Results of the Second System-Wide Staffing Audit

To fulfill its accountability to Parliament for the integrity of public service appointments, the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) examines staffing risks at a system-wide level. The PSC does this by monitoring the expectations set out in:

• the Public Service Employment Act
• the PSC’s Appointment Policy’s expected results
• the Appointment Delegation Accountability Instrument 
• other applicable requirements

The PSC published the first system-wide staffing audit in 2018.

This audit looks at whether appointments and appointment processes between December 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021, complied with specific legislative, policy and other applicable requirements. The audit involved a review of 292 indeterminate and term appointment files (promotions within, and hires to, the federal public service), that were subject to the Public Service Employment Act. The sample included internal, external, advertised and non-advertised appointments, from 19 medium and large participating departments and agencies.

We found that departments and agencies had high rates of compliance with applicable requirements in most appointments and appointment processes. For example, we found that:

• merit was met (96% or higher) for most merit criteria
• sub-delegated persons had signed an attestation form before making an offer of appointment (96.8%)
• the essential qualifications used for appointments met the applicable qualification standards (93%)
• the required appointment information was accessible electronically or by other means (86.3%)
• processes complied with the deputy head’s direction on the use of advertised and non-advertised appointment processes (85.6%)

However, we also found that one area for improvement persisted from the 2018 system-wide staffing audit. We found differences in 25.7% of appointment processes between English and French versions of documents at key stages of the appointment process that could have had an impact on persons with a priority entitlement, as well as persons who were eligible to apply, those being assessed and those eligible for recourse.

This audit finding led to a new recommendation:

Background

1. The Public Service Employment Act gives the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) the authority to make appointments to and within the public service. The PSC delegates this staffing authority to deputy heads. Deputy heads exercise this delegated staffing authority within a framework that requires them to be accountable to the PSC, which in turn is accountable to Parliament.
2. To fulfill this accountability to Parliament for the integrity of public service appointments, the PSC monitors the expectations set out in: 
   • the Public Service Employment Act
   • the PSC’s Appointment Policy’s expected results
   • the Appointment Delegation Accountability Instrument 
   • other applicable requirements
3. The PSC ensures the health of the staffing system through its oversight function, which consists of 3 mechanisms: investigations, audits, and data services and analysis. Section 17 of the Public Service Employment Act empowers the PSC to conduct audits on any matter within its jurisdiction; this includes examining how deputy heads exercise their delegated staffing authorities.  
4. System-wide staffing audits support the PSC’s oversight function by examining a number of departments and agencies to identify areas for improvement and determine whether more guidance or support is needed.
5. The PSC published the first system-wide staffing audit in 2018.

Focus of the audit

6. This second system-wide staffing audit focused on whether appointments and appointment processes between December 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021, complied with specific legislative, policy and other requirements. We conducted a risk analysis to identify which specific elements to focus on as part of this audit.
7. The audit involved a review of 292 randomly selected indeterminate and term appointment files (promotions within and hires to the public service), that were subject to the Public Service Employment Act. The sample included internal, external, advertised and non-advertised appointments from 19 medium and large participating departments and agencies.
8. The audit is important because the PSC is accountable to Parliament for:
   • the integrity of the staffing system
   • ensuring that hiring decisions result in people appointed who are qualified for the job
   • ensuring that values like fairness are respected throughout the hiring process
9. For more details on the audit objectives, criteria and methodology, please see Annex A: About the audit.

