ARCHIVED - RPP 2007-2008
Public Service Commission of Canada

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Section I - Overview

President’s Message

I am pleased to present the Public Service Commission’s (PSC)
2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP).

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent agency reporting to Parliament, mandated to safeguard the integrity of the public service staffing system and the political neutrality of the public service.

Our goal with this Report is to provide Parliament with detailed and accurate information about: our organization’s plans and priorities in 2007-2008 to 2009-2010 and the strategies we will use to fulfil our mandate; the risks, challenges, and opportunities inherent in our new role under the new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA); and the resources we will need to do our work to the best advantage of Canadians and Parliament.

The PSC’s strategic outcome is to provide Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, able to provide service in both official languages, in which appointments are based on the values of fairness, access, representativeness and transparency.

In support of that outcome, the PSC has identified five priorities for the planning period:

• Fully implement the new PSEA;
• Reinforce the PSC’s role in support of Parliament;
• Ensure proper oversight and accountability to Parliament;
• Provide staffing and assessment services that respond to the needs of delegated managers and Canadians; and 
• Become a model organization.

We are pleased with the progress departments and agencies have made over the past year, in putting in place the essential elements required under the new PSEA. However, much more needs to be done. The PSC will continue to provide guidance, policies, interpretation and tools and will support deputy heads in exercising their delegated authorities and making full use of the provisions of the new Act. We will also continue to monitor the political activities of public servants.

The PSC oversees the integrity of the appointment system on behalf of Parliament and thereby helps preserve the non-partisan nature of the public service. We provide assurance directly to Parliament on the health of the system through our committee appearances, audits, reports, studies and investigations.

The PSC has reallocated $6.1 million (including the Employee Benefits Plan) internally to fulfil our responsibilities under the new PSEA. Additional long-term funding is needed, however, to fully implement the new Act. Without new funding, we risk having to drop key activities.

We are having discussions with officials on the best way to obtain additional funding. By statute, the PSC makes most of its policy decisions independent of ministerial direction. As a result, the PSC does not fit comfortably into existing processes for obtaining additional funding. We need a funding solution to support full implementation of the new PSEA in the long-term.  

The PSC is committed to building a model organization. We will strive to ensure we have the organizational capacity and flexibility to respond effectively and efficiently to our evolving operational environment, and emerging opportunities and risks. Over the next three years, we will achieve this by continuing to:

• build an organization and management structure responsive to emerging opportunities and risks, and supportive of our role as an independent agency reporting to Parliament;
• refine our management and stewardship of our financial, human and information resources within an integrated planning framework; and
• build a productive, sustainable and adaptive workforce.

We expect to be the provider of choice for departments and agencies seeking staffing and assessment services and will promote the identification and use of best practices in all areas. To directly benefit all Canadians, we will continue to modernize our Web-based recruitment tools for staffing processes, so that we can increase Canadians’ access to public service employment opportunities.

We are committed in all our activities to building a strong Canadian public service as it modernizes and renews its workforce.

Management Representation Statement

We submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) for the Public Service Commission (PSC).

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2007-2008 Estimates: Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports.

• It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) guidance;
• It is based on the PSC’s Strategic Outcome and 2007-2008 Program Activity Architecture that were approved by the Treasury Board;
• It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information;
• It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to the PSC; and
• It reports finances based on approved planned spending numbers from the TBS in the RPP.

The PSC’s Executive Management Committee oversees preparation of the report, and approves it after receiving advice of the PSC Internal Audit Committee.

______________________ Maria Barrados, PhD President February 1, 2007

______________________ Anne-Marie Robinson Senior Financial Officer February 1, 2007

Summary Information

Mission, Vision and Values - Striving for Excellence 

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is dedicated to building a public service that strives for excellence. We protect merit, non-partisanship, representativeness and the use of both official languages.

We safeguard the integrity of staffing in the public service and the political impartiality of public servants. We develop policies and guidance for public service managers and hold them accountable for their staffing decisions. We conduct audits and investigations to confirm the effectiveness of the staffing system and to make improvements. As an independent agency, we report our results to Parliament.

We recruit talented Canadians to the public service, drawn from across the country. We continually renew our recruitment services to meet the needs of a modern and innovative public service.

Values to Guide our Actions

In serving Parliament and Canadians, we are guided by and proudly adhere to the following values:

• Integrity in our actions;
• Fairness in our decisions;
• Respect in our relationships; and
• Transparency in our communication.

