2020-21 Departmental Plan

Table of Contents

From the President

I am pleased to present the 2020–21 Departmental Plan of the Public Service Commission of Canada.

By promoting and safeguarding a non-partisan, merit-based and representative public service, we play a key role in shaping a Canadian public service that ranks among the most effective in the world.

More than ever, we are operating in a dynamic and complex environment that requires us to be more agile and innovative. In the coming year, we will focus on working with departments and agencies to efficiently hire a workforce of the future that is reflective of Canada’s diversity and that is ready to deliver results for Canadians.

Our 2020–21 departmental plan provides parliamentarians and Canadians with information on how we will work with partners to meet our ambitious targets. More specifically, our plan outlines how we will build on our momentum to:

  • reduce time to staff
  • hire more persons with disabilities into the public service
  • modernize the recruitment platform
  • improve how we recruit qualified individuals from across the country

Achieving our vision of public service staffing renewal will require leadership and policy guidance, as well as modern assessment tools and services. Recognizing that culture change takes time, we will work with departments and agencies to experiment and find new ways to improve the staffing system to meet the changing expectations of hiring managers and candidates. And as our work evolves, we will make room for new ideas. Stronger partnerships and alignment across government to support these efforts will be important drivers of success.

We look forward to sharing updates with parliamentarians on our progress, with our ultimate intention in mind: to build an inclusive public service that can adapt to the pace of change, meet the hiring demands of the future and continue to serve Canadians well.

Patrick Borbey
President
Public Service Commission of Canada

Plans at a glance

As a federal institution reporting independently to Parliament on its mandate, the Public Service Commission of Canada is responsible for promoting and safeguarding a merit-based, representative and non-partisan public service that serves all Canadians. Working with departments and agencies across the country, we will focus on hiring a workforce that is reflective of Canada’s diversity and ready to deliver results for Canadians.

The following priorities provide a summary of our key plans for 2020–21:

To lead and enable departments and agencies to efficiently hire a diverse and competent workforce, through our policy instruments, programs, services and systems.

One of our top priorities is to reduce time to staff. We will align our targets to help achieve the Government of Canada’s goal of reducing the time it takes to hire new public servants by 50% over the next few years. We will work with Treasury Board Secretariat and departments and agencies toward this ambitious goal. In 2020–21, we plan to:

  • experiment and rethink how we conduct staffing processes, by piloting new initiatives to modernize hiring practices, and influencing and monitoring collective behaviour shifts
  • encourage departments and agencies to demonstrate clear progress on reducing time to staff
  • lead cultural change to improve the staffing experience for managers, HR professionals and job seekers
  • adapt our digital recruitment and assessment services to the needs of all users, and implement the next phase of the modernization of the recruitment platform (GC Jobs)

We are committed to building a representative workforce that reflects the diversity of Canada. This year, to ensure that persons with disabilities can access job opportunities and contribute to their full potential, we plan to:

  • support and promote the new public service accessibility strategy, and reduce barriers in recruitment and staffing
  • collaborate with departments, agencies and other stakeholders to significantly increase the number of persons with disabilities who apply for positions and who are hired into the public service
  • deliver the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities program by offering 125 2-year internship opportunities within the federal public service over 5 years

To promote and safeguard the integrity of the staffing system and the non-partisan nature of the federal public service.

We will achieve this through our policy support and ongoing oversight. This includes:

  • supporting departments and agencies as they conduct internal monitoring and assessments related to staffing
  • conducting horizontal audits and other oversight projects
  • providing intelligence gathered through our surveys, reports and data management strategy to support informed staffing decisions and improve the staffing system

For more information on the Public Service Commission’s plans, priorities and planned results, see the “Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks” section of this report.

Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks

This section contains detailed information on the department’s planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.

Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

Description

The Public Service Commission promotes and safeguards a merit-based, representative and non-partisan public service that delivers results for all Canadians.

