2021 Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey Early Findings
Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey at a Glance
Conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of the PSC
March 16 - May 14, 2021 Data Collection
75 Organizations
75,440 Survey Respondents
34.2% Response Rate
- The staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey (SNPS) is a biennial public service-wide survey introduced in 2018.
- Survey targeted 3 groups: employees at large, hiring managers and staffing advisors.
- Themes addressed:
- Merit, fairness and transparency.
- Organizational staffing policies, practices and support.
- Persons with a priority entitlement.
- Political activities and political non-partisanship.
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on staffing.
General Observations
- Employees’ views on merit, fairness, and transparency have improved since 2018.
- Differences persist in the perception of Employment Equity groups regarding merit, fairness and transparency.
- Employees’ awareness of obligations for political impartiality remains high.
- There is a need to raise hiring managers’ awareness of priority entitlement as a valuable source of qualified candidates.
- Despite staffing during a pandemic, there’s high confidence in organizations’ ability to recruit needed staff.
Perceptions of Merit
Employee perceptions of merit have improved since 2018
- 83% of employees said that people hired in their work unit can do the job.
- Up from 50% in 2018. Closing the gap with managers (92%).
Employees’ Perceptions of Fairness and Transparency
Employee perceptions of fairness and transparency have improved since 2018.
- 74% of employees indicated that, in their work units, staffing activities are conducted fairly up from 41% of employees in 2018.
- 69% of employees believe staffing activities in their work unit are carried out in a transparent way up from 39% of employees in 2018.
Employment Equity Groups’ Perceptions of Merit, Fairness, and Transparency
- Women have more positive perceptions of merit, fairness and transparency than their counterparts.
- 53% of employees believe that appointments depend on who you know; however, this perception is more prevalent among members of visible minorities (61%).
- Indigenous Peoples have less positive views regarding merit, fairness, and transparency than their counterparts.
Awareness of Non-Partisanship
Awareness of obligation for political impartiality remains high.
- 89% of employees indicated that they understand their responsibility to be politically impartial.
- 73% of employees indicated that their department or agency kept them informed of their responsibilities to be politically impartial.
Priority Entitlement
There is a need to raise hiring managers’ awareness of priority entitlement as a valuable source of qualified candidates.
- 66% of hiring managers don’t know if, or don’t agree that, priority entitlement is a valuable source of qualified candidates.
- While 86% of staffing advisors think that hiring managers are open to considering persons with a priority entitlement.
Impact of COVID-19
Despite staffing during a pandemic, there’s high confidence in organizations’ ability to recruit needed staff
- 93% of staffing advisors are confident in their organizations’ ability to recruit staff needed to address the COVID-19 response.
- Meanwhile, 70% of managers are confident in their organizations’ ability to recruit staff needed to address the COVID-19 response.
Moving Forward
- Outreach to stakeholder groups to engage them in our upcoming analysis
- Further analyses will be conducted and thematic reports will be published, such as:
- Perceptions of employment equity group members
- Data on employees with disabilities
Questions
E-mail the SNPS generic inbox
cfp.sdip-snps.psc@cfp-psc.gc.ca
Access to Survey Results
- Detailed datasets were published on the Open Government Portal on March 1, 2022.
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset?portal_type=info&organization=psc-cfp
- Data available by department/agency
- Data visualization tool was published on March 1, 2022.
https://www5.psc-cfp.gc.ca/dsad-dsda/snps-2021/index-en.html
- A new version of the tool, with results by department/agency, is now available as well as a pivot table that allows for custom tabulations.
Annex 1: Breakdown of Respondents By…
| Employment Equity Group | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Not a member of an Employment Equity group | 21.1% |
| Member of a visible minority | 16.9% |
| Indigenous people | 4.4% |
| Women | 59.2% |
| Persons with a disability | 38.8% |
A separate report will be dedicated to persons with disabilities as further analysis is required due to the substantial increase in the proportion of respondents who reported experiencing daily activity limitations.
Region
- National Capital Region: 51.2%
- Atlantic provinces: 9.7%
- Ontario (excluding NCR): 11.2%
- Quebec (excluding NCR): 9.8%
- Western provinces: 17.4%
- Canadian Territories: 0.5%
- Outside of Canada: 0.1%
Annex 2: Merit, Fairness & Transparency Perceptions of Select Employment Equity Groups and their Counterparts
| Questions related to merit | Women | Counterparts | Visible Minorities | Counterparts | Indigenous Peoples | Counterparts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| We hire people who can do the job? | 85% | 81% | 83% | 83% | 75% | 84% |
| Newly appointed employees are a good fit within my work unit | 88% | 85% | 86% | 87% | 80% | 87% |
| Advertised job requirements reflect those of the position to be filled | 85% | 80% | 81% | 83% | 76% | 83% |
| Questions related to fairness for employees | Women | Counterparts | Visible Minorities | Counterparts | Indigenous Peoples | Counterparts |
| Appointments do not depend on who you know | 47% | 47% | 39% | 48% | 43% | 47% |
| Process of selecting a person for a position is done fairly | 74% | 72% | 71% | 75% | 64% | 74% |
| Questions related to transparency for employees | Women | Counterparts | Visible Minorities | Counterparts | Indigenous Peoples | Counterparts |
| Job opportunities were well communicated in my organization during the COVID-19 pandemic | 71% | 69% | 70% | 71% | 63% | 71% |
| Staffing activities are carried out in a transparent way | 70% | 68% | 68% | 69% | 63% | 69% |
| Manager keeps me informed of staffing decisions involving work unit | 70% | 67% | 68% | 68% | 60% | 69% |