Financial and Human Resources

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
103,420	97,007	99,213

Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
1,015	1,002	1,014

Program Activity Architecture

Over the next three years, the PSC will use four program activities to achieve its strategic outcome:

• Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality;
• Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality;
• Staffing Services and Assessment; and
• Corporate Services.

These four program activities will focus on and be organized around the PSC’s five priorities discussed in Section I and reflect the Program Activity Architecture (PAA) approved in June 2006. The primary change to the PAA was the creation of a new program activity, Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality that includes PSC monitoring of delegated authorities, audits, studies and evaluations, investigations and early intervention mechanisms. This program activity presents a clear delineation between the PSC’s policy and oversight functions. A crosswalk between the old and new PAA is presented below.

Section II of the RPP describes in more detail each program activity, related planned commitments and performance expectations.

Program Activity Architecture (PAA) Crosswalk ($ thousands)

PAA 2006-2007		PAA 2007-2008
		Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality	Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality	Staffing Services and Assessment	TOTAL
Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality	48,584	18,371	25,806	4,407	48,584
Recruitment and Assessment Services	43,472			43,472	43,472
TOTAL	92,056	18,371	25,806	47,879	92,056

PSC’s Results Chain

The following PSC Results Chain links what we deliver to our long-term result or strategic outcome.

(Click on the image to enlarge.)

Supporting the Government of Canada’s Outcomes

The PSC’s strategic outcome of providing Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service fully supports the Government of Canada’s outcomes, as outlined in Canada’s Performance 2006. The PSC is a key player in safeguarding and fostering the integrity of the staffing system and political neutrality of the public service through monitoring, audits, studies, and evaluations and investigations in support of the government’s public policy values of equity, transparency, and fairness. It reports annually to Parliament.

The PSC is also adapting its products and services to ensure that departments and agencies continue to have access to professional recruitment and assessment services.

The PSC is actively working to provide improved on-line staffing tools so that all Canadians have access to employment opportunities in the public service.

Finally, through its programs and services, the PSC directly contributes to the Government of Canada’s outcomes of fostering a diverse society that promotes linguistic duality and social inclusion. It does so by ensuring that the human resources management policies of the federal public service protect merit, non-partisanship, representativeness and the use of both official languages. We monitor and assess compliance with those policies.

Planning Overview

Operating Environment

The PSC’s mandate has two distinct aspects. 

First, the PSC oversees the integrity of the appointment system on behalf of Parliament. To do this, the PSC must be independent of Government and close to Parliament.

Second, the PSC provides staffing and assessment services to public service departments and agencies. This requires that the PSC understand and respond to the needs of human resources professionals and hiring managers.

Working with Departments and Agencies

The PSC is exercising this mandate in a time of transition related to how positions are staffed in the public service. The new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) encourages the PSC to delegate its appointment authorities to deputy heads, and through them to their managers. The intention is to give managers significant opportunities to hire, manage and lead their employees to meet the needs of Canadians within the legislative framework.

To benefit fully from this new legislation, which came into effect December 31, 2005, the federal public service must change. Human resources officers, managers and senior executives must understand their new roles and the new opportunities they have to staff their organizations. They need to make the transition from a rules-based approach to a values-based approach.

To facilitate this cultural change, the PSC is working in collaboration with the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada and the Canada School of Public Service to provide training, support and guidance to human resources professionals and managers across the public service. The PSC is also offering discretionary staffing and assessment services to departments and agencies as they take on their new responsibilities under the PSEA.

Overseeing the Integrity of the System

At the same time as it works closely with departments and agencies, the PSC must fulfil its responsibilities to Parliament. 

The Commission is charged with ensuring that deputy heads exercise their delegated staffing authorities appropriately, and adhere to the values and principles in the new legislation. A variety of accountability mechanisms and oversight tools are in place to accomplish this. When the PSC identifies risks to the appointment system, it recommends changes. It can also sanction organizations, or impose conditions on how they exercise delegated authorities. In exceptional cases, the PSC can withdraw those authorities. 

The PSC also monitors whether the appointment system overall is operating effectively, and safeguards the non-partisanship of the public service. It reports annually to Parliament on the integrity of the system, and may make special reports to Parliament on urgent or important matters.

