File is extracted from the Public Services and Procurement Canada’s pay system.  The data constitutes an estimate of hiring and staffing activities to and within organizations
• Information from the Priority Information Management System and the Public Services Resourcing System is also used to determine if staffing actions are advertised or non-advertised as well as for calculating time to staff
• The data are not expected to match an organization’s human resources data, due to methodology and timing differences