Internal Audit of Public Service Commission Recruitment and Staffing
Table of Contents
Introduction
New Direction in Staffing
1. In April 2016, the Public Service Commission (the agency) launched a new HR appointment framework for the federal public service based on revisions to the agency’s Appointment Policy and the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument. This New Direction in Staffing was the single most important change to the public service staffing system in over a decade. In addition to reducing the number of appointment policies from 12 to 1, the New Direction in Staffing provided for:
- more variety in hiring processes
- agile approaches to staffing and policies
- more room for managers to apply their judgement when staffing
- increased focus on outcomes, including the quality of the person hired, and less on process
2. Under the Public Service Employment Act (the act), the agency has the authority to make appointments to and within the public service, and has delegated many of its appointment authorities to deputy heads. Within the federal public service, the act, the Appointment Policy, and Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument all outline deputy head roles and responsibilities for building departmental staffing systems, conducting ongoing monitoring, and assessing organizational compliance through cyclical assessments. As a result, organizations have a more direct role in designing and monitoring their staffing systems. The agency has not prescribed how cyclical assessments and monitoring should be performed; organizations are expected to conduct ongoing monitoring and cyclical assessments at least every 5 years.
3. In April 2016, coinciding with the launch of the New Direction in Staffing, the agency implemented its own departmental staffing policy, the Organizational Staffing Philosophy, in order to comply with the new appointment framework. It also updated its Staffing Sub-delegation and Accountability Policy and Sub-Delegation of Staffing Authorities Matrix. The philosophy was updated in July 2018, and a new delegation of HR authorities instrument was adopted in September 2018, to take into account lessons learned 2 years into New Direction in Staffing implementation. Through the agency’s Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument, the President, like every deputy head operating under the act, is accountable for exercising delegated staffing authorities or sub-delegating elements of this authority to hiring managers. Eligible hiring managers are required to complete mandatory training and sign an attestation form before being granted a sub-delegate role.
Context
4. The agency’s mandate is to promote and safeguard merit-based appointments and, in collaboration with other stakeholders, protect the non-partisan nature of the public service. It fulfills its mandate by providing policy guidance and expertise, conducting effective oversight, and delivering innovative staffing and assessment services. The organization has 4 sectors and a corporate secretariat, supported by a multi-tiered governance structure. The headquarters and 5 regional offices fulfill their mandates by delivering 3 main programs: policy direction and support; recruitment and assessment services; and oversight, monitoring, and non-partisanship.
5. The budgets for fiscal years 2017-18 and 2018-19 were $86.7 million $85.7 million respectively, with approximately 80% allocated to employee salaries. The number of employees by type of employment on March 31, 2017, and 2018, are provided in Table 1.
| Agency employees (by type of employment) | March 31, 2017 | March 31, 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Indeterminate | 648 | 684 |
| Student | 32 | 37 |
| Casual | 27 | 35 |
| Term | 13 | 18 |
| Total | 720 | 774 |
6. The following table provides a snapshot of agency personnel by job classification as of March 31, 2018. At that time 58% of the agency’s workforce was from 3 occupational groups — the Personnel Administration Group (25%), Administrative Services (22%), and Computer Systems (11%). Executives made up 5% of all employees.
Text alternative
| Job classification | Number |
|---|---|
| Programme Administration (PM) | 3 |
| Financial Management (FI) | 22 |
| Information Services (IS) | 23 |
| Executive Group(EX) | 37 |
| Economics and Social Science Services (EC) | 50 |
| Education and Library Science (ED) | 67 |
| Other classifications (including PS group) | 68 |
| Clerical and Regulatory (CR) | 76 |
| SComputer System (CS) | 80 |
| Administration Services (AS) | 164 |
| Personnel Administration Group (PE) | 184 |
Human resources management context
7. The Human Resources Management Directorate is led by a director general who reports to the Vice President, Corporate Affairs Sector. It includes the Centre of Expertise for Workplace Management, the Client Services and Innovation Division, the Centre of Expertise Pay Services, Systems and Learning, and the Corporate Human Resources Division. The latter is responsible for 6 areas of corporate HR management: HR planning, corporate staffing, corporate classification, employment equity, official languages, and awards and recognition. The directorate has approximately 53 employees and a budget of approximately $5 million to support all of the agency’s HR requirements.