Safeguarding Non-Partisanship

Protecting a non-partisan public service has been the tradition and mandate of the Commission since its inception in 1908. Under the new PSEA, a strengthened political activities regime has been established to balance the right of public servants to participate in the political process with the need to preserve the impartiality of the public service.

The PSC has developed political activities regulations that define the process for requesting permission and approving requests from public servants who wish to be candidates in federal, provincial, territorial and, for the first time, municipal elections. The PSC has also developed a guide and self-assessment tool explaining employees’ rights and obligations in this area. The PSC may investigate allegations of improper political conduct by public servants.

Experience over the past year with the higher volume of candidates’ requests to run in municipal elections indicates that additional efforts are required to clarify and communicate the requirements of this process. The PSC will introduce new measures to monitor, assess and report on the performance of departments and agencies more generally in helping to preserve the impartiality of the public service.

A Complex Environment

The public service of Canada faces significant challenges and risks in attempting to nurture a delegated staffing system. The human resources community lacks skilled specialists to support managers who now have additional staffing responsibility delegated to them. Implementation of accountability requirements, and compliance with those requirements is uneven. Management information systems are weak. Many departments and agencies require ongoing guidance and support to conduct their staffing under the new PSEA.

Overall, there is a possibility that the integrity of the new staffing system will be at risk, and that the public service will not benefit from the opportunities available under the new legislation.

Because the PSC is responsible for overseeing the integrity of the staffing system, these challenges and risks are the PSC’s challenges and risks.

The PSC must also deal with its own challenges: meeting demands from clients for services; building capacities in key areas of its mandate; introducing essential technology; and strengthening management practices. The PSC must refocus its day-to-day work – from providing mandatory services and handling appeals under the old PSEA, to overseeing the integrity of the appointment system and providing discretionary services. The PSC must fulfill its statutory obligations while fully supporting the government, particularly in a time of transition and public service renewal.

The next section explores these challenges and risks.

Key PSC Challenges and Risks

The PSC has identified the primary challenges and risks emerging from the complex environment in which it operates, and adopted strategies to address them. (More detail is available in Section IV, Corporate Risk Profile and Challenges).

First, the human resources community lacks skilled specialists who can provide managers with the support necessary to effectively take on the expanded staffing roles envisaged by the new PSEA. Without necessary support, managers are hindered from taking on the expanded staffing roles envisaged in the PSEA.

The PSC will continue to offer guidance and support to departments and agencies. It will work with partners to increase human resources capacity over time. A related issue is the failure of many departments and agencies to conduct effective human resources (HR) planning. This weakens both corporate planning and the quality of staffing actions. The PSC will promote the benefits of planning and identify risk areas where required.

Given the increased managerial discretion under the new PSEA, there is a risk that hiring managers’ decisions may not always demonstrate the proper use of staffing flexibilities and not sufficiently protect merit. Weak information systems for monitoring and reporting under the PSEA could make it difficult to identify this issue and could undermine effective accountability. The PSC will continue to communicate its expectations, work with departments and agencies to monitor adherence to the staffing values, and improve and harmonize human resources information systems across the public service.

The PSC risks losing clients for its staffing and assessment services if it does not respond adequately to growing demands and changing requirements. A delay in improving the technology aimed at re-engineering staffing and recruitment processes would aggravate this situation and slow the implementation of the national area of selection policy. To address this possibility, the PSC will implement its new service vision, introduce national service standards, and enhance communication with clients. It will also act to maintain support for e-resourcing technology in government.

If the PSC fails to bolster its own capacity in such areas as audit, investigations and services, it will have difficulty in fulfilling its enhanced mandate. To address capacity issues, the PSC will implement a multi-year audit plan, complete the Investigations Branch reorganization, and recruit and train staff in critical areas.

The PSC needs to secure new funding to fully implement its obligations under the new PSEA. Through consultation with Parliament and its public service partners, the PSC needs to find a funding solution to support full implementation of the new PSEA over the long run. This will ensure it can respond effectively and efficiently to a rapidly evolving operating environment.

Finally, the PSC needs to strengthen its succession planning and human resources strategies to face the possibility of a shortage of qualified personnel. The PSC will develop more rigorous, corporate human resources planning processes and build staff capacity and competencies.

PSC’s Priorities

The PSC has identified five priorities that will be the focus of our four program activities for the period 2007-2008 to 2009-2010. While no new priorities have been introduced, revisions have increased the number of priorities from four to five. These revisions will provide the PSC greater flexibility and effectiveness in responding to the changing operational environment and evolving roles introduced by the new PSEA. The following table provides planned spending by priority.

