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Section I – Public Service Commission Overview

President's Message

I am pleased to present the Public Service Commission's (PSC) 2009-2010 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP).

The 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. In addition, the PSC recruits qualified Canadians from across the country.

Our goal with this report is to provide Parliament with detailed and accurate information about our organization's plans and priorities during this planning period and the strategies we will use to achieve our objectives.

Our strategic outcome has remained constant — 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.

The PSC's key priorities for 2009-2010 are to:

1. Put in place a well-functioning delegated staffing model;
2. Provide independent oversight and assurance to Parliament on the integrity of the staffing system and the non-partisanship of the federal public service;
3. Enable organizations to manage their delegated responsibilities;
4. Provide integrated and modernized staffing and assessment services; and
5. Build on the model organization.

We will work with departments, agencies and deputy heads to put in place a well-functioning delegated staffing system in which expectations are clear and accountability reporting is streamlined. We will also continue to support organizations in managing their delegations by providing policy guidance, advice and services to sustain the progress made in achieving a values-based staffing system. To ensure that our policies remain efficient and effective, this year we will initiate a review of the PSC Appointment Policy Framework in preparation for the five-year legislation review required by the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) for December 2010.

Effective oversight and accountability are also critical in a delegated model. Work continues on improving our audit and monitoring activities. An Independent Review Committee has recently completed a review of our current oversight activities. The Committee confirmed the appropriateness of the PSC's current approach to oversight and level of effort and provided a number of valuable recommendations to support ongoing improvements.We are pleased to receive the Committee's report and will be working to implement their recommendations as we strengthen our oversight role.

Further refinements are being made to departmental/agency reporting to focus more on results as well as to reduce the administrative burden. These refinements will also provide organizations with more timely feedback on their staffing performance.

We have invested heavily in modernizing and transforming our services. More of our services are now provided on a cost recovery basis; those revenues are used to deliver innovative services to clients across government. Ongoing advice on the PSC's staffing and assessment services will be provided by a Deputy Minister Advisory Committee.

During this reporting period, the federal public service will be entering into the fourth year of implementing the PSEA. We will be continuing our work in preparation for the five-year review of the legislation.

The PSC will begin to implement the results of our participation in the Horizontal Review of Human Resources Management. Every effort will be made to manage this budget reduction through increased efficiencies.

I would like to thank our employees, who continue to show resilience during a period of remarkable change. Their efforts have strengthened our commitment to build a model organization. We will be moving forward with action plans to improve our work and our workplace, based on the feedback provided by employees in our twice-a-year surveys.

We look forward to working with Parliamentarians to fulfill our mandate and help ensure that Canadians continue to be served by a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, dedicated to excellence and able to meet future challenges.

Maria Barrados, PhD
President
February 3, 2009

Raison d'Être and Responsibilities

Raison d'être

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.

Principles to Guide our Actions

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

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

Responsibilities

On behalf of Parliament, the PSC safeguards the integrity of staffing and the non-partisan nature of the public service. In this respect, the PSC works closely with government but is independent from ministerial direction and is accountable to Parliament. The PSC's mandate is threefold.

First, the PSC is mandated to appoint, or provide for the appointment of, persons to or from within the public service. The PSC provides staffing and assessment functions and services to support staffing in the public service.

Second, the PSC is mandated to oversee the integrity of the staffing system and ensure non-partisanship. This oversight role includes maintaining and interpreting data on the public service, carrying out audits that provide assurance and make recommendations for improvements and conducting investigations that can lead to corrective action in the case of errors or problems.

Third, the PSC is mandated to administer provisions of the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) related to the political activities of employees and deputy heads.

Organizational information can be found in the electronic version of this document on the publications section of the PSC's Web site at http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca.

Public Service Commission's Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture

In order to effectively pursue its mandate, the PSC aims to achieve the following strategic outcome. The chart below illustrates the PSC's complete framework of program activities and program sub-activities that contribute to the achievement of the PSC's strategic outcome.

Planning Summary

Financial and Human Resources

Resources	2008­2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
Financial ($ thousands)	95,120	94,977	86,551
FTEs	989	989	936

Planning Summary Table

To measure the progress and contribution made toward its strategic outcome, the PSC has identified medium-term expected results (intermediate outcomes) under each program activity, over the three year planning period, as indicated below.

