Communications Security Establishment

Goal setting

Question 1

Has your organization set goals (for fiscal year 2023-2024 or future fiscal years) for recruiting and promoting Indigenous peoples and Black and other racialized people?

• My organization has set recruitment goals for:
  • Indigenous peoples
  • Racialized people
• My organization has set promotion goals for:
  • Indigenous employees
  • Racialized employees

Please provide details and/or examples, including what your organization is using to set its goals (e.g., operational priorities, labour market availability [LMA], population data, workforce availability [WFA]), and how these goals are communicated to employees, if applicable. What has been the most helpful in advancing towards the goals you have set? What challenges, if any, have you encountered?

In 2022, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) introduced a framework for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), outlining CSE’s main goals and challenges. This framework directly supports the issues and initiatives in the call to action. CSE-cst.gc.ca/en/culture-and-community/diversity-inclusion/one-CSE-framework-equity-diversity-and-inclusion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">One CSE - A framework for equity, diversity and inclusion. 

Methodology

Please note that, due to labour market availability, women and racialized people are currently underrepresented at CSE. However, the organization has decided to increase all equity groups, not just those mentioned in the call to action.

Hiring goals

For the implementation of numerical goals, CSE adopted a standardized process for all employment equity groups. Overall, we expect to increase employment equity group representation to meet the following goals in 2026-2027:

• Women: 31.6% to 36.2%
• Persons with disabilities: 13.8% to 14.8%
• Indigenous people: 2.26% to 2.52%
• Racialized people: 16.7% to 20.62%

Over the next 3 years, CSE’s goal is for 3 out of every 4 new hires to be a self-identified member of one of the 4 employment equity groups. Specifically, a percentage is assigned to each of the 4 groups to close any gaps. For example, CSE expects to hire 400 people in 2024-2025. From that number, we aim to increase the representation of people from the 4 employment equity groups at all levels of the organization by 300. Of those 300 people, our target is to hire 144 women, 45 persons with disabilities, 9 Indigenous people and 102 racialized people.

Promotion goals

To determine numerical promotion goals for the 3 levels (entry level, executive feeder groups and senior executives), CSE examined its current representation levels, determined what gaps needed to be filled to improve representation at all levels, and set specific goals.

The promotion goals for the next 3 years are as follows:

• 1.5% increase in Indigenous representation in management roles (2 employees).
  • Currently, no manager or executive position is held by someone who self-identifies as Indigenous.
• 3% increase in representation of racialized employees and ethnic minorities in senior management roles (4 employees).
  • Currently, 14% of managers identify as belonging to an ethnic minority, compared with 17% of CSE employees. Furthermore, no executive position is currently held by a Black man. 

Challenges

Various challenges arose during this exercise. The main challenge was developing a methodology that was realistic and assertive while also being meaningful and avoiding tokenism.

Consequential accountability was another challenge. Many discussions were held and options were presented. Personal or collective accountability, emphasis on results and/or efforts, targeted financial impact on lump sum performance awards, impact on performance rating, etc.  

Another challenge was CSE’s self-identification questionnaire. The current self-identification questionnaire is separated into 2 questionnaires. The first contains yes or no questions and the second contains fields where employees can provide additional/disaggregated information, such as self-identifying as Black. The challenge is that the second questionnaire does not receive many responses and the information from that questionnaire is what is needed to determine the representation rate of Black people at CSE. To solve this problem, CSE intends to reformat the questionnaire to gather more specific/disaggregated data, which will allow us to then implement measures to address gaps.

Question 2

Has your organization set goals to foster greater inclusion (for fiscal year 2023-2024 or future fiscal years)?

• My organization has set goals to foster greater inclusion.

Please provide details and/or examples, including which metrics or data your organization is using, if applicable (e.g., your Public Service Employee Survey results, pulse surveys, exit interviews, human resources administrative data).

In December 2023, CSE held a symposium with the affinity groups and champions to develop inclusion criteria for the organization. The following criteria were established:

1. Linguistic inclusion
2. Social inclusion
3. Workforce representation
4. Psychological safety
5. Accessibility
6. Inclusive culture
7. Discussions on workplaces and decision making
8. Recognition and advancement
9. Inclusive leadership that participates in EDI initiatives
10. Sense of belonging and authenticity

These criteria were supported by our People and Culture Committee. An analysis is underway to develop a methodology to survey our workforce.

Measuring progress

Question 3

Has your organization developed an approach for measuring progress towards your established goals? 

How is the approach being implemented within your organization (e.g., how is it communicated to employees? What are the roles of executive team members including the Chief Data Officer and Head of Audit and Evaluation and regional management if applicable? How are you reporting on results and outcomes both internally and externally?)?

Dashboards were developed to measure representation progress against the numerical goals. These dashboards will be updated monthly and will be accessible and presented to governance committees 4 times a year. The implicated committees will make decisions to remedy efforts, if required, or to put pressure on certain activities.

