Work environment - DPR - 2012-13

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Work Environment

Employment Equity/Diversity

Military

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) strives to be reflective of Canada’s cultural, ethnic and linguistic makeup, as well as its regional diversity. Its members, regardless of gender, race, religion or culture, share the same goal of protecting the country, its interests and values, while contributing to international peace and security. People are the foundation of the CAF’s operational capability and Canada's rich mosaic of ethnicity and diverse cultures continued to enhance our ability to serve the Canadian population and to conduct operations in other nations, worldwide.

The military career is such that its characteristics, collectively known as the Military Factor, set it apart from other professions and make direct comparisons with civilian occupations difficult. Both the Employment Equity Act (EEA) and the CF Employment Equity Regulations (EER) acknowledge this uniqueness. Furthermore, the status of the CAF as a unique employer is recognized by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and is embedded into the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA).

• The CAF progressed with a renewal of its governance structure to guide EE and the growing emphasis on diversity. The completion of this initiative has been delayed pending the results of a study on the DND implementation of EE;
• The 2012 planned EE and Diversity workshops were re-scheduled for fiscal year (FY) 2013-14;
• An amendment to the CAF Employment Equity Regulations was progressed in FY 2012-13. Consultations with external EE stakeholders were conducted and the final draft of the amendment was circulated to internal CAF stakeholders;
• Work continued on the development of an Elders’ Council Fire initiative that will provide CAF leadership with insight and advice on the spiritual needs of CAF aboriginal members;
• A revised on-line CAF application form which includes a self-declaration section for EE purposes was implemented to allow files to be identified for priority staffing of Designated Group Members;
• Implementation of the updated CAF Employment Equity Plan progressed with adjustments made to ensure the plan is achievable;
• The second CAF Employment Systems Review was conducted which included a survey that was administered to over 18,000 Regular and Reserve force members; and
• New posters and wall displays were developed to promote inclusiveness amongst CAF personnel and to communicate the CAF vision of a work environment that is respectful of the rights and dignity of all.

Civilian

The Department of National Defence (DND) is committed to increasing diversity by creating a workforce that reflects Canada’s population and seeks to retain its current, valued civilian workforce by fostering a supportive and inclusive workplace. As Canada’s demographics change, a diverse workforce gives DND a foundation for broadening its professional capacity and discovering more effective ways to serve the needs of Canadians. Furthermore, a diverse workforce allows DND to recruit, develop and retain employees to effectively support the implementation of the Canada First Defence Strategy.

DND seeks to ensure that the department remains representative, and as such, can position itself as an employer of choice for all segments of the Canadian workforce to compete for talent in the future.

As set out in the Report on Plans and Priorities for FY 2012-13, DND’s progress in Employment Equity (EE) included (but was not limited to):

• A departmental Civilian Employment Equity Plan (CEEP) for FY 2013-18 has been drafted but further consultation and implementation have been on hold pending results from an internal high-level review of the civilian employment equity program, expected to conclude in June 2013.
• The implementation of the self-identification on-line platform has been postponed in order to allow for possible program modifications resulting from input provided through the departmental Self-Identification Study.
• EE representation and mobility reports (hires, promotions and departures) have been provided to Groups and Commands to assist in the development of their strategic human resources planning and address under-representation issues within their respective organizations for women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and Aboriginal Peoples.
• Canadian Human Rights Commission was provided with extensive documentation and information between September 2011 and January 2013 enabling the auditor to determine the extent of DND’s compliance with the EEA. Effective 13 May 2013, the Department of National Defence received the departmental employment equity audit assessment from the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
• A DND Self-Identification Study was conducted to gain a better understanding of the factors affecting the decision of designated group members to voluntarily self-identify, and to determine the extent to which they are aware of the purpose/benefits of the program. Results arising from the study are expected in January 2014.

Official Languages

The Official Languages Action Plan (OLAP) 2012-17 was implemented in FY 2012-13. Several areas of effort and work were identified in the OLAP and set as key building blocks for the next 5-year plan which will influence the drafting of Defence Administrative Orders and Directives on official languages (OL). Work on a 20-year Strategic OL Plan (2013-33) also commenced in 2012.

Significant progress was made in many areas during the past year. The performance measurement system was fully implemented and the creation and improvement of six performance measurement tools was achieved. These six tools were utilized and directly support a DND/CAF performance measurement dashboard which is used to brief both Official Languages Champions and the advisory committee. The Human Resources Management System reporting tool was improved and expanded to support increased performance measurement reporting required within the OLAP. Questions on OL issues were included in the “Your-Say” annual CAF survey and the OL complaint database was adjusted to directly correspond with performance measurement activities and targets. Site visits were conducted to verify Official Languages Act compliance with additional visits planned in 2013.

A strategic corporate-level communication plan was published in August 2012 for implementation in 2013. This plan will ensure that DND employees and CAF members are fully aware of their linguistic rights and obligations following the OLAP central theme "Lead with respect". This theme describes the culture being promoted in the context of the 2012–17 action plan.

The legal framework for determining the linguistic requirements of CAF units and functions was clarified in 2012 which will guide the production of a manual for the language designation of units and identification of civilian and military positions.

