Staffing Update Report

Guidance - Engagement - Oversight

Staffing Support and Engagement

Staffing Inquiries

Data captured by the Staffing Support Division (SSD) is an important source of insight into the organizational reality and is fundamental in supporting internal partners, public servants, and the public.

1741 inquiries were received by SSD during this six-month reporting period:

Nature of inquiries received from organizations, councils/committees, public remains varied:

Targeted tracking is conducted to report on specific topics identified by senior management:

Organizational Engagement

SSD outreach is designed to provide participants with valuable knowledge, essential awareness, and quality guidance on the public service staffing system:

107 outreach events were conducted virtually across Canada:

Nature of outreach offered to organizations, councils, and committees remains diverse:

Participant feedback is shared with internal stakeholders and utilized to develop future outreach sessions, scenarios, and guidance materials:

Canada School of Public Service Engagement

In December 2021, the School released the new course on inclusive hiring practices (H205). Over the course of the Fall and as part of the ongoing partnership, the PSC provided regular updates to organizations on the anticipated release date of the course as the majority of organizations are leveraging the H205 in order to meet the new ADAI requirement for mandatory training on unconscious bias.

Following the implementation of the changes to the PSEA related to the preference in hiring, the School has updated the active virtual course P901 - Staffing: A Resourcing Tool for Managers, to reflect the changes. As inactive courses are reviewed and migrated to a virtual environment, content will be adjusted to align with current legislative framework.

In January 2022, the School established a tiger team to review and migrate the curriculum for staffing advisors (P801, P802) to a virtual environment in order to support organizations and their developmental programs. Dedicated resources from the PSC are assigned to the project to ensure accurate content and direction is provided to the Staffing Community. Work to review the P901 has been deferred to a later date to focus on other course design priorities. 

Capacity Building

Communications

President Borbey delivered 4 speeches at events external to the PSC. Subjects centered around: building the Next Direction in Staffing, application of emerging technologies in the management of human talent in the public sector, and the progress made so far towards diversity and inclusion. The following topics were also addressed: removing barriers; shifting culture; enhancing accessibility; and attracting talent.

On November 4, 2021, the President attended the 2021 International Congress of Meritocracy where he spoke on the theme of Application of emerging technologies in the management of human talent in the public sector. This event was highlighted on Twitter. A video of the event was also posted on YouTube.

On December 15, 2021, the President delivered a speech at the Inaugural Mosaic Leadership Development Program Launch, addressing the first ever cohort. He welcomed candidates to the Government of Canada’s Public Service and spoke about building a truly diverse executive leadership cadre and the progress made so far towards diversity and inclusion.

On January 27, 2022, President Borbey took part in The Exchange, a forum for the PSC to engage with the Human Resources community on key strategic staffing and recruitment topics. The Vice-President, Policy and Communications also presented an overview on the implementation of the amendments to the PSEA to engage the HR community on the next steps. This year’s session focused on Building the Next Direction in Staffing. Around 200 HR professionals were in attendance and the event was promoted on Twitter.

On March 31, 2022, President Borbey took part in the 4th Policy Jam, an annual event between the PSC and students from the University of Waterloo’s Master of Public Service program. This event provides students with an opportunity to engage with real policy priorities of a Government of Canada agency and enables the PSC to gain fresh insights and outside-the-box thinking from a group of highly talented and educated students. Approximately 75 participants attended virtually.

PSC released its 2020-21 Annual Report on December 17, 2021. The communications approach prioritized the development of a fully accessible report in line with Government of Canada accessibility standards. Various products were developed in support of the release, including: news release, social media, President’s message to employees, letters to Members of Parliament and Committees, web content, graphic design, media lines, questions and answers.

Analytics of the 2020-21 Annual Report communications:

The 2021 Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey (SNPS) results were released on March 1, 2022. Several communications products were developed to support the release: Web content, social media, a news release, and messages from the President to PSC employees, Deputy Heads, Heads of HR and parliamentary committees.

Overall, perceptions about the fairness, transparency and merit of staffing processes have improved between 2018 and 2021. There has been a positive “closing of the gap” between the perspectives of hiring managers and employees. This suggests that a period of adjustment may have been required to communicate and understand the significant changes introduced by the New Direction in Staffing in 2016. The results for 2021 are similar to the results observed in the 2013 Survey of Staffing, which was carried out before the introduction of the New Direction in Staffing.

The 2021 survey results reveal that:

In addition to the publication of the SNPS Highlights report, an interactive data visualization tool was developed that allows for manipulation of the data to obtain the most useful information by organization. As well, the complete SNPS datasets were released on the Open Government Portal.

Analytics of the 2021 SNPS communications:

On behalf of the PSC, Shared Services Canada conducted an A/B test on the PSC’s institutional profile page to try out a new version of it to increase link clicks on the “Services and information” and “Most requested” sections.

What is A/B testing?

As a result of this testing, we will implement a new design and layout in the long term to further optimize our website.

On behalf of the PSC, Shared Services Canada conducted an A/B test on the GC Jobs page to try out a new design and layout to increase the click-through rate of the following links:

When comparing the overall click-through rate of all 6 links, version A (current layout) performed better. But when click-through rate is broken down by individual link, version B (experimental layout) often performed better. As a result, we will:

Media requests received: 3

Infocom requests received: 13
Main subjects of requests:

Policy Guidance

Letters to Heads of HR were published in September 2021 to communicate the extension of the temporary measures for the oral interaction and in January 2022 to communicate the extension and changes to the temporary measures and to the terms of use for unsupervised test results. The questions and answers for human resources specialists were updated accordingly.