10. Overall, we found high rates of compliance with applicable requirements in most appointments and appointment processes. See Annex B: Detailed audit findings for more information on requirements and related compliance findings.
11. We found compliance on merit in excess of 96% for most merit criteria, including official languages requirements, education, other essential qualifications, and any applicable asset qualifications and operational requirements. Ensuring that appointments to and within the public service are based on merit is a cornerstone of Public Service Employment Act. Such high rates of compliance mean that Parliament and Canadians can be confident that qualified persons are being appointed.
12. In establishing the merit criteria for the position to be filled, hiring managers can cite any current or future needs of their department or agency to increase the representation of employment equity groups. When an organizational need was applied in the appointment decision, we found compliance in 87.5% of applicable appointments, as the employment equity self-declaration information was not always completed or made available.
13. We found that in 93% of appointment processes, the essential qualifications used for the appointment met the applicable qualification standards established by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
14. We also found that in the 292 offers of appointment we reviewed, 96.8% of the people who had made the offer had signed the staffing sub-delegation attestation form. This is a condition of sub-delegation and represents the sub-delegated person’s commitment to exercise objectivity in the hiring decisions and to make decisions based on merit.
15. This audit included 2 areas of review not examined in the 2018 audit. 
16. First, we examined whether deputy heads ensured that information related to the appointment was documented as set out in the PSC’s Appointment Policy. We found a compliance rate of 86.3%. Sufficient information is important to explain appointment decisions and to determine compliance with core staffing requirements such as merit. Second, we examined whether appointment processes complied with the direction established by the deputy head on the choice of process (that is, advertised or non-advertised), as per the Appointment Delegation Accountability Instrument. We found that 85.6% of appointment processes complied with the direction set by the deputy head.
17. The following section describes a requirement that was examined and identified as an area for improvement in 2018, and which continues to be an area of non-compliance.

Differences between English and French versions of documents used at key stages of the appointment process may have had an impact on people who participated in these processes.

18. The Preamble of the Public Service Employment Act states that “Canada will continue to gain from a public service that strives for excellence, that is representative of Canada’s diversity and that is able to serve the public with integrity and in their official language of choice.” In addition, the Official Languages Act states that Canadians should have equal opportunities to obtain employment and advancement in federal institutions  without regard to their first official language. The PSC’s Appointment Policy requires deputy heads to respect official languages obligations throughout the appointment process.
19. Overall, 25.7% of the processes examined in this current audit had differences between the English and French versions of documents at one or more key stages of the appointment process. We found differences between English and French versions of priority referral requests (22.6%), advertisements (21.2%), assessment tools (6.7%) and notifications (22.7%).
20. We found that differences between the English and French versions of a merit criterion contained in the priority clearance request often carried over to the job advertisement and notifications. In these cases, this means that an initial discrepancy may have had a recurring impact on people participating in the process at different stages, and ultimately, on the appointment outcome.
21. Such discrepancies were identified as an area for improvement in the 2018 audit report. That report recommended that the PSC support departments and agencies in ensuring that official languages obligations are respected throughout the appointment process.
22. In its response to this 2018 recommendation, the PSC implemented an action plan that examined alternative solutions to assess the equivalency between English and French versions of statements of merit criteria in job postings. The PSC also encouraged departments and agencies to build control measures into their staffing processes. At the time, the PSC stated, “If no noticeable progress is made following these efforts, we will ask departments and agencies to monitor and report on language equivalency in a more structured way.”
23. Ensuring consistency between the English and French versions of appointment documentation is a fundamental aspect of ensuring fairness to both English- and French-speaking Canadians. As per the Official Languages Act, public servants and all Canadians should have equal opportunities to work for the Government of Canada, whether their first official language is French or English. This persistent compliance gap calls for greater attention to be paid, by both hiring managers and human resources advisors, to the quality of the translations of key appointment process documents.
24. This audit finding of a continued lack of consistency between English and French has led to a new recommendation:

25. The audit focused on whether appointments and appointment processes made between December 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021, complied with specific legislative, policy, and other requirements. Overall, we found high compliance on several requirements. However, the audit did identify an area of improvement with respect to official languages obligations in appointment process information.  This area was identified in the previous system-wide staffing audit and which the PSC had committed to addressing.
26. The new recommendation in this audit report is intended to bring more attention to this persistent gap in the staffing system. The PSC and deputy heads are encouraged to take action as part of their shared accountability for oversight of the staffing system to ensure that improvements are seen in future system-wide audits.

27. The PSC is pleased with the continued high degree of compliance with requirements, particularly as it relates to ensuring that appointments are made on the basis of merit. However, the shortcomings found in an area previously identified in the 2018 System-Wide Staffing Audit is cause for concern. 
28. We expect departments to have controls in place to ensure consistency between the official languages in key appointment process documents. This is critical to ensure candidates are not disadvantaged based on their first official language. As part of the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument, we will be requiring deputy heads to report on measures taken to address this persistent gap. We expect deputy heads to include this risk area as part of their ongoing monitoring activities of their staffing system.
29. The PSC will continue to monitor this area to ensure meaningful progress is made.