Through policy direction and guidance, it supports departments and agencies in the hiring of qualified individuals into and within the public service, helping to shape a workforce reflecting Canada’s diversity. It delivers recruitment programs and assessment services supporting the strategic recruitment priorities of the Government of Canada and the renewal of the public service, leveraging modern tools to reduce barriers for Canadians accessing public service jobs.

It oversees public service hiring, ensuring the integrity of the hiring process. It provides guidance to employees regarding their legal rights and responsibilities related to political activities and renders decisions on political candidacy, respecting employees’ rights to participate in political activities, while protecting the non-partisan nature of the public service.

Planning highlights

In 2020–21, we set ambitious targets to achieve meaningful results, respond to the needs of Canadians and provide them with excellent services. Achieving results across government requires a collective effort. We need to provide strong leadership and effective programs and services to enable departments to succeed. We will focus on agile methodology (managing projects by breaking them up into several stages, using constant collaboration and monitoring continuous improvement at each stage), on experimentation and on modernizing the staffing system to address staffing and recruitment challenges.

1. The federal public service efficiently hires a workforce of the future that is capable and ready to deliver results for Canadians

We will continue to protect merit and to reduce the time it takes to staff by:

  • improving digital assessment services
    • launching a managerial in-basket exercise
    • exploring remote supervised testing
    • implementing unsupervised internet testing for second language evaluation
  • delivering flexible and innovative programs and services, including updated recruitment campaigns, to meet the federal government’s renewal objectives
  • retaining skilled employees by hiring veterans and persons with a priority entitlement
  • creating and maintaining partnerships and networks to learn from leading staffing practices within and outside the federal public service
  • providing departments, agencies and Canadians with robust data on public service hiring by conducting audits and publishing reports, including the Audit of the Federal Student Work Experience Program
  • planning for the second System-Wide Staffing Audit, to assess performance of the staffing system and identify areas requiring attention to support system-wide improvements
  • updating our regulation framework and services; this includes revising the regulatory framework to modernize the Public Service Employment Regulations in response to findings from our 2018–19 stakeholder consultations

Modernizing GC Jobs, the federal public service’s recruitment platform, is a key priority. Building on the past 2 years of extensive research as well as consultation with users and requests for information on industry trends, we will work with departments and agencies to conduct pilots in 2021–22. The new recruitment platform will offer a seamless, intuitive experience for job seekers, hiring managers and HR professionals, providing all Canadians with a more direct and fair way to search for and apply to government jobs. It will also help to reduce time to staff and allow hiring managers to adopt modern recruitment practices. The new platform will serve and be used by over 220,000 employees from the more than 75 departments and agencies under the Public Service Commission’s jurisdiction, as well as another 47 other organizations with more than 200,000 employees, many of whom have employees with mobility rights.

2. The federal public service reflects Canada’s diversity

We will continue to work on various fronts to build a representative public service to enhance accessibility, diversity and inclusion in hiring and recruitment. This includes continuing to hire Indigenous people, and a greater focus this year on the recruitment of persons with disabilities.

To achieve this, we will:

  • adapt our approach to recruiting persons with disabilities by diversifying our activities and collaborating with associations and employment equity groups
  • collaborate with departments and agencies to increase the representation of persons with disabilities
  • develop partnerships with associations to better understand the makeup and needs of the workforce and to identify and reduce barriers in recruitment and staffing
    • for example, we will establish memoranda of understanding with associations that support the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities
  • provide consultation services, and develop training materials and tools, to support the Assessment Accessibility Ambassadors Network and improve expertise in assessment and accommodation across the public service
  • continue to manage the Indigenous Student Employment Opportunity and Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities inventories
  • publish our Audit of Employment Equity Representation in Recruitment report to identify barriers that may exist to recruiting members of employment equity groups

In 2020–21, we will continue to integrate gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) into our key policies, programs and services, to reduce systemic barriers and to ensure inclusive outcomes for Canadians. Building on lessons learned since we started implementing GBA+ in 2018, we will pro-actively ensure that potential impacts for diverse groups of Canadians are systematically identified and meaningfully addressed in our initiatives and communications.