This data will also be added to CSE’s intranet page to communicate progress on representation to all employees. Employees will also be encouraged to submit questions to a general email inbox.

Consequential accountability

Question 4

How is your organization using performance management and/or talent management processes to establish accountability for results?

• Qualitative objectives are in performance management agreements.
• Progress towards representation and inclusion goals is part of the criteria for being considered for talent management.
• A lack of progress towards representation and inclusion goals results in consequences.
• Work is underway to develop approaches to establish accountability for results in either of these processes.

Please provide details about how performance management and/or talent management processes are being used to establish accountability for results.

For 2024-2025, we considered establishing consequential accountability wherein a percentage of performance pay would be dedicated to executive contributions to achieving EDI objectives, but this will not be implemented. This method will be reevaluated near the end of the year to develop a new method for the upcoming years.

However, executives and managers must still demonstrate efforts that support the call to action. For 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, we developed a mandatory organizational commitment applicable to all employees. It was created to establish personal accountability among our employees to create a diverse, inclusive and accessible workplace, demonstrating our commitment to eliminating systemic barriers and all forms of racism and discrimination. For each employee, contributions were evaluated within the broader framework of general performance and impacted each individual’s overall rating, increasing employee accountability across all levels and activity areas within the organization.

Efforts will be evaluated at the end of the 2024-2025 fiscal year using an organizational scorecard. The scorecard will include the planned quantitative goals for the entire organization. 

Via performance agreements, all employees must also demonstrate how they contribute to the organizational EDI culture, as well as encouraging them to participate in the card game "One CSE - the Collection".

Specific, tangible actions outlined in the forward direction of the Call to Action

Question 5

Have you, as head of your organization, and/or your executive teams sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles?

• I have sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles.
• My executive team has sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles.

Please provide details about the nature of sponsorship that you and/or your executive team have provided, along with other programs, such as mentorship or leadership development, if applicable.  

In 2022, CSE launched a successful sponsorship pilot program that generated 56 applicants, 14 of whom were selected. We released 3 surveys during the program to gather feedback on how it was going. The protégés were very happy with the program and expressed hope that it would continue to be offered. The sponsors were impressed by the quality of the candidates and noted that the program was a learning experience for them as well.

Following this success and an evaluation of the first launch, CSE has decided to extend the program duration, starting in fall 2024, from 18 months to 24 months to reflect the development needs of the protégés. We expanded the level of sponsors, from Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADMs) up to directors, to allow candidates to benefit from recent experience and to narrow the distance between employees and senior management. The program will continue to target Indigenous, Black and racialized employees. The next cohort will also include persons with disabilities. CSE aims to open these opportunities to promote inclusion and intersectionality.

Question 6

Have you, as head of your organization, personally endorsed at least one recruitment campaign for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees?

• I have personally endorsed at least one recruitment campaign for:
  • Indigenous employees
  • Black employees
  • Racialized employees

Please provide details.

One of the main media tactics that we used to reach visible minorities and Indigenous peoples was “sponsored content.” These advertisements ran on various websites dedicated to computer science, technology and engineering, and were developed to match the look and feel of the websites on which they appeared. The ads ran from October to December 2023 and from January to March 2024.

We also employed other tactics during the campaign, including want ads, LinkedIn posts and banners. Although these tactics did not target EDI groups specifically (unfortunately, such targeting capabilities are not available on these platforms), the creative assets included photos that reflected these audiences.

Question 7

Has your organization prioritized official language training for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees who are ready for advancement?

• My organization has not prioritized official language training for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees who are ready for advancement.

How is your organization prioritizing official language training?

All CSE employees are entitled to language training, regardless of whether they belong to an employment equity group. Therefore, CSE decided that it was not necessary to focus on this criterion from the call to action.

However, throughout the 2024-2025 fiscal year, there will be many departmental communications to promote second language training. We will highlight employment equity groups and emphasize that second language training is available to all employees who receive supervisor/manager approval. For the next sponsorship cohort, CSE is considering adding the objective that participants who require it should make second language training a priority in order to reduce the language barrier to management positions.

A training framework is currently being developed and should be approved this year. The goal of the framework is to formalize second language training priorities and to present training options for each priority. The framework includes official language training for Indigenous, Black and other racialized employees who are ready for promotion. Employees are also encouraged to discuss language training options with their supervisor during performance discussions.

Does your organization offer access to Indigenous language training or have plans to offer access? Please provide details. 

No.

Question 8

Has your organization provided support and/or invested resources for organizational employee networks and communities?

• Engagement with employees and employee networks in my organization’s decision-making is meaningful and regular.
• Governance structures are in place to support employee networks and communities (e.g., champions, champions/chairs participate at management tables).
• Material supports are provided for employee networks and communities (e.g., dedicated funding, FTE support, allowing time to engage in activities).

Please provide additional detail about how your organization engages with and supports employee networks and communities.

