Working Group on Public Service Productivity: Overview
An overview of the Working Group on Public Service Productivity.
About the Working Group
The Working Group on Public Service Productivity was appointed by the President of the Treasury Board of Canada in the autumn of 2024 to “examine productivity in Canada’s federal public service and inform the government’s economic plan.”Footnote 1
The working group was supported by a secretariat at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. This overview of the working group’s activities has been produced by the working group’s secretariat.
The working group held its first meeting in under the previous government, met regularly throughout the winter and spring of 2025, and corresponded over the summer of 2025 as it finalized its recommendations. Members were briefed by and held discussions with federal officials on a range of issues related to public service productivity and brought their own experiences and expertise to bear in working meetings.
The working group met with officials from the following federal organizations:
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Privy Council Office
- Shared Services Canada
- Statistics Canada
- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
The following is a description of issues the working group explored.
Issues explored by the Working Group
Improving the measurement of public service productivity
Improving productivity in the federal public service requires an understanding of current levels of productivity in federal organizations, as well as methods for tracking increases and decreases in public service productivity over time. The working group discussed the measurement of public service productivity, including:
- challenges related to measuring productivity in the public sector
- international best practices, including the public service productivity measurements developed by the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics, which apply a direct output approach where possible
- opportunities for developing productivity metrics for services provided to individuals, including through an expanded State of Service report
Supporting a productive public service workforce
The foundation of public service productivity is a skilled, engaged and productive federal workforce. The working group looked at how to best position the workforce to enhance productivity. For example, it examined the importance of:
- the role of culture in supporting a high-performing and innovative public service
- leadership in building a collaborative and healthy organization
- fostering a culture of rigorous performance management
- ensuring that the public service has the skills it needs to serve Canadians now and in the future
- ensuring an equitable and psychologically safe working environment, including for those from historically marginalized groups
- ensuring that employees with disabilities can access the accommodations they need so that they can make their best contribution to Canada
- developing a more permeable public service to enable a better exchange of talent and ideas with the private, academic and non-profit sectors
Optimizing the use of technology, including artificial intelligence
Technological development is a key driver of individual and organizational productivity. The role of technology in improving productivity is especially pertinent today, when new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) hold the potential for increasing productivity significantly. The working group explored how technology could be used to improve public service productivity and looked at factors including:
- the importance of ongoing investment in technology to support increased productivity, including during periods of fiscal restraint
- the revolutionary opportunity AI offers to improve productivity
- potential impacts of AI on the public service workforce
- improving government-wide management of information technology, including addressing longstanding technical debt so that the government can fully capture the benefits of new technology such as AI
- challenges related to sharing data within and between federal departments, and the problems this poses in fully leveraging tools such as AI
- investing in small-to-medium-sized technology projects across the public service
Reviewing government programming and spending from a productivity perspective
The periodic spending reviews carried out by governments, as well as evaluations of the effectiveness of government programming, could serve as tools for investigating and improving public service productivity. The working group considered how spending reviews and program evaluations could support a more effective and efficient use of public resources by, for example:
- assessing which programs are essential to fulfilling the federal government’s mandate and aligned with its priorities, and which program areas the federal government can exit
- incorporating productivity assessments of government programs into federal spending reviews
- strengthening program evaluation in government to support productivity assessments of federal programs and services
Improving internal structures, processes and rules
An organization’s structures, processes and rules can support or impede productivity. The working group examined how the public service’s internal structures, processes and rules could be reformed to lower barriers to productivity and enhance organizational effectiveness, including by:
- streamlining the Cabinet and Treasury Board decision-making process so that implementation factors play a stronger role in the decision-making process
- strengthening the management of the public service and supporting efforts to reform it
- reducing administrative burden posed by Treasury Board and departmental policies
- introducing more discipline into the federal budget process
Conclusion
A productive federal public service is foundational to our system of government and public trust in government institutions. The working group found that much could be done to improve public service productivity and developed 19 recommendations for the government to consider. While acknowledging current efforts to reduce spending on government operations and their impact on productivity, the group stressed that lasting gains require continued investment in data, technology, workforce management, and efficient structures and processes.