8. The agency has experienced significant change over the past 2 years. For example, there has been turnover at the executive and employee levels, particularly for some occupational groups (such as Computer Systems), resulting in losses of corporate memory in certain areas. A risk has also been identified regarding the potential impact that shortages in some occupational groups (such as the Computer Systems and Personnel Administration Group) could present to the organization. This is captured in one of the 4 corporate risks identified for 2018-19, namely that the agency may not have sufficient internal capacity and expertise to deliver on some public service-wide initiatives and on some of the agency's priorities.
9. During fiscal year 2017-18, the agency finalized a number of staffing activities, which included 183 appointments (term or indeterminate)Footnote 1 that were either promotions or new hires. Certain activities such as reclassifications and acting appointments were excluded from the population identified for this audit. Figure 2 provides an overview by type — internal or external and advertised or non-advertised. In line with the classification composition within the agency, approximately 53% of staffing appointments were finalized for Administrative Services (24%), Computer Systems (16%), and Personnel Administration Group (13%) positions.
Text alternative
| Type | Advertised | Non-Advertised |
|---|---|---|
| External | 61 | 35 |
| Internal | 45 | 42 |
| Total | 106 | 77 |
10. At the time this report was written, the agency was one of 25 organizations included in the Pilot System-Wide Staffing Audit. The final results of this pilot audit were reported at the end of Fall 2018.
Audit objective and scope
11. The internal audit objective was to provide reasonable assurance that the agency has established HR planning requirements; developed and implemented effective staffing processes in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act, and related regulations and policies; and conducted monitoring and adequate reporting of results. Specifically, the audit assessed governance and HR planning and appointments resulting from staffing processes.
12. The internal audit scope focused on recruitment and staffing activities that took place during fiscal year 2017-18 and on the governance and HR planning activities in place for fiscal year 2018-19. A representative sample of staffing appointments was reviewed for compliance with selected staffing requirements.
13. The elements of the staffing process reviewed took into consideration Human Resources Management Directorate ongoing monitoring work as well as work performed by the agency’s Audit Directorate as part of the Pilot System-Wide Staffing Audit. The internal audit focused on the following 6 elements:
- exemptions to the national area of selection that must be approved by the Deputy Head
- priority clearance numbers requested and obtained for an appointment (where applicable)
- establishing essential qualifications for a position relative to established standards
- documentation to support how successful candidates met essential qualifications
- documentation to support how successful candidates met asset qualifications, operational requirements, and or organizational needs
- documentation to support that the order of preference was respected for advertised external processes (where applicable)
14. The following elements were excluded from the internal audit scope based on the results of the audit risk assessment:
- differences between the criteria identified in priority clearance requests and those applied in an appointment decision
- processes used to assess persons with priority entitlements
- differences in the French and English versions of the following documents: priority clearance requests, advertisements, assessment tools, and notifications, which could have affected a person’s eligibility to apply / participate in an appointment process;
- approval of the Personnel Psychology Centre prior to using psychological tests of intelligence, personality or aptitude
- the controls in place to ensure that the person that made the offer of appointment had signed the attestation form prior to making the offer
- the oath or solemn declaration, if it was taken and signed on or before the external appointment took effect
15. This internal audit focuses on the agency’s HR governance, planning and staffing 2 years into New Direction in Staffing implementation. It will also serve as the agency’s cyclical assessment as required under the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument.
Methodology
16.This internal audit was conducted as part of the agency’s overall approach to monitoring its staffing regime, particularly the approach to conducting cyclical assessments. The work was performed in collaboration with the agency’s Audit Directorate, Oversight and Investigations Sector. The Audit Directorate is responsible for conducting system-wide staffing system audits across the federal public service to contribute to the agency’s oversight priorities of protecting the merit and non-partisanship of recruitment into and within the public service. This collaboration included having one Audit Directorate audit manager working on assignment with the Internal Audit team, as well as the provision of tools, templates and advice throughout the audit. The Director General, Audit Directorate, and the agency’s Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive formalized this relationship in a memorandum of understanding that was signed during the planning phase of this audit.