Priorities	Type of Priority	Program Activity	Planned Spending ($ thousands)
			2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
I. Fully implement the new PSEA	Previously committed (revised)	Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality	17,051	17,008	17,008
II. Reinforce the PSC’s role in support  of Parliament	Previously committed (revised)	All Program activities	__	__	__
III. Ensure proper oversight and accountability to Parliament	Previously committed	Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality	28,860	28,792	28,792
IV. Provide PSC staffing and assessment services that respond to the needs of delegated managers and Canadians	Previously committed (revised)	Staffing Services and Assessment	57,509	51,207	53,413
V. Become a model organization	Previously committed (revised)	All program activities	__	__	__
	Total		103,420	97,007	99,213

Planned spending for Corporate Services, the fourth PSC program activity, has been allocated to each priority. All PSC program activities contribute to Priorities II and V; therefore, no separate costing is provided. The detailed financial information presented in Section II includes the allocation of corporate services’ costs, estimated at $32,475K for 2007-2008. These costs include functions related to the President’s and commissioners’ offices ($1,102K), corporate secretariat ($796K), corporate initiatives ($1,764K), finance and administration ($6,973K), corporate planning and reporting ($1,348K), human resources management ($4,684K), information technology ($8,930K), communications and parliamentary affairs ($4,408K), library services ($681K), legal services ($1,110K) and internal audit ($679K). The basis of allocation of corporate services’ costs is currently under review as we develop a new costing model for our cost-recovery activities.

The total costs of corporate services have increased due to decisions to centralize delivery of a selection of corporate services including equipment and furniture procurement and language training. We anticipate this will increase efficiencies and management controls in these areas.

Priority I - Fully implement the new PSEA

The new PSEA makes it possible for public service departments and agencies to transform their staffing processes. It does not, however, guarantee success. Organizations must build appointment systems that take advantage of the opportunities contained in the new Act. They must resist the temptation to slide back into the comfortable familiarity of a rules-based approach to staffing.

Although organizations have made progress in implementing the new PSEA, continuing effort is required. The goal is to change the culture so that managers make strategic staffing choices based on appropriate planning of their human resources requirements. The goal is to help change the culture surrounding human resource management. They must also assume greater responsibility and accountability for their staffing decisions. This cannot be accomplished in one or two years.

The PSC has a continuing responsibility to assist in this process of transformation. The PSC’s Appointment Framework helps deputy heads build appointment systems to meet their own organizational needs while respecting legislative requirements, the staffing values and PSC policies. In 2007-2008, the PSC will:

• continue to offer support and advice to departments and agencies on staffing issues that arise under the new PSEA. It will use specialized information sessions for HR professionals, such as the SmartShops series, to deliver this support and advice;
• continue to revise delegation instruments, where appropriate, and strengthen tools to support departments and agencies. The purpose of these activities will be to prompt managers and HR professionals to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the new PSEA;
• assess its appointment policies and practices to determine where improvements can be made. It will identify staffing system problems through regular consultations, risk management, research and analytical studies. It will develop new staffing policies to respond to emerging issues – anticipating the need for changes while avoiding ad hoc, reactive policy responses;
• begin to prepare for the five-year evaluation of the PSEA. To do so, its policy work will take on a longer-term perspective and vision. This will allow the PSC to exercise leadership in its areas of responsibility and in collaboration with others; and
• strengthen its National Area of Selection (NAOS) policy to increase Canadians’ access to employment in the federal public service. Subject to the results of evaluations, the policy will be extended on April 1, 2007 for officer-level positions nationally and by December 2007, NAOS will be required for officer and non-officer jobs.

Priority II - Reinforce the PSC’s role in support of Parliament

The PSC, on behalf of Parliament, oversees the integrity of the staffing system and the political impartiality of the public service. Its position as an independent agency reporting to Parliament was strengthened under the new PSEA. For example, the Act gives Parliament a greater role in the appointment of the PSC president; it allows the Commission to issue special reports to Parliament. The PSC wants to reinforce its independence in order to improve its ability to oversee the staffing system effectively. It sees two ways to accomplish this:

• by strengthening its ties to Parliament: In 2007-2008, the PSC will seek to increase its dialogue with Parliament about the integrity of the staffing system and non-partisanship; and
• by clarifying its standing as a unique, independent agency: In 2007-2008, the PSC will initiate discussions for more independent funding arrangements, similar to those under study for other bodies that support Parliament. 

