Sixteenth Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada

Annex C: Results from the Public Service Renewal 2008-09 Action Plan

Table of Contents

Planning

Recruitment

Employee Development

Enabling Infrastructure

Planning

Last year departments and agencies produced plans that linked human resources plans to business goals. The quality varied, given these organizations’ diverse experience with integrated planning.

Legend

Commitment completed

Significant progress demonstrated

Some progress demonstrated

This year:

2008-09 PS Renewal Commitments		Progress and Results
Each deputy head will update the department’s integrated business and human resources plan, including identifying progress against the 2007‑08 plan. Each updated plan will include a strategy for the recruitment, development and advancement of visible minorities, as well as Aboriginal people and persons with disabilities, setting out how to achieve representation at all levels that reflects their workforce availability.		35/36 departments/agencies updated their integrated business and human resources plans.
		34/36 updated plans include a strategy for the recruitment, development, and advancement of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities.
A panel of experienced external and internal executives will review the plans and identify the best practices by November 2008.		The expert panel reviewed departmental plans; the Report of the Expert Panel on Integrated Business and Human Resources Planning in the Federal Public Service provided advice to deputies and highlighted best practices.

Recruitment

We need to hire the right graduates and experienced workers to meet our varied work demands, as much as possible through direct recruitment into permanent jobs. Last year, we hired at least 4,000 recent university or college graduates, greatly exceeding our target of 3,000. A strong emphasis was also placed on personal involvement of senior public servants at recruitment initiatives to strengthen our public service brand and to share who we are and what we do.

This year:

2008-09 PS Renewal Commitments		Progress and Results
By the end of March 2009, deputy heads will make offers to at least 4,000 post-secondary graduates for indeterminate positions.		Deputy heads report that more than 4,200 post-secondary graduates have been appointed or offered appointments directly to indeterminate positions.
To accelerate closing the gap in representation of visible minority Canadians in the public service, overall recruitment in this area will exceed workforce availability.		Deputy heads report that more than 550 of these 4,200 graduates have self-identified as visible minority Canadians.
New recruits will have an orientation and learning plan to facilitate their effectiveness in the public service, including consideration of measures to strengthen second official language skills early in their career.		All new entrants attend orientation offered by the Canada School of Public Service. In addition 28/36 departments/agencies have provided orientation specific to their organization. 32/36 departments/ agencies have a more rigorous approach in place to ensure all employees have learning plans.
We will strengthen our public service brand, capturing in a compelling way who we are and what we do. Specifically:
During 2008-09, the Canada Public Service Agency (CPSA), in cooperation with the Public Service Commission (PSC) and departments, will pilot a new public service-wide approach to career fairs at no fewer than four universities across Canada. Managers will be equipped to make conditional job offers on the spot for suitable candidates.		Four pilot career fairs took place in Halifax, Victoria, Waterloo and Sherbrooke. In total: over 35 federal organizations participated in the initiative; more than 5,000 students and alumni attended the pilot fairs and supporting events; and more than 175 conditional job offers were made.
By March 2009, the CPSA and the PSC, in cooperation with departments, will develop a plan for a job-seeker friendly website. By the end of 2009 interested Canadians will be able to apply for any job open to external candidates through this website.		A plan has been developed. In the first phase, a new website design has been launched on the existing site. It is available at: http://jobs-emplois.gc.ca.

Employee Development

Last year most departments and agencies ensured that at least 90 percent of their employees had learning plans. Groundwork was laid to establish a strong and rigorous performance management system starting with deputy heads and associate deputy ministers and expanding it to the entire executive cadre.