17. In order to conclude on the audit objectives, the following activities were carried out:
- interviews with agency officials
- reviews of relevant documents, such as policies, guidelines, staffing frameworks
- reviews of key HR and planning cycle process steps
- reviews of a representative sample of appointments to conclude on compliance
- reviews of performance measures, reports and data analysis conducted by the Human Resources Management Directorate
Sampling strategy
18. A strategy was developed to randomly select a representative sample of term and indeterminate appointments to assess compliance with legislation and policies. These included external, internal, advertised and non-advertised appointments. Certain activities such as reclassifications and acting appointments were excluded from the population of the audit. As a result, we reviewed a sample of 35 appointments out of a total of 183 processes, of which 45 were term and 138 were indeterminate, between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018. A total of 895 staffing actions were completed in fiscal year 2017-18. See Appendix C for more details on staffing actions not included in the sample.
Statement of conformance
19. This audit is in conformance with the Internal Audit Standards for the Government of Canada as supported by the results of the quality assurance and improvement program.
Internal audit findings and recommendations
Governance and human resources planning
20. Criterion: We expected to find that a governance structure and HR planning processes were in place to ensure that the agency effectively identified its HR needs to meet its priorities and objectives. We also expected that established processes were in place and working as intended to monitor and report on recruitment and staffing activities to support informed decision-making, oversight, and accountability, and help ensure early identification of opportunities for improvement.
21.Conclusion: The agency has adequate governance mechanisms and elements of HR planning in place to support recruitment and staffing. In addition, the agency has identified time to staff as a key indicator that is being used to track and identify ways to reduce the time to hire within the agency. There was an opportunity identified to strengthen HR planning by providing sector management with tools, guidance and enhanced information and data that could be used as part of the planning cycle to link people management priorities to the achievement of objectives and overall results.
Governance
22.Adequate governance mechanisms are in place to support HR service delivery and the planning cycle. The governance structure includes a number of committees at various levels of the organization. The most important committees for HR service delivery and planning are the Executive Management Committee and one of its sub-committees, the Resource Management Committee. These committees provide guidance, approval and oversight functions, and have documented terms of reference that communicate authorities, purpose and roles and responsibilities. The audit found that these committees provided reviews, oversight and approvals of HR policies and activities, which were documented in approved meeting records of discussion.
23.Each vice president chairs a sector management committee. These committees have a role with respect to HR governance as per the agency’s staffing philosophy. This includes reviewing proposed non-advertised appointments from within their sectors, as well as providing a forum for managers to share lessons from experimentation and innovation. There are also various director general and director level committees to manage ongoing business and administrative issues.
Human resources planning context
24.In Destination 2020, the Clerk of the Privy Council highlighted a need for improved recruitment and staffing processes that are more nimble, focus on outcomes and people, respond more quickly to changing priorities, and build competencies and develop skills. The Treasury Board of Canada defines HR planning as a process that identifies current and future needs to achieve an organization’s goals. This means that HR planning should be linked to managing those resources and the organization’s overall strategic and operational plans. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat also developed a planning process that was widely recognized as key to integrating an organization’s HR plan within the business planning process.
25.The Integrated Planning Handbook for Deputy Ministers and Senior Managers identifies the legislative base for HR planning as the Financial Administration Act. The handbook outlines 6 key principles of integrated HR and business planning: it takes place at all levels; it is information-driven; it identifies risk; it is transparent and values-based; it involves reporting on integrated planning; and planning efforts are monitored, measured and evaluated.
Human resources planning context
26. The agency’s 2016-21 People Management Plan - Strategies is a 5-year plan that identifies key HR management strategies for managers to take into consideration when planning for staffing or managing their workforce. The goal is to strengthen people management capacity and to better support the agency’s business activities.
27. The Organizational Staffing Philosophy was first implemented in April 2016 with the coming into force of the New Direction in Staffing. In July 2018, the President approved the agency’s revised Organizational Staffing Philosophy, which includes a reference to the 2016-21 People Management Plan – Strategies. The philosophy was revised to clarify expectations and remove barriers, as recommended by the agency’s Report on the Organizational Ongoing Monitoring of Staffing, conducted in November 2017 and reported in February 2018.
28. The philosophy meets the organizational staffing system terms and conditions of the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument. It specifies, among other things, the President’s direction and expectations of hiring managers to comply with the agency’s staffing framework in terms of choice of process, area of selection, and selection decision as part of the appointment process. This document also requires managers to focus on HR planning to support the agency's activities.