Priority III - Ensure proper oversight and accountability to Parliament

To fulfil its accountability to Parliament for safeguarding the integrity of public service appointments and protecting non-partisanship, the PSC has developed a continuum of accountability mechanisms and oversight tools. In 2007-2008, we will strengthen these mechanisms and tools and build our capacity to do so where required.

The PSC monitors and assesses departmental and agency performance and provides feedback to deputy heads so they can improve their appointment processes.

• The PSC will incorporate changes in one key tool, the Staffing Management Accountability Framework, so it focuses more on results and provides more responsive feedback to departments and agencies.

Audits, evaluations and statistical studies allow the PSC to examine the staffing activities of departments and agencies and analyze government-wide issues. 

• The PSC’s Audit Branch has a multi-year plan to build its audit capacity, hire more auditors and analysts, consolidate its professional practices, and produce more audit reports, evaluations and studies. It has also begun to develop a framework and plan for the five-year legislative review of the new PSEA.

The PSC conducts investigations of external appointments under the new PSEA, staffing processes where fraud is suspected, or alleged improper political activities by public servants. It can also conduct investigations into internal staffing, at the request of deputy heads. 

• The PSC’s Investigations Branch is completing the appeals carried over from the old PSEA and progressively shifting its focus to its new PSEA investigation mandates. 

The PSC has been assigned two additional roles under the new PSEA.

It has standing before the new Public Service Staffing Tribunal. This provides the opportunity to encourage Tribunal decisions that protect staffing values and respect the policies and practices in the PSC’s Appointment Framework.

• The PSC will expand its participation before the Tribunal as the latter’s caseload of complaints increases.

The PSC has larger and more complex responsibilities for safeguarding non-partisanship in the public service. To fulfil them, the PSC has put a number of measures in place. 

• It will do more to ensure the effective monitoring and investigation of improper political conduct by public servants.

Priority IV - Provide PSC staffing and assessment services that respond to the needs of delegated managers and Canadians

Under previous staffing legislation, departments and agencies were required to obtain certain staffing services from the PSC. Now, for the most part, they can develop staffing services internally or seek them elsewhere.

For many organizations, particularly small ones, this presents a challenge. They are equipped neither to provide those services themselves nor to oversee outside providers. 

To meet their needs and those of other potential clients, the PSC now offers its recruitment, executive resourcing and assessment services on a discretionary basis. It does this through its Staffing and Assessment Services Branch. 

The Branch will adopt a public service-wide approach to staffing that focuses on attracting and retaining talented individuals to meet current and future needs. It has embarked on a comprehensive business transformation project to expand the scope of its services and emerge as the leader in modern staffing practices within the public service of Canada. It will:

• offer departments and agencies integrated staffing services that are customized to client needs and that support new PSEA staffing values;
• promote the public service of Canada as an employer of choice;
• further support the professionalization of staffing advisors; and
• encourage the use of technological innovation.

The increasing use of a national area of selection to recruit external candidates for federal government jobs will result in higher volumes of applications. The PSC believes the use of electronic screening tools is essential to process these applications efficiently and effectively. 

It has developed an innovative Web-based recruitment and screening tool, the Public Service Resourcing System. 

The Staffing and Assessment Services Branch will continue to prepare for the introduction of a longer-term electronic solution that will serve both external and internal selection processes.

Priority V - Become a model organization

To ensure it operates at peak effectiveness and achieves maximum value for taxpayers’ money, the PSC intends to continue striving for management excellence. This is particularly necessary during this period of significant change for the PSC and its employees.

• In the area of human resources management, the PSC will develop strategies to address the high incidence of staff turnover, improve learning and development opportunities for staff, increase internal communication, and strengthen succession planning and knowledge retention.
• Zero-based budgeting, audited financial statements, and a new internal audit committee with external members will strengthen the PSC’s financial management practices.
• The PSC will adopt integrated approaches to human resources, operational and information technology planning, and will refine its performance measurement framework to ensure that critical performance information is available for efficient and effective resource allocation decisions.
• The PSC will seek new resources to strengthen its ability to oversee the staffing system, and to meet new Treasury Board information technology security standards.

Overall, the PSC will strive to be a model organization, adhering to the principles of modern comptrollership and valuing the needs and concerns of employees.

 

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