Cyclical staffing assessment

Understanding cyclical staffing assessments

The Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument requires that deputy heads assess on a cyclical basis, at least once every 5 years, adherence to the requirements established in the instrument, the Public Service Employment Act, other applicable statutes and regulations, the Public Service Commission (PSC)’s Appointment Policy, as well as organizational staffing policies and the sub-delegation instrument.

Cyclical staffing assessments provide deputy heads and the PSC with:

• a robust review of the application of appointment authorities
• assurance that staffing activities comply with legislative and policy requirements

Cyclical staffing assessments and ongoing monitoring are interrelated

Cyclical assessments and ongoing monitoring look at staffing from different angles — and both are essential. They complement each other by providing a full picture of a department or agency’s staffing system.

Ongoing monitoring is a continuous process that enables ongoing course correction: departments and agencies observe, track and record information on staffing-related activities (may include effectiveness and efficiency reviews, time to staff, internal data analysis, staffing trends, hiring demographics).

Cyclical staffing assessments are part of a periodic process of self-examination based on information from different sources, including ongoing monitoring findings. Through cyclical staffing assessments, deputy heads take a broad look at the health of the organizational staffing system and identify areas that need to be strengthened, as well as potential measures to address weaknesses.

Planning ongoing monitoring and cyclical staffing assessments

While departments and agencies can determine the depth and extent of the requirements to be assessed, deputy heads are accountable for adhering to all legislative and policy requirements.

To strengthen the comparability of system-wide data, the PSC has established core standardized reporting of key elements. The standardized reporting template sets the minimum requirements to be assessed (which may be amended periodically). Deputy heads maintain the flexibility to determine if these key elements are to be assessed beyond the minimum requirements established by the standardized reporting template.

Completing the standardized reporting template is only one part of the cyclical staffing assessment. Departments and agencies are also required to assess their organizational staffing framework and compliance with other PSC or organizational requirements.

The PSC’s Staffing Oversight Reference Tool can be used to design staffing monitoring and oversight activities according to the department or agency’s specific context and risks. While the tool is not an exhaustive list of all staffing-related requirements, and its use is optional, it lists various requirements stemming from legislation, regulations and related policies and instruments.

Departments and agencies should also conduct a risk assessment to identify the areas and requirements that the cyclical staffing assessment should focus on.

To identify risks, consider:

• previous ongoing monitoring results
• staffing-related complaints
• grievances or investigations requests
• dialogue with human resources practitioners and bargaining agents
• PSC system-wide oversight findings
• Survey of Non-partisanship and Staffing
• any other relevant information

As well as policy and legislative requirements, deputy heads may wish to examine other areas at risk such as time to staff, quality of hire or internal guidance, with a view to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their organizational staffing system.

Conducting the assessment

Determine who is best placed to assess compliance with requirements and consider leveraging the expertise of the internal audit or human resources units. Deputy heads of small or micro-organizations may request the support of the PSC to conduct the cyclical staffing assessment on their behalf.

No specific approach or methodology is prescribed for the assessment beyond the one established with the core standardized reporting, but it should be rigorous and provide for reliable, relevant results. The assessment should also include an evaluation of the organizational staffing framework (policies in place, sub-delegation instrument) and examine a sample of appointment files for compliance. Departments and agencies can draw on internal audit expertise to define the scope and methodology for these assessments, and can also consult the PSC.

The scope of the assessment should include an adequate sample to understand the health of the staffing system from a compliance perspective. Variables to consider include:

• volume of appointments
• categories of appointments:
  • advertised and non-advertised
  • external and internal
  • indeterminate, terms and acting appointments
  • headquarters and regions
• types of jobs (categories, groups, levels)
• executive and non-executive appointments

Reporting results

To support continuous intelligence, departments and agencies must submit their cyclical staffing assessment reports according to a staggered cycle. Each year, the PSC will receive reports from a representative group of organizations, leading to system-wide intelligence over 5 years.

Departments and agencies are advised of their reporting date by their staffing support advisor. Cyclical staffing assessment results must be shared with the PSC during the year they are assigned, either separately or as a component of their annual reporting to the PSC (in Annex D of the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument).

Beyond what is required by the core standardized reporting, there is no format for reporting cyclical staffing assessment results, but they may include:

• information on the scope and methodology of the assessment, such as the sample examined, period assessed and sources of information
• results of risk assessment that informed review
• results of assessment, including both areas of compliance and non-compliance
• any observations and conclusions resulting from the assessment, including corrective measures or improvements (taken or planned)

Departments and agencies are not required to report to the PSC on their ongoing monitoring activities, although these are equally important to organizations’ understanding of their staffing system.

Tools and support

For more information, validation of any changes to core reporting requirements, or if you belong to a small or micro-organization seeking to establish an arrangement with the PSC to conduct the cyclical assessment, please contact your staffing support advisor.