29. For fiscal year 2018-19, the agency’s overall planned budget is $85.7 million, of which more than 80% is used to pay agency employee salaries. With an employee departure rate of approximately 13% in 2018, and an estimated 20% of employees eligible to retire within the next 5 years, the agency needs to plan and efficiently allocate human resources to deliver on our legislative mandate and priorities.
30. Resource planning and salary budget management is based on a model that involves 4 main participants: hiring managers, sector executive leadership, sector management services, and Human Resources Management Directorate personnel. The actions and interactions between the 4 groups is critical to the overall success of agency recruitment and staffing. Roles and responsibilities are described below.
31. Hiring managers. The agency’s delegation instrument of HR authorities identifies supervisor, manager, and various executive level staffing authorities. Hiring managers at all levels are responsible for identifying HR requirements and communicating them to their sector executive management for planning and quarterly reporting purposes.
32. Sector executive management. Sector executives are responsible for managing salary and non-salary budgets delegated to them in accordance with the agency’s HR and financial delegation matrices in the delivery of assigned priorities and objectives.
33. Sector management services. Each sector’s Vice President has a team dedicated to supporting them in planning, managing and reporting on salary and non-salary expenditures. These teams have an important resource management role in terms of supporting the implementation of planned staffing actions, among other things. In addition, sector management services personnel act as intermediaries between hiring managers and Human Resources Management Directorate officials.
34. Human Resources Management Directorate personnel. HR officials support hiring managers in conducting appointment processes, the Director General of the Human Resources Management Directorate, and agency senior leadership in all aspects of agency HR management in accordance with the staffing philosophy and people management plan.
Agency planning cycle
35. The Results and Delivery Division, Corporate Affairs Sector, leads the coordination of the agency’s key departmental planning and reporting framework and document production. The lead for the HR planning function resides within the Human Resources Management Directorate, which is also located within the Corporate Affairs Sector. The launch letter for the start of the 2018-19 planning cycle indicated that options would be evaluated to achieve a better integration of sector and internal services planning activities based on lessons captured from the first year of implementation of the Departmental Results Framework.
36. The organization’s planning cycle is overseen by the Executive Management Committee and includes 4 main elements. The first is a pre-November retreat where the Executive Management Committee sets preliminary direction for the following fiscal year’s priorities. The second is a November retreat that identifies corporate risks and upcoming fiscal year priorities and planning highlights, as well as an agreement in principle on resource allocations, and an agreement on information technology priorities. The third is a post-November retreat that focuses on the identification of deliverables, ongoing activities, required resources, operational risks, mitigation strategies and activities, as well as a list of projects to be undertaken. The end products consist of the following:
- departmental plan
- corporate risk profile
- departmental integrated business plan
- budget allocations in the financial system
37. As the Results and Delivery Division is continuously reviewing and updating planning processes to meet changing requirements, there is an opportunity to clarify the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders with regards to how HR planning — beyond staffing plans — contributes within the overall planning cycle.
38. A selection of Sector Management Committee representatives were interviewed to discuss the 2018-19 planning cycle. Interviewees identified improvements to clarify roles and responsibilities for HR elements of integrated planning. For instance, they identified that it would be beneficial to receive strategic agency and sector specific HR data and information (such as employee demographic reports, vacancies by job classification), and guidance / tools that could support adequate planning and reporting on HR requirements beyond staffing plans. They also indicated that it would be beneficial to have Human Resources Management Directorate officials participate in sector management meetings for HR elements of the planning cycle.
39. It should be noted that the Human Resources Management Directorate experienced systematic challenges in generating employee data and information during fiscal year 2017-18, which could have been used for the 2018-19 planning cycle. The on-boarding of the MyGC HR system that is used to manage employee time and leave, and the ongoing issues related to the pay system, affected the ability to develop and disseminate employee demographic dashboards and other related information and data. The agency also underwent a significant re-organization during this period. As a result, the Human Resources Management Directorate was not in a position to provide strategic data and information to sectors during key phases of the 2018-19 planning cycle.
