Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)

Section 1: Institutional GBA Plus Capacity

In 2021–22, the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) continued delivering on its Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) Action Plan 2019–21 to integrate GBA Plus across its key activities and business processes:

1. Governance and capacity
2. Awareness and training
3. Integration and impact
4. Data and research
5. Monitoring and reporting

The GBA Plus Action Plan was extended into 2021–22 due to the impacts and unprecedented context of the pandemic. The action plan was reprioritized to support PSC sectors by providing timely GBA Plus feedback and advice as needed. The plan ensures that a GBA Plus lens is used, with a specific focus on the intersectional diversity characteristics, including gender-based differences, of employees and applicants.

The PSC’s GBA Plus Responsibility Centre is located in the Results and Delivery Division. The responsibility centre provides input on policies, programs and services to achieve a representative public service. It also ensures that GBA Plus is integrated into decision-making processes, by ensuring that every Treasury Board submission assesses the potential implications of PSC policies and programs on diverse populations of Canadians. The centre also reports internally through management committees on progress in implementing GBA Plus activities, and monitors how GBA Plus considerations have affected key PSC policies, programs and services. The centre will continue its work to ensure that PSC staff across sectors are equipped to integrate GBA Plus considerations into their work and are supported through knowledge transfer activities. In 2021–22, the responsibility centre collaborated with the IT team and interdepartmental gender and technology working groups to integrate GBA Plus considerations in IT.

In addition, the PSC’s GBA Plus Champion was engaged and informed on progress in GBA Plus implementation, and created opportunities to raise awareness across the PSC.

Section 2: Gender and Diversity Program Results

Core Responsibility: Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

Program Name: Oversight and Monitoring

Target Population: Federal departments and/or agencies; public servants; the general public.

Distribution of Benefits:

Other Key Program impacts on gender and diversity:

The Oversight and Monitoring program exists to ensure the integrity of the merit-based public service hiring process. This program performs audits and investigations and conducts surveys to monitor organizational compliance with staffing legislation, regulations and policies, and to provide a system-wide view of the staffing environment of the public service. This program also monitors and analyzes hiring data and conducts research to provide departments, agencies and Canadians with an informed view of the dynamics of public service hiring. The findings of this program are used to monitor and understand organizational results, including other programs’ outcomes. As such, key impacts found in the PSC’s other programs may be derived from activities led by the Oversight and Monitoring program. In 2020-21, key achievements included the launch of the Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey, under a format allowing for disaggregated and intersectional data analysis; the release of the Audit of Employment Equity Representation in Recruitment (the « Audit », 2021); and the action plan aiming to identify and eliminate barriers to inclusive hiring as much as possible, which followed the results of the audit.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan:

The PSC now includes GBA Plus considerations when planning audits, as was the case in the 2021 Audit of Employment Equity Representation in Recruitment. In ongoing and planned audits, the PSC will seek to obtain and analyze disaggregated data, including for employment equity sub-groups and equity-seeking groups, whenever the audit methodology allows. It will include the GBA Plus lens in audit planning activities, as well as other oversight activities, where feasible.

The Oversight and Monitoring Program will seek to identify avenues for extracting and using disaggregated data on employment equity and other sociodemographic groups within its 2021–23 research plan, to support stronger policy, program and service development and implementation. When possible, variables relating to intersectionality, such as region of work and citizenship, will be collected along with employment equity information. The GBA Plus Responsibility Center will be consulted and will have an opportunity to suggest variables of interest at the planning phases of each research project.

The PSC will also proactively integrate GBA Plus considerations into its information-gathering processes, including through the Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey. The survey includes a third gender option for respondents and collects data on key sociodemographic factors, such as employment equity group membership, level of education, region and first official language. This format allows for a detailed analysis of interactions between gender and other employment equity groups, such as intersectionality in perceptions of merit and fairness in hiring, to detect potential differences in perception.

Core Responsibility: Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

Program Name: Policy Direction and Support

Target Population: Federal departments and/or agencies; public servants; the general public.

Distribution of Benefits:

Key Program impacts on Gender and diversity:

Other Key Program impacts on gender and diversity:

The Policy Direction and Support Program exists to support departments and agencies in experimenting and innovating with their staffing approaches and supporting strategies, to help them both meet their business needs and achieve their diversity and employment equity objectives. Through this program, the PSC provides guidance to organizations to enable legislative, regulatory and policy compliance. This includes providing expert advice to build understanding and help ensure that public service appointments are merit-based and reflective of Canada’s diversity. Key achievements for this program in 2021–22 included:

• integrating unconscious bias training in the delegation instrument
• drafting regulatory framework to modernize the Public Service Employment Regulations
• preparing policy guidance products relating to identifying and mitigating bias and barriers stemming from the recent amendments that came into force to the Public Service Employment Act

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan:

In partnership with the Recruitment and Assessment Services Program, as part of its recruitment activities, the Policy Direction and Support Program will continue to collect information on representation rates in hiring and staffing processes, based on self-declaration as a member of one or more designated employment equity group(s). This information is collected at the sub-group level for 3 of the designated groups (Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities and visible minority group members). This data-gathering process will be coupled with the PSC’s ongoing communications plan, focused on encouraging persons with disabilities to self-declare.

Core Responsibility: Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

Program Name: Recruitment and Assessment Services

Target Population: Federal departments and/or agencies; public servants; the general public.

Distribution of Benefits:

Other:

The Recruitment and Assessment Services Program exists to support departments and agencies in the hiring of qualified individuals into and within the public service, helping to shape a workforce reflecting Canada’s diversity. Through inclusive outreach and the use of modern tools, it reduces barriers for all Canadians seeking to access public service jobs. This program also collaborates with departments and agencies to create and implement innovative staffing and assessment approaches to meet the strategic recruitment priorities of the Government of Canada and support the renewal of the public service. Key achievements for this program in 2021–22 include:

• modernizing programs that increase access to public service jobs for specific populations
• modernizing the federal government’s job application portal
• developing prototype products that evaluate assessment methods to allow departments to assess their own biases and barriers
• developing guidance, in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, to support departments in reviewing their employment systems to identify and eliminate barriers

The program continued to oversee the priority entitlements system, which aims to help people cope with career transitions due to various life and employment events. Through the priority entitlement program, the PSC supports the continuous employment of qualified employees, maintaining corporate knowledge and talent. This includes, but is not limited to, support to people who may be more likely to be marginalized, such as individuals who develop a disability.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan

As it administers personnel assessment and development tests, the PSC will continue to monitor aggregated data on the performance of members of all employment equity groups (women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities), ensuring that the tools do not pose non-job-related barriers to candidates. The new oral language assessment test will allow for detailed data collection, including input from candidates on their experience taking the test, to assess ease of use and possible barriers.

In addition, the new GC Jobs platform is expected to allow for advanced monitoring capabilities, tracking drop-off rates and representation rates of various groups at different stages of the application process, thus allowing for the collection of detailed data on potentially differentiated friction points for specific groups.