3. Canadians are served by a politically impartial public service

We will raise awareness of public servants’ legal rights and responsibilities related to engaging in political activities, informed in part by the results of the Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey. Balancing the rights of employees with the principle of political impartiality, we will render decisions on requests from public servants for permission to be a candidate in an election, and will investigate allegations of improper political activities.

Experimentation

Through experimentation, we will find new ways to attract and recruit talent while reducing time to staff, and we will keep evolving to make room for new ideas. As a central agency working on an important change management initiative — agile staffing — we need to innovate and experiment to achieve results. We will invest time and resources to ensure that decision-making policies, tools and research are supported by evidence-based approaches. In 2020–21, we will focus on:

  • completing Phase II of the Pilot of Position-Specific Assessment for Oral Proficiency at the B level, which allows hiring managers to evaluate a candidate’s second language oral proficiency
  • researching and testing the effectiveness of artificial intelligence for:
    • pre-screening in staffing processes in collaboration with Employment and Social Development Canada
    • assessing equivalency between English and French text in statements of merit criteria
      • this will involve working with the National Research Council to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to reduce the number of statements of merit criteria that do not comply with official languages requirements
  • concluding the Employee Referral Program pilot and exploring potential expansion to support timely talent acquisition

United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and sustainable development goals

Our planned activities under our public service hiring and non-partisanship core responsibility support Canada’s efforts to address the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Footnote 1 and its sustainable development goalsFootnote 2. Our initiatives to reduce barriers for Canadians in accessing public service jobs and to ensure that federal public service hiring reflects Canada’s diversity will contribute to:

  • achieving gender equality (UN sustainable development goal 5)
  • promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all (UN sustainable development goal 8)
  • reducing inequality within and among countries (UN sustainable development goal 10)
  • promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (UN sustainable development goal 16)

Key risks

Over the last decade, new recruitment practices and technologies have led both job applicants and hiring managers to expect faster and more accessible staffing processes. The public service has been slow to adopt new technologies, has limited resources for digital investment, and faces staffing system challenges that include an outdated recruitment platform and a risk-averse culture. As a result, job seekers may not view the federal public service as a favourable option, or may be won over by employers with leaner processes, and the public service may not be in a position to efficiently attract and recruit a competent, diverse and professional workforce. Strategies to mitigate this risk in 2020–21 include:

  • improving digital recruitment and assessment services to adapt to the emerging needs of all users
  • conducting targeted pilots to experiment with and measure improvements in our capacity for agile staffing
  • achieving key milestones to modernize our GC Jobs platform

As a result of the Public Service Commission’s own challenges in adapting to change in a fast-paced environment, we, as a central agency, may not be sufficiently driving innovation in staffing practices across the federal public service. In 2020–21, we intend to play a clear leadership role across the staffing system by using data analytics to support evidence-based decisions and investing in experimentation to innovate and to adjust programs and service delivery.

Finally, our ability to deliver on our mandate continues to depend heavily on our partnerships and shared responsibilities with other departments and central agencies. For 2020–21, this will include working with Treasury Board Secretariat to reduce the time it takes to hire new public servants, with the goal of cutting the average time in half, over the next few years. Partnerships are essential to supporting Government of Canada priorities relating to efficiency, accessibility, diversity and inclusion in public service recruitment and staffing. Despite recent progress, the complexity of horizontal files, combined with inadequate alignment and coordination among central agencies, may hinder our ability to make headway on these priorities. To mitigate this risk in 2020–21, we will clarify roles and responsibilities, and communicate on key horizontal files, and drive major initiatives such as the Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada Footnote 3.