In September 2021, new guidance on Advertising an appointment process was published to communicate considerations when deciding whether to advertise, including scenarios to illustrate the considerations. In February 2022, a new scenario illustrating the considerations related to the use of social media in staffing was added.

In December 2021, the PSC, in collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) delivered a joint presentation to the National Staffing Council with respect to the CS to IT classification conversion exercise. Guidance on staffing considerations following the conversion to the IT group were shared verbally and new staffing interpretations related to classification conversion exercises and reclassifications were shared in February via the Staffing Interpretation Centre.

In collaboration with Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) on the Employment Systems Review Guide, the Policy Division is awaiting TBS approval before publication. The guide is expected to be published by late April/early May 2022.

Oversight

Cyclical Assessment

SSD reported observations from the most recent cyclical assessment cycle (May to October 2021) to internal partners and senior management.

61 organizations submitted a cyclical assessment this cycle:

Organizational reporting demonstrated an overall understanding of the requirements and objectives of the cyclical assessment process, with most organizations:

Best practices included:

Cyclical Assessment Pilot Project

All cyclical assessments performed on behalf of smaller organizations participating in the Cyclical Assessment Pilot Project (CAPP) were completed last Fall and reports submitted to deputy heads. A summary report on key results from the pilot project and key considerations directed at the PSC for next steps on the cyclical assessment requirement for smaller organizations was presented at MOC in February 2022. Key results from the pilot project have also been integrated into the analysis undertaken by the Policy and Communications Sector on all cyclical assessments submitted to the PSC. 

In February 2022, the PSC presented a high-level overview of findings from the CAPP to the Office of the Comptroller General’s Small Departments Audit Committee.

Oversight Activities

In the last five fiscal years, the PSC has received on average 157 requests for investigations of error, omission, or improper conduct in an appointment process per year. This combines both requests related to external hiring processes under section 66 of the PSEA and internal hiring processes at the request of the deputy head under subsection 67(2) of the PSEA.

Approximately half of these requests for investigations pertain to allegations of favouritism, nepotism, tailoring, failure to disclose a relationship or improper choice of process (referred to in the table as “Allegations Related to Partiality).

Though the number of investigation requests under these sections has remained relatively constant over the years, the proportion of cases that relate to allegations involving the issues mentioned above has gradually increased over the years.

Of the 787 investigation requests received in the past five fiscal years under section 66 and subsection 67(2), 366 were related to issues such as favouritism, nepotism, tailoring, failure to disclose a relationship or improper choice of process. Of those 366 cases, the PSC has since completed 235 and 131 remain to be completed. Of the 235 cases completed, 63 of them warranted an investigation, the rest were closed for various reasons without proceeding to an investigation. Finally, of the 63 completed investigations involving allegations related to partiality, 35 were deemed to be founded.

In conclusion, for the past five fiscal years, the PSC determined that 35 investigations were deemed founded for allegations related to favouritism, nepotism, tailoring, failure to disclose a relationship or improper choice of process.

Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board Insights

There are currently 583 active Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) staffing complaints filed under the New Direction in Staffing Appointment Framework.

Complaints by Fiscal Year
Fiscal Year Complaints Advertised (%) Non-Advertised (%)
2014 - 2015 601 70 30
2015 - 2016 594 76 24
2016 - 2017 (NDS) 736 53 47
2017 - 2018 624 56 44
2018 - 2019 584 43 57
2019 - 2020 472 55 45
2020 - 2021 442 48 52
2021 - 2022 309 49 51
Oct ‘21 - March ‘22 103 46 54

Advertised versus Non-advertised Appointments

Text version
Share of Non-Advertised Appointments by Staffing Process, Public Service Employment Act
Appointment Type 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022
Q3 YTD
New Hires 25% 34% 32% 41% 48% 54%
Acting 67% 74% 79% 83% 87% 87%
Promotions 28% 35% 42% 46% 54% 54%
All 29% 42% 46% 52% 60% 62%

The overall use of non-advertised staffing has continued to increase from 60% of appointments in 2020-2021 to 62% in 2021-2022 Q3 YTD. An increase was seen for new hires.

Share of Non-Advertised Appointments by Staffing Process - National Capital Region
Appointment Type 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022
Q3 YTD (Dec)
New Hires 36% 44% 40% 55% 67% 69%
Acting 73% 81% 85% 90% 92% 92%
Promotions 28% 37% 46% 49% 57% 59%
Total 33% 47% 51% 58% 68% 69%

 

Share of Non-Advertised Appointments by Staffing Process - outside the National Capital Region
Appointment Type 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022
Q3 YTD (Dec)
New Hires 17% 26% 24% 30% 34% 41%
Acting 62% 67% 73% 77% 81% 82%
Promotions 28% 32% 37% 41% 48% 47%
Total 25% 37% 39% 45% 51% 54%

The use of non-advertised staffing continued to be more pronounced in the NCR (69%) compared to the Regions (54%).

Outside NCR, the overall use of non-advertised staffing has continued to increase from 51% in 2020-2021 to 54% in 2021-2022 Q3 YTD.

Annex A - Breakdown of inquiries received by topic

*Assessment includes second language evaluations

Annex B - Breakdown of outreach conducted by event type

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