40. Although sectors currently conduct HR planning in a variety of ways, the main focus is generally on developing staffing plans for financial salary budget tracking purposes. By having more strategic data and information, agency officials could develop more strategically focused plans that identify potential risk areas earlier that may support the development of mitigation strategies to address the highest risks (for example, having a shortfall in one key type of job classification).
Monitoring and reporting: performance measurement information
41. The Human Resources Management Directorate performs ongoing monitoring to assess, take corrective actions, and report on whether expected staffing action results are being achieved. This is done by analyzing information from various sources, including questionnaires and surveys sent to sub-delegated managers; focus groups and consultations held with various internal stakeholders and committees; and consideration of other sources of information (Pilot System-Wide Staffing Audit, internal audits, Public Service Employee Survey results). As well, the Human Resources Management Directorate prepares a staffing dashboard that is used on an annual basis to report on actual staffing activities. The audit team was informed that a performance indicator on time to staff will be included in future dashboards. The dashboard was presented in February 2018 as part of the report on the monitoring of staffing at Resource Management Committee and Executive Management Committee.
42. The development and use of the staffing dashboard allows senior management to track HR management activities and progress towards achieving results. The monitoring and evaluation of strategies, initiatives, and plans helps ensure that directions are carried out as intended, and that timely corrective action is taken when necessary. Beyond time to staff, the dashboard also presents the number of processes, by type, by sector, by group and level for completed, ongoing and upcoming staffing processes. The agency would benefit from developing and tracking additional indicators such as: cost per new hire, quality / diversity of new hires, and new hire retention rates. These types of indicators could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of HR strategies. Additionally, developing a wider range of indicators could generate valuable information and data that could be used to monitor HR strategies and gauge the extent to which they support achieving the agency’s mandate and strategic priorities.
43. Recommendation 1. It is recommended that the Vice President, Corporate Affairs Sector, develop and disseminate strategic and sector-specific HR data, information and tools that could support resource allocation decision-making as part of the agency’s planning cycle.
44. By having robust information and data to support HR planning, including planned staffing actions, the Executive Management Committee would be better positioned to make strategic staffing decisions to support achieving priorities and objectives.
Appointments resulting from recruitment and staffing processes
45. Criterion: We expected that appointment processes would adhere to the Public Service Employment Act and other applicable statutes; to the agency’s Appointment Policy and Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument; and meet workforce and skills requirements for recruiting and selecting candidates.
46. Conclusion: Recruitment and staffing appointment processes are in place that meet the requirements of the New Direction in Staffing and effectively assist agency hiring stakeholders in achieving appointment results. The appointment processes conducted by the agency met the selected requirements of the Public Service Employment Act and associated policies and guidelines that were examined. We identified one opportunity for improvement: the review of appointment decision file documentation management.
Processes to support Public Service Commission staffing
47. The President, as the Deputy Head of the agency, has put in place a delegation of HR authorities instrument that outlines stakeholder roles and responsibilities — from hiring managers to Human Resources Management Directorate personnel. This document forms part of the agency’s staffing framework. The latest version of the delegation instrument was adopted on September 4, 2018, to take into account lessons learned 2 years into New Direction in Staffing implementation. The Human Resources Management Directorate was proactive in making training available to hiring managers to allow them to exercise their sub-delegation roles once the instrument took effect. The directorate planned targeted training, and conducted it from August to September 2018 to get the maximum number of people certified to exercise their delegated authorities.
Ongoing monitoring of staffing
48. In the summer of 2016, the agency established its approach to ongoing monitoring, which was approved by the Executive Management Committee. The approach includes internal audit support for cyclical assessments, which are to be performed at least once every 5 years. The approach aims to ensure that the agency’s staffing system is robust and meets stakeholder expectations and compliance requirements.
49. The results of the Human Resources Management Directorate’s first ongoing monitoring exercise were included in the report, Organizational Ongoing Monitoring in Staffing, and presented to the Executive Management Committee in February 2018. The exercise was conducted to determine whether the directions outlined in the agency’s Organizational Staffing Philosophy as implemented by sub-delegated managers were achieving expected results, and whether corrective actions were required. The report concluded that hiring managers understood the staffing philosophy and that requirements were generally being met. Based on the findings and observations, recommendations were made in relation to staffing strategies, selection decisions for appointment processes, and the role of HR advisors throughout appointment processes. In July 2018, the Executive Management Committee approved an update to the agency’s staffing philosophy, which took into account the results of the monitoring report and aimed to simplify staffing processes in line with the New Direction in Staffing. In October 2018, the Human Resources Management Directorate launched a staffing compass tool to provide a one-stop information reference for hiring managers on different types of staffing actions and approaches.