Planned results for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

Departmental result

Departmental result indicator

Target

Date to achieve target

2016–17 actual             result

2017–18 actual             result

2018–19 actual result

The public service efficiently hires the workforce of the future that is capable and ready to deliver results for Canadians

Number of days to complete an external staffing process

Maximum 
167 days Table Note A

03-2021

188 days

194 days

186 days

Percentage of managers who say they have the flexibility to fulfill their hiring needs

At least 65%

03-2021

Not available Table Note B

Not
available Table Note B

60%

Percentage of managers who believe that appointees meet the performance expectations of the position

At least 90%

03-2021

Not available Table Note B

Not
available Table Note B

91.8%

Percentage of new hires and internal promotions who fully meet the qualifications of the position (based on merit)

At least 98%

03-2022

Not available Table Note F

Not
available Table Note F

98.3%

The public service reflects Canada’s diversity

Percentage of employees who are women

At least 52.6% Table Note C

03-2021

54.6%

54.9%

54.8%

Percentage of employees who are an Aboriginal person

At least 4.0 Table Note C

03-2021

5.3%

5.2%

Not
available Table Note E

Percentage of employees who are members of visible minority groups

At least 15.3% Table Note C

03-2021

15.1%

15.8%

Not
available Table Note E

Percentage of employees who are persons with disabilities

At least 9.0% Table Note C

03-2021

5.6%

5.3%

Not
available Table Note E

Percentage of new hires under the age of 35

At least 53%

03-2021

55%

53.2%

54.8%

Percentage of official language minority applicants (French-speaking applicants outside of Quebec and English-speaking applicants within Quebec)

At least 6.9%

03-2021

10.3%

10.9%

11.4%

Percentage of new hires who applied from outside the National Capital Region

At least 75%

03-2021

76.7%

75%

73%

Canadians are served by a politically impartial public service

Number of founded investigations related to political activities

0 Table Note D

03-2021

3

2

7 d

Percentage of employees who are aware of their legal rights and responsibilities regarding engaging in political activities

At least 80% Table Note B

03-2021

Not available Table Note B

Not
available Table Note B

80.1%


Financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBaseFootnote 4.

Planned budgetary financial resources for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

2020–21 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)

2020–21
planned spending

2021–22
planned spending

2022–23
planned spending

56,505,179

56,505,179

56,778,478

56,896,497

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBaseFootnote 4.

Planned human resources for Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

2020–21
planned full-time equivalents

2021–22
planned full-time equivalents

2022–23
planned full-time equivalents

570

569

568

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBaseFootnote 4.

Internal Services: planned results

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of Programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct services that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. These services are:

  • Management and Oversight Services
  • Communications Services
  • Legal Services
  • Human Resources Management Services
  • Financial Management Services
  • Information Management Services
  • Information Technology Services
  • Real Property Management Services
  • Materiel Management Services
  • Acquisition Management Services

Planning highlights

We will support the Public Service Commission’s workforce by promoting a healthy and modern workplace that is diverse and inclusive. We will achieve this by:

1. Developing and implementing a renewed departmental People Management Strategy that focuses on hiring and onboarding, talent management, as well as maintaining a healthy, safe and inclusive workplace

The renewed strategy will ensure we have the capacity and expertise to deliver on our programs and services, as well as government-wide priorities. We will focus on employee skills development to support an agile and equipped workforce.

Our internal human resources management services will lead by example by implementing hiring and diversity initiatives. This team will also implement initiatives to decrease time to staff and reduce obstacles to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce.

2. Supporting the public service accessibility strategy

Our internal services will support the implementation of the Accessible Canada Act and the public service’s new accessibility strategy by identifying, preventing and reducing barriers to the participation of persons with disabilities within the Public Service Commission. We will implement internal initiatives and take advantage of central agencies’ initiatives to increase the number of persons with disabilities hired to offer better accommodation. To do this, we will draw on our departmental People Management Strategy and work with our Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

3. Ensuring optimal implementation of government-wide solutions

We will align with Government of Canada priorities to lay a new digital foundation that will make our IT services more efficient and more accessible. We will strengthen our partnerships with stakeholders as we implement the new digital strategy, and will continue to modernize tools and processes to support our employees in delivering results to Canadians.

We are working with Treasury Board Secretariat as one of the first departments to implement the new version of the Government of Canada’s Financial and Materiel Solution. This solution, which is aligned with the Digital Strategy of the Government of Canada, aims to effectively monitor and manage resources, and to improve user experience of a modern and reliable financial and performance reporting system.