Alternate Dispute Resolution

The Defence Conflict Management Program was re-engineered into the Conflict Resolution Program. The transition involved the reorganization from a locally oriented Program with 19 Dispute Resolution Centres to a Regional model with four Conflict Resolution Centres (CRC):

• CRC Western/Northern. This CRC is located in Edmonton and will be responsible for delivering ADR services in the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia; and the Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut Territories;
• CRC Central. This CRC is located in Kingston and responsible for delivering ADR services in the Province of Ontario (less the National Capital Region);
• CRC Eastern. This CRC is located in Ottawa/Gatineau and responsible for delivering ADR services in the National Capital Region, the Province of Québec and to Defence Team members located outside of Canada; and
• CRC Atlantic. This CRC is located in Halifax and responsible for delivering ADR services in the Atlantic Provinces.

The vision for the Conflict Resolution Program during the transition period has been and remains to ensure a continued ability to provide the highest level of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) services to the Defence Team. To this end, during FY 2012-13, the Conflict Resolution Program has:

• Offered Members of the Defence Team intervention services in the form of consultation, coaching, facilitation, mediation and group interventions that assisted in preventing or resolving workplace conflicts early, locally and informally by employing the principles of ADR, handling 1022 intervention cases. The nature of the disputes or conflicts have included career/promotion, classification, community, discipline, diversity, financial entitlement, harassment, housing, job description, leave, medical, performance evaluation, staffing, termination/release, work conditions and work relationships. Some of these issues apply to both military and civilians while others are specific to the military or civilian work forces. Within these issues, the three most prevalent were work relationships, harassment and work description disputes;
• Educated the Defence Team on how to: resolve conflicts effectively; develop strategies to deal effectively with emerging conflict situations as leaders; develop techniques on how to intervene effectively as a leader when conflicts arise; and deal with conflicts in specific situations by:
  • Conducting 178 core ADR training courses;
  • Integrating ADR training into 278 DND/CAF professional development processes; and
  • Providing 79 customized training sessions to meet the clients’ requirements.
• Conducted 191 promotional activities to enhance the general awareness of the Defence Team of the benefits of employing the ADR principles of the Conflict Resolution Program as a first recourse to resolve disputes early, locally and informally.

Assistance Programs

Employee Assistance Program

The Department has in place an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that is a voluntary and confidential service to help individuals deal with personal or professional issues that might impact on their work performance. This program serves to foster and maintain the well-being and productivity of the Defence Team. DND’s EAP delivers services through a network of internal peer resources (Referral Agents) and an external professional mental health service provider (Health Canada). EAP users of internal peer resources are referred to appropriate external resources (e.g. psychologists, community organizations, family doctors, etc.) or internal resources (e.g. Alternate Dispute Resolution, Bargaining Agent representatives, Human Resources Advisors, Harassment Advisors) depending on the nature of the request for services.

In 2012-13, a communication strategy for DND’s EAP was jointly developed by the Civilian Human Resources and Public Affairs branches to ensure greater visibility of the program, including the new enhancement through Health Canada’s Employee Assistance Services (HC-EAS). This communication strategy was achieved through a variety of mechanisms including a refreshed look for the logo; educational material disseminated across Canada (about 3400 posters, wallet cards and brochures, as well as HC-EAS magnets that employees can bring home to put on the refrigerator for their families’ easy access); a notice to all employees was issued in May 2012, an article was published on the November 2012 edition of the Maple Leaf, and ongoing advertisements have been made available for base newspapers; a Manager’s Tool Kit was also distributed on a memory-key during the November 2012 National Defence Managers’ Symposium in Kingston; at this symposium, EAP was well represented with a kiosk and a presentation was done on EAP; to facilitate access to on-line information for employees who need assistance, a EAP Web Button is now available on the front page of the Civilian HR Portal, as well as on the Defence Renewal Intranet Page and various other branch intranet sites.

Priorities were shifted in late 2012 with the enhancements to DND’s EAP that took place on January 1, 2012. Referral Agent training, including a new short module on EAP enhancements (HC-EAS), was delivered in February 2012.

The outline of the annual report was developed which included consultations with unions, EAP regional coordinators and other government departments. All preparatory work has been completed and statistical information has been gathered in preparation for the release of the first EAP and Well-being report in summer 2013.

Civilian Well-being

With prevailing issues of mental health in the workplace, the Directorate of Diversity and Well-being (DDWB) has continued to focus its resources on the development of mental health training with the purpose of creating greater awareness regarding this issue. To this end, more sessions were offered this year with a total of seventeen classroom sessions with over 281 managers trained. Of the 17 sessions offered, 11 were in English and 6 were in French.

DDWB is in the final developmental stage of a “Mental Health in the Workplace” on-line course for managers. Some delays were encountered this year due to change in staff and conflicting work priorities of partners collaborating on this project. It is expected to be launched in the winter of 2014.

Canadian Forces Member Assistance Program

Canadian Forces Members Assistance Program (CFMAP) is a voluntary and confidential counselling service to help CAF members and their families who have concerns that affect their personal well-being and/or work performance. This program, which is purchased from Health Canada, is available 24/7 and is provided free of charge wherever CAF members serve. For FY 2012-13 there were approximately 3258 referrals to this program. This represents an approximate one percent increase in the number of referrals over 2011-12. Regular force members and families represent the major users of this service with the main reasons for contact being marital/family issues and psychological health. For FY 2012-13 CFMAP was able to manage in-house the client’s needs 74.4% of the time.

Recognizing Individuals and Team Achievements

Military

2012 Honours & Recognition for the Men and Women of the Canadian Armed Forces may be found at http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/home.html

Departmental

Public Service Award of Excellence: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/arp/exc-eng.asp

Vision Awards: http://www.thevisionawards.org