Strategic Outcome: 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.

Program Activity / Alignment to PSC Priorities*	Medium-Term Expected Results	Forecast Spending 2008-2009	Planned Spending ($ thousands)			Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
			2009- 2010	2010- 2011	2011- 2012
Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality Priority I, III, V	Recruitment strategies and staffing practices, consistent with the PSEA and the PSC's strategic outcome, are implemented across the public service	9,943	10,672	10,628	10,628	Government Affairs Safeguarding and fostering the integrity and political neutrality of public servants
Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality Priority I, II, III, V	Organizations have implemented PSC monitoring and audit recommendations and corrective action as a result of investigations that contribute to safeguarding the integrity of staffing and political neutrality Enhanced risk-based oversight of the integrity of public service staffing	21,513	21,706	21,677	21,677
Staffing Services and Assessment Priority III, IV, V	Staffing and assessment services and products meet the business needs of clients and are consistent with the PSEA and the PSC's strategic outcome	38,7611	30,6601	30,5481	22,6641
Internal Services Priority V	Sound, effective and efficient management practices and support functions for the delivery of the PSC's mandate	35,216	32,082	32,124	31,582
Total Planned Spending		105,4331	95,1201	94,9771	86,5511

*The PSC has four operational priorities and one management priority in support of its strategic outcome for FY 2009-2010.

Note 1:  Excludes expenditures of $12,350K for 2008-2009 and $14,000K for the next three years related to net voting activities for assessment and counselling services offered on a cost recovery basis.

Contribution of Priorities to the Public Service Commission Strategic Outcome

To achieve the PSC's strategic outcome during the planning period, the PSC has chosen to focus its attention and resources on the following priorities.

Operational Priorities:

Priority I: Put in place a well-functioning delegated staffing model

Type of Priority: New

The PSEA and the PSC's appointment framework enable departments and agencies to design their staffing processes to address their own situations and needs.

After more than two years under the PSEA, the public service can now be described as functionally operating under a fully established delegated staffing regime. Although organizations have made progress in implementing the PSEA, continued effort is required to achieve its objectives. Adjustments to the PSC's policy suite have also been made based on early experience. The PSEA requires a review of the Act five years after coming into force. In a well-functioning delegated model, the PSC must ensure the following:

• Clarity on what is expected of departments and agencies;
• Dialogue and support to facilitate a shared understanding of PSEA objectives and values;
• Effective monitoring activities to identify issues and concerns; and
• Provision of feedback and corrective action, as required.

Selected planning highlights include the following:

• Contribute to the five-year legislative review;
• Carry out a Policy Review to ensure that policies give effect to the legislative requirements and support the staffing values of a well-functioning delegated model;
• Actively engage stakeholders to seek their perspectives on the issues and improvements needed for the PSEA ; and
• Refine the Staffing Management Accountability Framework (SMAF) and the Departmental Staffing Assessment Report (DSAR) process to ensure more rigorous assessments and reporting of the overall integrity of the staffing system to Parliament.

Priority II: Provide independent oversight and assurance to Parliament on the integrity of the staffing system and the non-partisanship of the federal public service

Type of Priority: Previously committed

The PSC, on behalf of Parliament, oversees the integrity of the staffing system and the political impartiality of the public service. To fulfill its accountability to Parliament, the PSC has developed and continues to refine on an ongoing basis a continuum of oversight mechanisms and tools.

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

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

Selected planning highlights include the following:

• Implement recommendations from the PSC Oversight Review;
• Monitor departments and agencies to ensure their compliance with legislative requirements of the PSEA;
• Improve outreach and co-ordination on oversight activities with organizations and auditors across government through proactive presentations and increased consultation with key stakeholders;
• Maintain and improve ongoing operations with respect to political activities. Activities will focus on assessing requests, monitoring compliance, supporting departments/agencies and strengthening a communication strategy to ensure that employees are aware of their obligations; and
• Increase capacity to conduct investigations by ensuring efficient handling of investigative cases and ensuring that results are timely, informative and relevant.