Driven by our EDI framework - One CSE, we count on support from 12 affinity groups. Each group is structured, funded and included in the organizational consultation process (policies, initiatives, annual reports). Affinity groups are composed of staff members and rely on collaboration between colleagues who share the same EDI concerns. CSE mobilizes and consults affinity groups to ensure that the organization takes into account their needs, issues, concerns and ideas.

These groups organize many activities every year and run awareness campaigns and information sessions for all employees to create a culture of inclusion.

Affinity groups are also invited to various governance committees to provide updates on their work, present their concerns and propose solutions.  

Question 9

Has anti-racism, equity and inclusion work been embedded in your organization’s integrated business plan and/or mental health plan?

• Work is underway on our integrated business plan and/or mental health plan to embed anti-racism, equity and inclusion work.

Question 10

Does your organization have a calendar to avoid holding major meetings and events during significant religious, spiritual, and cultural periods?

• My organization currently has a calendar for this purpose.

If the calendar already exists, please provide additional details on how this calendar is communicated or promoted within your organization.  

Over the past year, we began using our internal newsletter to communicate, to celebrate and to educate our community on important events during periods of religious, spiritual and cultural significance. This included sharing content on what makes these events significant for employees. Work is underway to consult affinity groups to gather a more comprehensive list of significant religious, spiritual and cultural events. Once this work is completed, our internal communications team will continue to spread awareness using our organizational calendar.

Additional information about your organization’s ongoing initiatives 

Question 11

What are two or three specific barriers that you have faced in advancing work on the Call to Action?

Please provide two or three examples.

1. Insufficient communication and resistance.
    
   We tend to encounter resistance in the form of employees feeling insufficiently informed, such as when we launched initiatives like the sponsorship program, began celebrating religious events that are not linked to the Gregorian calendar, or included affinity group leadership in People and Culture Committee meetings. These initiatives were initially met with resistance related to giving certain groups advantages over others, trying to meet too many different needs and not having enough for everyone, and intentionally creating more space for people without taking space away from others.
2. Implementing strategies to achieve measurable results that effectively address the side effects of tokenism.
    
   Measures that set quantifiable responsibilities and results—such as self-identification data, hiring goals, or the inclusion of hiring goals in performance evaluations—can lead to toxic workplace behaviours as people work to achieve these objectives. The potential for tokenism and the mistreatment of the people we are trying to support is a persistent challenge. Implementing these measures with consideration and respect continues to require work.
3. It will take deliberate effort and additional resources to launch system processes that could have an impact or to make systemic changes.
    
   We must increase our capabilities (tools and resources) dedicated to managing harassment, racism, labour relations cases and accessibility.
4. Shifting the EDI workload from committed volunteers toward a supported and sustainable institutional model to counter the effects of EDI fatigue.
    
   Individuals who care deeply about the EDI mandate because they needed it and those who were resistant to the mandate but felt obligated to participate are headed toward a collective sense of fatigue toward EDI mandates in general. Working through this without losing the progress achieved to date will require sustained and courageous leadership.

Question 12

Recognizing that employees often have multiple identities, what actions is your organization undertaking to support Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees who are also members of other communities, such as persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and religious minorities who face compounding barriers of discrimination?

Please provide details.

During the Five-Eyes (FVEY) EDI summit, we had a team and educational panels that focused specifically on intersectionality and support for people with intersectional identities. We also ensured that affinity group leaders did not work in silos and that they had time both to meet monthly and to attend People and Culture Committee meetings to incorporate intersectional perspectives. We encourage our affinity groups to organize joint events that highlight intersectionality. This year, many such events were held, including events where our Jewish employees joined our 2SLGBTQIA+ employees, an event organized by our women’s network in collaboration with our network for racialized employees, and a working group where neurodiverse employees and employees with disabilities worked together to drive changes in accessibility.

Question 13

In your first year of implementing the forward direction of the Call to Action, what impact has this work had on the culture of your organization?

Please provide the two or three most important impacts. 

In terms of negative impacts, some employees are feeling a sense of EDI fatigue as EDI has been a Government of Canada priority for many years now and will likely continue to be a priority.

Pressure to hire candidates who self-declare as part of an employment equity group also adds further strain to existing challenges, such as workforce shortages—primarily in the Information Technology (IT) and cyber security fields—competition in these fields, and CSE’s rigorous security process.

These numerical goals have also led to a feeling that the call to action is purely for tokenism purposes, emphasizing quantitative rather than qualitative or narrative goals. The perception that appointments or promotions are being awarded simply because a person is a member of an employment equity group causes confusion and frustration.

One positive aspect has been the collaboration between the various FVEY partners over the past few years, most notably the EDI Summit in March 2024. Our partners demonstrated their commitment by physically coming to the Edward Drake Building in Ottawa.

Also in 2023, the Jewish and Middle Eastern/North African affinity groups, affected by the war in Israel, demonstrated excellent leadership to support and educate the organization in these difficult times. They organized several activities to create a collaborative and peaceful environment within CSE. As a result of these commitments, CSE has submitted an application for a Public Service Award of Excellence in recognition of their contributions.