Planned budgetary financial resources for Internal Services

2020–21 budgetary spending
(as indicated in Main Estimates)

2020–21
planned spending

2021–22
planned spending

2022–23
planned spending

33,297,496

33,297,496

33,426,108

33,481,646

Planned human resources for Internal Services

2020–21
planned full-time equivalents

2021–22
planned full-time equivalents

2022–23
planned full-time equivalents

293

292

292

Spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next 3 consecutive fiscal years, and compares planned spending for the upcoming year with the current and previous years’ actual spending.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2017–18 to 2022–23

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory) spending over time.

Planned (voted and statutory) spending over time - Text version
2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23
Statutory 9,839,178 10,040,574 11,316,608 11,444,651 11,482,151 11,479,685
Voted 75,829,518 76,525,085 80,864,604 78,358,024 78,722,435 78,898,458
Total 85,668,696 86,565,632 92,181,212 89,802,675 90,204,586 90,378,143

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibility and Internal Services (dollars)

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned spending for the Public Service Commission’s core responsibility and for Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Core responsibility and Internal Services

2017–18          expenditures

2018–19
expenditures

2019–20
forecast spending

2020–21
budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)

2020–21
planned spending

2021–22
planned spending

2022–23
planned spending

Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

54,920,605

55,789,506

59,573,485

56,505,179

56,505,179

56,778,478

56,896,497

Subtotal

54,920,605

55,789,506

59,573,485

56,505,179

56,505,179

56,778,478

56,896,497

Internal Services

30,748,091

30,776,126

32,607,728

33,297,496

33,297,496

33,426,108

33,481,646

Total

85,668,696

86,565,632

92,181,212

89,802,675

89,802,675

90,204,586

90,378,143

Spending increased from $86.6 million in 2018–19 to $92.2 million in 2019–20. The increase of $5.6 million primarily reflects new funding received to support a healthy, diverse, inclusive and accessible public service, as well as the retroactive salary payment and higher salary rates following the implementation of new collective agreements.

Spending is expected to decrease from $92.2 million in 2019–20 to $89.8 million in 2020–21.

Planned human resources

The following table shows actual, forecast and planned full-time equivalents for each core responsibility in the Public Service Commission’s departmental results framework and for Internal Services for the years relevant to the current planning year.

Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services

Core responsibility and Internal Services

2017–18
actual full-time equivalents

2018–19
actual full-time equivalents

2019–20
forecast full-time equivalents

2020–21
planned full-time equivalents

2021–22
planned full-time equivalents

2022–23
planned full‑time equivalents

Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

504

527

570

570

569

568

Subtotal

504

527

570

570

569

568

Internal Services

238

270

293

293

292

292

Total

742

797

863

863

861

860

The year-over-year increase since 2017-18 is the result of increased staffing in various areas of the organization, including IT projects and national recruitment.

Estimates by vote

Information on the Public Service Commission’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2020–21 Main Estimates Footnote 5.

Condensed future-oriented statement of operations

The condensed future oriented statement of operations provides an overview of the Public Service Commission’s operations for 2019–20 to 2020–21.

The amounts for forecast and planned results in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The amounts for forecast and planned spending presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, are available on the Public Service Commission’s website Footnote 6.

Condensed future oriented statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2021 (dollars)

Financial information

2019–20 forecast results

2020–21 planned results

Difference
(2020–21 planned
results minus
2019–20 forecast results)

Total expenses

123,076

125,791

2,715

Total revenues

9,731

14,264

4,532

Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers

113,345

111,527

(1,818)

Expenses:
Total expenses for 2020–21 are planned at $125.7 million, representing a $2.7 million increase from the previous year’s forecasted total expenses of $123.1 million.

Revenues:
Total revenues for 2020–21 are planned at $14.3 million, representing a $4.5 million increase over the previous year's total revenues of $9.7 million.

