Modernizing the Public Workforce
by Leslie Goddard
The Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA), passed in November of 2003, began a new era of human resources management in Canada’s public service. The ways public servants are hired, managed and supported are all being transformed. The PSMA and its four supporting pieces of legislation will modernize staffing, support collaborative labour-management relations, clarify managerial roles and responsibilities, and provide employees at all levels with access to continuous learning opportunities.
A critical component of the PSMA is the new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), scheduled to come into force on December 31, 2005. It modernizes staffing with a new definition of merit that moves away from the rules-based concept of ‘best qualified’ to a values-based approach that allows managers to hire, more efficiently, the ‘right fit’ for the organization.
Under the PSEA, the Public Service Commission (PSC), as an independent agency reporting to Parliament, will continue to be responsible for appointment and appointment-related policies, and for safeguarding the integrity of the staffing system, public service-wide. However, the PSC will no longer be involved in most staffing actions. This will be delegated to deputy heads, and through them, to the lowest possible level within the organization. Deputies will be able to customize their staffing systems to meet the specific business needs of their department or agency. HR planning and business planning will be linked. Managers will have greater flexibility and discretion to use their own judgment in assessing candidates and making staffing decisions. They will be held accountable by the PSC for their decisions.
The PSC, under the leadership of its President, Maria Barrados, has been a key player in preparing federal organizations to take on their added responsibilities under the new PSEA.
“These reforms have been a long time coming,” says Barrados. “Over the past 40 years or so, there have been studies, projects, task forces, and other sorts of activities, with experts working together to try to reach a consensus on how to move the public service forward. But any changes that were made weren’t major.”
Barrados credits the 2000 report of the Auditor General for providing the needed push. “The report said that no real progress could be made in overhauling the complex, rules-based, time-consuming system, without changing the governing legislation. Then the Task Force to Modernize Human Resources Management was established to come up with recommendations for legislative change. They stated explicitly that there should be no more studies, that it was time for change. The Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA) is the result.”
FLEXIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The PSC’s focus over the past two years has been preparing federal departments and agencies to take on their new responsibilities under the Act. “The Act provides the flexibility that enables organizations to design processes that work for them. We’ve developed a high-level framework of policies, tools and guides to help departments shape staffing systems tailored to their specific needs. We’ve come up with a standard that ensures that the staffing values are observed, but deputy heads and their managers have a great opportunity to innovate within that framework.”
Barrados believes the biggest change under the new PSEA is the cultural shift that must take place in the public service, of managers being fully engaged in all aspects of HR management. “Managers will have unprecedented flexibility in how they hire and manage their employees.” The new definition of merit as the ’right fit‘ as opposed to the ’most qualified‘, for example, allows managers to hire more efficiently, with future as well as current organizational needs in mind.
But, Barrados points out, there has to be a balance between the flexibility offered by delegation of staffing authority, and accountability for the way that authority is exercised. “Managers have to be more engaged than ever before in staffing processes. They have to do longer-term HR planning, and link it to business planning, so they know what skills and qualifications their department will need, now and in the future. They have to know – and answer for – how and why people are hired.”
THE OVERSIGHT ROLE
The PSC has, since its inception (as the Civil Service Commission) in 1908, been mandated by Parliament to independently safeguard the integrity of appointments to and within the public service. Initially this meant the Commission operated the HR management system. Over the years, this role has evolved. Under the new Act, oversight takes precedence. Deputy heads are accountable to the PSC for how their delegated staffing authority is exercised within their organization. The Commission, in turn, is accountable to Parliament for the overall health of the system.
“To support our oversight role, we’ve increased the PSC’s audit capacity,” says Barrados. “We created an Audit Branch, and the number of auditors has grown from five to 23. Our audits will focus on public service-wide issues, such as personal favouritism, as well as on the staffing activities of individual organizations. Our audits, along with other oversight activities, result in our reports to Parliament on the integrity of the appointment process.”
As another aspect of oversight, the PSC’s Investigations Branch will, in certain situations, investigate complaints of staffing irregularities. The Commission also performs statistical studies that enable an analytical approach to issues related to hiring and staffing, and are useful in supporting the PSC’s oversight activities.
Barrados explains that the PSC has developed a continuum of accountability tools and mechanisms to hold deputy heads accountable for the way their delegated authorities are exercised. “We have an Appointment Framework in place. We’ve re-written the delegation instrument. Our Staffing Management Accountability Framework provides managers with a description of our expectations in various areas of human resources management, along with performance indicators and measures. We’ll monitor appointment patterns and the way departments gather and maintain information on staffing actions. We’ll provide feedback to organizations, so they can make improvements.
“We’re also ready to take corrective action when we find questionable practices or abuses. We can impose limitations on delegated authority, or withdraw it altogether. However, it’s important that accountability not be seen as burdensome or punitive. I’ll be much happier if I can report to Parliament that any issues we’ve discovered have been resolved.”
To safeguard the value of non-partisanship in Canada’s public service, the PSEA provides for the PSC to develop a new regime governing the political activities of public servants. While the right to participate in the political process is recognized, so is the principle of maintaining an impartial federal workforce. “Public servants can get involved in political activities as long as it doesn’t impair, or can’t be perceived as impairing, their ability to do their job in a politically impartial way. Sometimes it’s difficult for an individual to make that judgement.” The PSC has an online self-assessment tool to help with that. In addition, the PSC will, on a case-by-case basis, provide guidance on everything from standing as a candidate to the appropriateness of wearing a campaign button in support of a particular candidate. The PSC will also grant permission and leave without pay, if it approves a person’s request to run for election, and will investigate allegations of improper political activities.
PSC AS SERVICE PROVIDER
“The modernized HR management regime sets the PSC on a new course,” Barrados says. “We have the same mission, but a clear direction on changing how it is to come about. We will no longer be running parts of the system. Instead, we will be overseeing it.”
The PSEA steers the Commission away from its traditional role as sole provider of recruitment and assessment services for public service organizations. Under the Act, departments are responsible for managing all human resources activities, including recruitment and assessment. However, the PSC will maintain certain services to support departments and agencies in meeting their obligations. Service delivery remains one of the PSC’s business lines.
“We’ve set up a separate and distinct service organization within the PSC. The vice president who leads that unit reports directly to me as the chief executive officer of the PSC,” Barrados explains. “The Services Branch provides a common portal for Canadians to access public service jobs. It’s also a centre of excellence in assessment, it continues to manage national recruitment programs such as Post-Secondary Recruitment, and it offers tailored recruitment services.” Deputy heads will be able to choose from a variety of options to meet their recruitment and assessment needs. However, Barrados adds, “Our goal is to make the PSC’s service organization, with its established expertise, the provider of choice for federal organizations, but we’ll have to compete with other potential providers.”
THE CHALLENGE
“The major challenge for the public service will be to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the new PSEA to build a risk-tolerant, innovative HR management regime that is still merit-based, respectful of the staffing values, and free from political interference,” Barrados asserts.
She notes that, “The engagement of stakeholders is essential to the success of the modernized regime.” Managers have to take ownership of the HR management process, and have to use the flexibilities available under the new PSEA. HR specialists have to perform an advisory role, ensuring that the staffing actions that take place conform to the organization’s HR plan; and they have to be prepared to challenge managers when the staffing values are threatened.
“If we simply re-create the old system, we’ll have missed a chance to get out from under all the rigid, rules-heavy practices that have been bogging down the public service for years. Let’s not rely on the old manuals; let’s not be weighed down by rules that we impose on ourselves.”
Leslie Goddard is with the Public Service Commission of Canada. For more information, see www.psc-cfp.gc.ca.