Innovation in staffing
In October 2018, the Human Resources Management Directorate launched Your Staffing Compass. This tool aims to help hiring managers understand and navigate staffing and hiring processes. It was designed as a result of internal and external stakeholder consultations, and is focused on helping hiring managers achieve results. It guides managers through the staffing process by providing information and tools as needed, fostering a collaborative partnership between hiring managers and their HR advisors, and encouraging creativity, innovation and new approaches to meeting hiring needs.
50. In addition to internal ongoing monitoring exercises, management oversight and cyclical assessments, the agency aims to be included in system-wide staffing audits whenever possible or practical. This provides the agency with greater assurance on its HR management and appointment processes, and allows it to directly understand the audit burden its external audit activities place on other organizations.
Assessment of agency appointments made in fiscal year 2017-18
51. During fiscal year 2017-18, the agency finalized a number of staffing activities, which included 183 indeterminate or term appointments. Percentages by type are provided in Figure 3. Of note, 53% of staffing appointments were finalized for Administrative Services (24%), Computer Systems (16%), and Personnel Administration Group (13%) positions.
Text alternative
| Type | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| External Advertised | 61 | 33 |
| Internal Advertised | 45 | 25 |
| External Non-Advertised | 35 | 19 |
| Internal Non-Advertised | 42 | 23 |
52. Out of a total of 183 completed appointments (138 indeterminate and 45 term), a representative sample of 35 randomly selected appointments was reviewed to determine compliance with key legislative and policy requirements. The random sample was representative of indeterminate and term appointments that were for promotions or new hires. The selected appointment process requirements included in our review were based on the framework used by the Audit Directorate, Oversight and Investigations Sector.
53. Our review of appointments demonstrated full compliance with selected legislative and staffing policy requirements assessed (Figure 4). The audit found that merit (including official language proficiency, proof of education, and essential and asset qualifications / applied operational requirements / applied organizational needs) was met and demonstrated in all cases. As well, a priority clearance number was obtained when required for all appointments reviewed.
Text alternative
| Requirement | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Priority consideration | 100 |
| Official language proficiency | 100 |
| Education | 100 |
| Essential qualifications | 100 |
| Assets/ operational requirements/ organizational needs | 100 |
| Preferences (External processes ) | 100 |
54. We noted one area for improvement during the appointment file review. Human Resources Management Directorate officials faced challenges in providing documentation supporting a number of appointment decisions. This was due to staff turnover and the fact that the agency changed electronic document information management tools during the period under review. Having a proper document file management system in place for completed appointment processes is important given that the agency’s Appointment Policy for the federal public service requires deputy heads to ensure that information, as listed in departmental Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instruments, is accessible electronically or through other means for a minimum 5 years after the last administrative action (as applicable) for each appointment.
55. Recommendation 2: It is recommended that the Vice President, Corporate Affairs Sector, review the system and processes in place to maintain documentation supporting appointment decisions to ensure that they are properly maintained and accessible for a minimum period as determined by the Appointment Policy.
56. The review of the system would be beneficial given that the Human Resources Management Directorate faced challenges in providing complete documentation supporting 3 of the 35 appointment processes reviewed. Although the documentation was eventually found, there was at least one instance where the complete supporting documentation for an appointment was not in the official record management system; rather the information was found on an accessible shared drive.
Conclusion
57. In conclusion, the agency has adequate governance mechanisms and elements of HR planning in place to support recruitment and staffing. In addition, the agency has identified time to staff as a key indicator that is being used to track and identify ways to reduce the time to hire within the agency. Recruitment and staffing appointment processes are in place that meet the requirements of the New Direction in Staffing and effectively assist agency hiring stakeholders in achieving appointment results. The appointment processes conducted by the agency met the selected requirements of the Public Service Employment Act and associated policies and guidelines that were examined.
58. The audit identified 2 opportunities for improvement. There is an opportunity to strengthen HR planning by providing sector management with tools, guidance and enhanced information and data that could be used as part of the planning cycle to link people management priorities to achieving objectives and overall results. In addition, there is an opportunity to review appointment decision file documentation management.