Priority III: Enable organizations to manage their delegated responsibilities 

Type of Priority: Previously committed

While organizations have made progress in implementing the PSEA, ongoing efforts are required to fully transform the practices and processes for recruitment and staffing in the public service.

The PSC implemented a new DSAR and SMAF in 2007-2008 to increase focus on results and on the staffing values as well as on the key areas needed to succeed with the PSEA. This new approach enables organizations to utilize the information contained in these reports as "an early warning system" to indicate where further efforts are required to improve management performance under the PSEA and to adjust their staffing strategies and activities, as necessary. The PSC expects organizations' performance to improve over time as they gain experience with this new approach.

By setting out clear expectations of a well-managed appointment system and by providing guidance, advice and services, the PSC enables deputy heads to more effectively manage their delegated responsibilities.

Selected planning highlights include the following:

• Refine the DSAR and SMAF to further reduce reporting burden for small organizations , and to provide more timely data to departments and agencies;
• Review and refine the data collection processes for estimating Employment Equity (EE) group statistics for reporting purposes;
• Provide staffing and assessment advice and services that support the needs of managers in departments and agencies and enable them to focus on their delegated responsibilities; and
• Continue to provide timely authoritative advice and interpretation regarding priority entitlements and continue to refine the priority system to respond to public service-wide need for accurate and timely information

Priority IV: Provide integrated and modernized staffing and assessment services 

Type of Priority: Previously committed

The PSC is committed to providing modernized staffing and assessment services on an expanded cost recovery basis. The PSC will ensure that the services it provides meet the needs of deputy ministers through the creation of a Deputy Minister Advisory Committee on PSC staffing and assessment services.

Selected planning highlights include the following:

• Develop overall infrastructure and capacity to support a cost recovery environment;
• Ensure solid business performance by understanding and adapting to the changes in market demand for the PSC's services;
• Ensure PSC-wide support and internal collaboration to facilitate further transitioning of staffing and assessment services to a cost recovery environment; and
• Provide additional online staffing tools to support Deputy Ministers to meet PS Renewal objectives and improve staffing efficiency and effectiveness, pending development of a more comprehensive staffing solution (Public Service Staffing Modernization Project (PSSMP)) (pages 27-28).

Management Priority:

Priority V: Build on the model organization

Type of Priority: Previously committed

To ensure sound, effective and efficient management practices and employee engagement for the delivery of the PSC's mandate.

Selected planning highlights include the following:

• Continue to ensure strong financial management and controls and to have independently audited financial statements (page 30);
• Implement a talent management framework that will focus on recruitment, development and retention strategies at all levels (page 30); and
• Continue to undertake a semi-annual "Employee Engagement Survey" designed to take the pulse of employees and establish action areas for improvement (page 30).

Risk Analysis

Public Service Commission Operating Environment

The public service of Canada operates in a complex environment. The pace of change, demands for citizen involvement, advances in technology and increased focus on transparency and accountability all have an impact on public servants and on the way in which they carry out their duties.

The federal public service is facing significant challenges with respect to its demographics. The public service continues to experience the departures of the "baby boomers"; retirements have almost quadrupled over the last five years.  These departures, combined with the growth in the public service, generate a high level of mobility which includes appointments to the public service, promotions, lateral movements and acting appointments. Mobility of the public service has steadily increased each year, from 30% in 2004-2005 to 42% in 2007-2008. Mobility impacted certain groups more than others, notably the Personnel Administration Group (PE), the Economics, Sociology, Statistics Group (ES) and the Executive Group (EX). The nature and level of mobility in the public service reinforces the need for Human Resources (HR) planning to address organizational requirements.

Moreover, the increased staffing activity, coupled with the ongoing implementation of the PSEA, affect the workload of those in the HR community.

Departures, however, provide an opportunity to renew the public service. Canadians continued to demonstrate their interest in the public service in 2007-2008. There were more than 22 million visits to the PSC jobs.gc.ca Web site and one million applications in response to 11,000 advertised positions. The Post-Secondary Recruitment (PSR) campaign in the fall of 2007 received over 48,000 applications from graduates who applied for positions in 40 career streams across the public service. As a result of PSC post-secondary recruitment initiatives, over 1,700 graduates were hired by federal organizations as of July 2008 — with additional appointments continuing to be made. A corporate approach such as PSR is one way the public service can compete more effectively for the smaller cohort of new workers as well as develop targeted approaches to recruit candidates who are representative of Canada's diverse population.