This year:

2008-09 PS Renewal Commitments		Progress and Results
Leadership and Development
Deputy heads will ensure that by March 2009 discussions have occurred between supervisors and their employees regarding performance, career development and related learning needs. Learning plans will be updated as a result, building on the implementation of last year's plans.		32/36 departments/agencies have met this commitment or are "on track".
Deputy heads will expand talent management to their entire executive cadre by March 2009, building on the ADM Talent Management approach. The CPSA will provide by September 2008 a common framework and tools for deputy heads to use.		35/36 departments/agencies have met this commitment or are "on-track".
		CPSA provided deputy heads with common executive talent management tools and supplementary materials.
We will intensify our support for leadership development at all levels. Specifically:
By January 2009, a second group of at least 25 promising senior leaders will undertake the Advanced Leadership Program.		A second cohort of 27 participants started in fall 2008 and will graduate in May 2009. Since it began in January 2008, the Advanced Leadership Program has had 52 participants.
As a special developmental opportunity for future leaders, 150 new employees selected from across the public service will prepare by June 2009, under the Privy Council Office's sponsorship, an assessment of the principal challenges facing Canada in 2017 and their implications for the public service.		Three working conferences have taken place, and using web 2.0 tools, participants have identified a series of policy challenges. The final phase of work, culminating in June 2009, will focus on identifying implications for the public service.
By March 2009, the CPSA, in collaboration with the Canada School of Public Service, will strengthen our management development programs. We will ensure that tools such as the Career Assignment Program and the Accelerated Executive Development Program are effective in supporting the timely preparation of the next generation of public service leaders.		A Leadership Development Framework has been developed. Work is underway to align tools and programs with the framework.
Managing Performance
Building on the new rigorous system being applied to the performance management of deputies, deputy heads will:
Institute and apply a comparably rigorous approach in their departments. All executives will have clear, assessable commitments in place by July 2008 and will receive mid-year feedback on progress by the end of November 2008. Specific action plans will be developed and implemented to address all performance issues.		31/36 departments/agencies have met this commitment or are "on track".
Implement the revised Performance Management Program for eligible excluded or unrepresented employees by March 2009.		The program was introduced in April 2008, with 2008/09 serving as a transition year for departments/agencies to fully implement. Three departments (DND, INAC and CPSA) are piloting supporting tools and processes, which will be made available to all departments by April 2009.

Enabling Infrastructure

Last year, we made modest progress on improving our human resources infrastructure, focusing on reducing the wait times for access to second language oral testing and in developing a tool to transfer employee records rapidly as employees change departments, expanding the use of "fast-track" staffing, and developing generic job descriptions to facilitate classification for key occupational groups.

This year:

2008-09 PS Renewal Commitments		Progress and Results
Governance
Responsibility for human resources management in the public service will be clarified and simplified this year as recommended in March 2008 by the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on the Public Service.		The Prime Minister announced a new human resources governance structure effective March 2, 2009.
Effectiveness
The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) will begin to reduce the "web of rules" constraining the effective delivery of services and advice, as follows:
TBS will put into effect by October 2008 a new Policy on Transfer Payments that reduces central oversight on high-performing departments in the delivery of grants and contributions; and		The new Policy on Transfer Payments is in effect and will reduce the number of submissions by departments to TB ministers by 10 percent (80 fewer) per year.
TBS will work with the six departments that deliver over 50 percent of grants and contributions spending to reduce by March 2009 their clients' administrative and reporting burden by at least 10 percent.		The six "Vanguard" departments/agencies (Human Resources and Skills Development, Indian and Northern Affairs, Health Canada, Canadian Heritage, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, and the Canadian International Development Agency) have taken specific actions to reduce the administrative and reporting burden by 10 percent for clients.
By March 2009, TBS will rescind an additional 30 Treasury Board policies (for a total of 86 out of 136 policies to be rescinded).		TBS is "on track" to rescind 30 policies.
Benchmarking
By November 2008, PCO, in consultation with the Deputy Minister Committee on Public Service Renewal, will set out the key indicators to be used for central tracking of the state of the public service and people management within it.		New performance and status indicators are ready for implementation on April 1, 2009.
CPSA, through Statistics Canada, will administer the fourth Public Service Employee Survey to all employees, with results reported by March 2009.		The Public Service Employee Survey was administered in the fall of 2008. Results will be made available in May 2009.
In addition, by March 2009 the CPSA, working with Statistics Canada, will finalize development of an on-line survey to measure employee engagement that will be administered annually starting in 2009-10.		The Annual Employee Survey will be ready to administer online in 2010.
By March 2009, consistent with being primarily responsible for people management in their departments, deputy heads will establish departmental service standards for key human resources services, including staffing, classification and employee pay, and communicate these to their employees.		26/36 departments/agencies have met this commitment or are "on track".

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