Appendix A: Management response and action plan
Overall management response
The Vice President of the Corporate Affairs Sector has reviewed the audit report, and is committed to achieving excellence in staffing management.
We are pleased with the results and the opportunity to continuously improve our HR function. We would like to thank both HR advisors and sub-delegated managers for their collaboration and excellent work.
The Corporate Affairs Sector is committed to continuously improving the organization’s staffing regime and to strengthening HR planning by addressing the observations and recommendations of the audit in a timely and effective manner. Consultations with key stakeholders within the Human Resources Management Directorate took place during the development of the action plan to ensure successful implementation of the recommendations outlined in this report. That being said, and as mentioned in the audit report, the Human Resources Management Directorate has already implemented actions to ensure that documentation supporting appointment decisions is properly maintained and accessible by creating electronic files where all documents relating to a specific staffing process can be included. Access to these files can also be provided to the hiring manager, as indicated in the Staffing Compass, making it easy to ensure all documentation is saved in a single place.
Recommendation 1
It is recommended that the Vice President, Corporate Affairs Sector, develop and disseminate strategic and sector-specific HR data, information and tools that could support resource allocation decision-making as part of the agency’s planning cycle.
Management planned action - Completion date
Human Resources Management Directorate will provide demographic data per sector in support of their HR planning activities. - January 2019
As part of the HR planning cycle, Human Resources Management Directorate will meet each sector to identify their HR needs. - January 2019
Human Resources Management Directorate will include dashboards in the Staffing Compass containing PSC-wide demographic and staffing data. -March 2019
Human Resources Management Directorate officials will participate in various management committees (divisional management committees, sector management committees) when HR elements of integrated planning discussions take place. - Ongoing
OPI
Corporate HR Division and Center of Expertise Pay Services, Systems and Learning
Client Services and Innovation Division
Recommendation 2
It is recommended that the Vice President, Corporate Affairs Sector, review the system and processes in place to maintain documentation supporting appointment decisions to ensure that they are properly maintained and accessible for a minimum period as determined by the Appointment Policy.
Management planned action
The Human Resources Management Directorate will develop written procedures on managing documentation supporting appointment decisions, which will cover elements such as standard naming conventions, proper information management procedures, security of information and appropriate access rights.
OPI
Client Services and Innovation Division
Completion date
March 2019
Appendix B: References (non-exhaustive)
- Public Service Commission integrated business plan 2017-18
- Public Service Commission integrated business plan 2018-19
- Public Service Commission departmental plan 2017-18
- Public Service Commission departmental plan 2018-19
- Public Service Commission Appointment Framework
- Report on Organizational staffing ongoing monitoring (November 2017)
- Public Service Commission Organizational Staffing Philosophy (Effective April 2016)
- Public Service Commission Organizational Staffing Philosophy (Effective July 2018)
- Internal results of the survey for hiring managers and staffing advisors
- Results of the System-Wide Staffing Audit: Organizational Staffing Systems
- Governance Committee – EMC – RMC Terms of reference, agendas, record of discussions
- Clerk of the Privacy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, 25th Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada,for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018
- TBS Audit and Evaluation Database
- International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, Institute of Internal Auditors
Appendix C – Staffing actions completed in 2017-18
| Staffing action type | Total |
|---|---|
| Acting less than 4 months | 262 |
| Casual initial | 74 |
| Casual rehire | 68 |
| Secondment in/out | 53 |
| Deployment | 44 |
| Federal Student Work Experience Program - rehire | 44 |
| Assignment | 39 |
| Extension - assignment/secondment/term | 32 |
| Acting more than 4 months but less than 12 months | 26 |
| Post-Secondary CO-OP/Internship Program - initial | 20 |
| Federal Student Work Experience Program - initial | 16 |
| CO-OP rehire | 12 |
| Part time - rehire | 7 |
| Acting more than 12 months | 5 |
| Early end date - secondment | 3 |
| Part time - initial | 3 |
| Personal Record Identifier | 2 |
| Early end date - assignment | 1 |
| Interchange | 1 |
| Sub-total | 712 |
| Indeterminate and term appointments (included in audit scope) | 183 |
| Overall total | 895 |
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