Human resource management (HRM) continues to be of interest to the government. In its Second Report of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on the Public Service, led by the Right Honourable Donald F. Mazankowski and the Honourable Paul Tellier, released in February 2008, the committee observed that the HR governance structure was overly complex. The Committee recommended that deputy ministers be clearly recognized as having primary responsibility and accountability for HRM, that there should be a single, smaller central agency to support the leadership responsibility of departments and agencies on HRM and that it was essential to reaffirm the responsibility of the PSC, an independent agency, for safeguarding merit in appointments and the non-partisanship character of the federal public service. As recommended by this report, the PSC will involve deputy ministers in the governance of the recruitment and related services it provides on a cost recovery basis.

In the Fifteenth Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada, the Clerk of the Privy Council identified the need to continue to build on the four priority areas that are set out in the Public Service Renewal Action Plan four key areas: HR planning, recruitment, employee development and enabling infrastructure. The November 2008 Speech from the Throne confirmed support for the renewal of the public service. The PSC will continue to support departments and agencies with their renewal efforts. 

In 2009-2010, the federal public service will be entering into the fourth year of the PSEA which came into effect in December 31, 2005. The federal public service can be described as operating under a fully delegated staffing regime with deputy heads in charge of and accountable for their staffing processes. Departments and agencies have made an important start, but further progress is required in the areas of HR planning, organizational HR support systems and managerial accountability. Organizations that lack internal HR support can continue to request staffing and assessment services and support from the PSC.

The PSEA enables the PSC to delegate its appointment authorities to deputy heads and, through them, to their managers. The intention of the Act is to give managers the flexibility required to staff, manage and lead their personnel in achieving results for Canadians. As such, the PSC must ensure that it clearly communicates its expectations to managers and that there is a common understanding of PSEA values. A highly delegated environment adds to the complexity of its operating environment as the PSC continues to be responsible for the overall integrity of the staffing system.

Internal Challenges and Risks

The PSC must also address its internal challenges. As we prepare for the five-year legislative review of the PSEA, the PSC must ensure that there is sufficient capacity to prepare for the review in parallel with ongoing operations. It will be important for the PSC to focus on developing its employees and ensuring sufficient capacity to meet its priorities.

The PSC is undertaking extensive and ongoing client outreach and consultations to position PSC products and services to meet actual and forecasted demand. The increased and current knowledge of client needs will enable the PSC to have the right mix of resources to continue to develop and deliver excellent staffing and assessment solutions to departments and agencies. The PSC is able to rely on historical demand and trends through its Public Service Resourcing System (PSRS) and sales of Personnel Psychology Centre (PPC) products and services. A comprehensive and integrated client outreach strategy and plan will be implemented in 2009-2010. 

The PSC will be active in seeking information on expanding programs that require significant hiring of talent, and position itself to meet the client organization's needs.

The newly created DM Advisory Committee will provide the PSC with valuable insight into the services of Staffing and Assessment Services Branch (SASB), their continued relevance and opportunities to provide new and innovative solutions for client organizations. This committee will also serve as an important focus group for new and innovative products prior to their implementation.

A client survey has been developed and will be sent to clients immediately after services are rendered, thereby enabling SASB to have immediate feedback to improve, refocus, and redesign services.

The PSC's current financial authorities also generate challenges and risks. These authorities do not provide the flexibilities required to facilitate management in a cost recovery environment. The PSC has obtained the authority from Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) to charge for some of its assessment and counselling services and products and re-spend the revenues earned. However, there is no mechanism in place to fund and match some of our expenditures on cost recovery activities against revenues that will be received in a future year. The PSC will continue to explore funding options with TBS to address these challenges.