Significant variances:
Variance of $1.8 million between 2020–21 and 2019–20 is largely attributable to planning figures for 2020–21. Planning figures for 2020–21 are based on the overall authorities for the year, whereas the 2019–20 figures are based on the projected spending against the available authorities.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s): The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., Q.C., MP

Institutional head: Patrick Borbey, President

Ministerial portfolio: The Public Service Commission of Canada is part of the Privy Council Office portfolio

Enabling instrument(s): Public Service Employment Act (S.C. 2003, c.22. 12, 13)

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1908

Other: Public Service Commission of Canada website

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the Public Service Commission’s website Footnote 7.

Operating context

The Public Service Commission operates in a dynamic and complex environment that requires us to be efficient, adaptable and innovative to support hiring in departments and agencies across Canada. Managers are looking for new and innovative approaches to attract and assess candidates, and job seekers expect an intuitive and responsive recruitment experience. To meet these expectations in a fast-changing environment, we will need to find new ways to attract high quality candidates, streamline our application processes, and explore new and targeted approaches to candidate assessment. Our federal public service must renew itself amid fierce competition for key skills and low unemployment rates. To rise to the challenge, we need to work with departments and agencies across government. While the Public Service Commission holds the legal authority to appoint public servants, we delegate this authority to deputy heads, and we rely on departments and agencies to carry out staffing to meet their business needs following our policies and guidelines.

More than ever, we are working to ensure that recruitment activities across the system reflect Canadian society, which has never been more diverse. The June 2019 Accessible Canada Act and the Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada provide us with clear goals for improving the recruitment and career progression of persons with disabilities. We want job seekers with disabilities to see the Government of Canada as an employer of choice, and to have access to job opportunities that allow them to contribute to their full potential.

We are also working to support the recruitment and promotion of Indigenous people as part of Canada’s path toward reconciliation. Our efforts, combined with the leadership of all federal organizations as well as the individual actions of every manager and human resources professional across the staffing system, will contribute to building diverse and inclusive teams that deliver better results to Canadians.

Reporting framework

The Public Service Commission approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2020–21 are as follows.

Departmental Results Framework

Core responsibility
Public Service Hiring and Non-partisanship

Internal
Services

Departmental Result 1:
The public service efficiently hires the workforce of the future that is capable and ready to deliver results for Canadians

Indicator 1
Number of days to complete an external staffing process

Indicator 2
Percentage of managers who say they have the flexibility to fulfill their hiring needs

Indicator 3
Percentage of managers who believe that appointees meet the performance expectations of the position

Indicator 4
Percentage of new hires and internal promotions who fully meet the qualifications of the position (based on merit)

Departmental Result 2:
The public service reflects Canada’s diversity

Indicator 5
Percentage of employees who are women

Indicator 6
Percentage of employees who are an Aboriginal person

Indicator 7
Percentage of employees who are members of visible minority groups

Indicator 8
Percentage of employees who are persons with disabilities

Indicator 9
Percentage of new hires under the age of 35

Indicator 10
Percentage of Official Language Minority applicants (French-speaking applicants outside of Quebec and English-speaking applicants within Quebec)

Indicator 11
Percentage of new hires who applied from outside the National Capital Region

Departmental Result 3:
Canadians are served by a politically impartial public service

Indicator 12
Number of founded investigations related to political activities

Indicator 13
Percentage of employees who are aware of their legal rights and responsibilities regarding engaging in political activities

Program Inventory

Program 1 Policy Direction and Support

Program 2 Recruitment and Assessment Services

Program 3 Oversight and Monitoring

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the Public Service Commission’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase Footnote 4.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the Public Service Commission’s website:

Federal tax expenditures

Public Service Commission’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures that relate to its planned results for 2020–21.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, and the Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government¬ wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. Footnote 8 This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are solely the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address
Public Service Commission of Canada
22 Eddy Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M7
Email: cfp.infocom.psc@cfp-psc.gc.ca
Website(s): Public Service Commission’s website

Appendix: definitions


appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of a department over a 3 year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité ministérielle)
A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Departmental priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)
Conducting activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare, the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works and what doesn’t. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (trying new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. Full time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])
An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2020–21 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada's Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative in which 2 or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)
An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

strategic outcome (résultat stratégique)
A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

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