Funding for the Government of Canada's existing e-recruitment system, the Public Service Resourcing System, will end in March 2011. Through its electronic application processing and screening capability, PSRS has helped departments and agencies manage more than one million job applications per year and has supported increased access to jobs for Canadians through the use of National Area of Selection (NAOS). The Government of Canada's recruitment capacity and its ability to sustain NAOS is dependent on an effective electronic means to manage the volume of job applications. In 2009, the PSC will bring forward a business case for a solution to electronically handle both internal and external staffing beyond 2011. Challenges include identifying a source of funds for this work. Failure to move forward with modern processes and common systems and tools will impede public service modernization and renewal and result in costly duplication and overlap and slower and more costly hiring. 

As a result of our participation in an HR Horizontal Strategic Review, savings through increased efficiencies and use of cost recovery were identified. Budget reductions resulting from the Strategic Review will need to be addressed through increased efficiencies.

A review of the PSC's oversight function (excluding investigations and political activities), initiated by the PSC, was completed in January of 2009. The Review was conducted under the direction of an independent review committee.

The objectives of this review were to determine the appropriateness of the approach and level of effort of the PSC oversight function and to identify opportunities for improvement, while respecting the PSC's statutory obligations. The Committee confirmed the appropriateness of the PSC's current approach to oversight and level of effort and provided a number of valuable recommendations to support ongoing improvements. The PSC has accepted the recommendations in the final report and will be working to implement them over the planning period.

Corporate Risk Profile and Mitigation Strategies

The PSC has identified specific challenges and risks emerging from the complex environment in which it operates. Information regarding the PSC's challenges and risks emerging from both the external and internal environments, as well as mitigation strategies, can be found in the electronic version of this document in the publications section of the PSC's Web site (www.psc-cfp.gc.ca).

Expenditure Profile

Spending Trend

The following graph illustrates the PSC's spending trends trend from 2005-2006 to 2011-2012. This graph includes planned spending for Assessment Services for which the PSC, since 2005-2006, has had the approval from Treasury Board to use cost recovery.

Note 1:  In 2005-2006, revenues were returned to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Analysis of spending trend

Planned spending for 2009-2010 of $95,120K represents a decrease of $10,313K from forecast spending of $105,433K in 2008-2009. The decrease is due primarily to funds received in 2008-2009 and not part of the 2009-2010 budget: carry forward of $4,770K, reprofiled resources of $2,341K for an IT project, and $2,811K for various salary adjustments. In addition, the 2009-2010 budget has been reduced through the Human Resources Horizontal Review ($3,134K) and procurement savings ($270K). In 2009-2010, the Public Service Staffing Modernization Project (PSSMP) will receive increased funding of $1,363K and the PSC should be in a position to generate $1,650K of additional revenues.

Planned spending of $94,977K in 2010-2011 represents a decrease of $143K from planning spending of $95,120K in 2009-2010, and is mainly due to budget reductions related to procurement savings.

For the year 2011-2012, the decreases of $8,426K in planned spending is associated primarily with a reduction in the Public Service Commission's reference levels of $1,518K related to the additional resource reduction resulting from the Human Resources Horizontal Review (for a total of $4,652K over 3 years), a reduction of $6,757K for the funding of the Public Service Staffing Modernization Project (PSSMP) and a reduction of $268K related to procurement savings offset by an adjustment for employee benefit plans of $117K.

Voted and Statutory Items  

This table indicates the information presented to Parliament before approving a supply bill. Parliament approves the voted items on an annual basis and the statutory items are displayed for information purposes only.

Voted and Statutory Items ($ thousands)

Vote # or Statutory Item (S)	Truncated Vote or Statutory Wording	2008-2009 Main Estimates	2009-2010 Main Estimates
95	Program Expenditures	84,955	79,815
(S)	Contributions to Employee Benefit Plans	11,673	11,952
Total Voted and Statutory Items		96,628	91,767

The difference between the 2009-2010 Main Estimates of $91,767K and the 2009-2010 planned spending of $95,120K is due to the inclusion of funding related to the PSSMP ($6,670K approved by Treasury Board Ministers in the fall 2008 and to be included in Supplementary Estimates "A" of 2009-2010), offset by a budget reduction related to the Human Resources Horizontal Review ($3,134K) and an adjustment to the Employee Benefit Plans of $183K.

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