President meeting with Mr. Rob Stewart, Deputy Minister of Public Safety

Introduction

Deputy Head

Mr. Rob Stewart was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Public Safety (PS) on December 11, 2019.

Mr. Stewart is exercising the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) authority for the first time as Deputy Head (DH). A copy of the New Direction in Staffing (NDS) highlights for DHs is attached as Annex A.

Organizational Context

Mandate

PS was created in 2003 to ensure coordination across all federal departments and agencies responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians. The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act 2005 and the Emergency Management Act 2007 set out the essential roles for the organization. Its mandate is to keep Canadians safe from a range of risks such as natural disasters, crime and terrorism.

Challenges

PS is operating in a dynamic environment. According to their 2019-2020 Departmental Plan, it must exercise a high level of awareness, engagement, and adaptability to deliver on its mandate, maintain a cohesive and coordinated approach to safety and security, as well as generate results for Canadians while managing a variety of risks. Canada faces numerous public safety challenges, including cyber threats, terrorism, organized crime and natural disasters. PartnershiPS with a wide variety of players are essential to the effective development of policies and delivery of programs. Within this operating context, PS has identified certain corporate risks, one of them being that the department will not attract and retain the employees required to achieve its organizational objectives.

Following the Public Service Employee Survey, PS has established a staffing task force, which is advancing efforts along three main pillars: recruitment, staffing and retention. Furthermore, as part of the staffing task force, a working group was created to explore options for having an Ombudsman. The working group has met with Ombudsman from Canadian Heritage, Health Canada, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the University of Ottawa to seek advice for setting up an Ombudsman Office. In 2019-2020, the working group intends to report back to the staffing task force on recommendations, and seek approval for establishing the role in the organization.

Population and Staffing Activities

Population

PS is a medium-sized organization that has a population of 1,334 employees (as of March 31, 2019). The majority of the employees are indeterminate (81%) and 91% are in the National Capital Region. In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, PS performed 993 staffing actions, which were mainly external processes.

Staffing Activities

In 2018-2019, PS proceeded with a total of 993 staffing activities:

• 163 appointments to the public service;
• 194 promotions;
• 68 acting appointments;
• 241 casuals,
• 109 students, and
• 218 lateral and downward movements.

Please refer to Annex B for additional details on staffing activities.

Time to Staff

PS has a median time of 170 days for internal appointments, which is lower than the median of the public service, which is 176 days.

PS data is insufficient for providing results on external process times.

Staffing Framework

New Direction in Staffing Implementation

Policy

PS completed all the mandatory NDS requirements for April 1, 2016 and has been using the result and risk-based staffing approach since October 2012.

Delegation

As of April 1, 2016, attestation forms had been signed by all sub-delegated managers. They have updated their sub-delegation instrument to align it with the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument and PSC Appointment Policy.

Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument annex D Reporting

Use of the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order and the Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations

PS reported that the organization approved two extensions under the Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations (PSOLAR) for the period of April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019. In addition, a third situation was non-compliant as the two-year period had expired and no extension under the PSOLAR had been approved. Their management is preparing the request for extension, and the employee will go back to language training shortly.

Approved Deputy Head Exceptions to the National Area of Selection Requirements for External Advertised Appointment Process

PS reported that they made no exception to the National Area of Selection.

Results of Organizational Cyclical Assessment

PS has reported, for a second consecutive year, on cyclical assessment for the period of April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019. For the moment, PS has decided to report a cyclical assessment to the PSC on a yearly basis. The PSC provided them with the feedback about their first cyclical assessment in June 2019. Overall, their first cyclical assessment was comprehensive and PS has not requested the PSC support for next submissions.

Inquiries and Trends

From April 1, 2017, to September 31, 2019, PS have contacted the Staffing Support Advisor (SSA) in 108 instances. A higher percentage of inquiries were related to priority entitlements (18%) and the Public Service Employment Act (13%).

Oversight

Audits

PS was included in the first System-Wide Staffing Audit, for which the final report was published in December 2018. PS was also one of the 15 organizations selected for the Horizontal Audit on Credential Validation. The final report of this audit was published in May 2019.

Investigations

Between December 13, 2016, and December 13, 2019, the PSC received six cases for investigation pertaining to PS. From those, three were referred by the organization.

During this period:

• Two cases were not accepted;
• Four fraud cases were founded; and
• One investigation case is still ongoing.

Table 1 - Investigations

Nature of Issue	Cases Received	Cases Referred by Organization	Closed - Not Accepted	Completed Unfounded	Completed Founded	Ongoing
s.66 External Appointments (Merit, Error, Omission, Improper Conduct)	2	1	2	0	0	0
s.67.2 Internal Appointment - Deputy Head Request	0	0	0	0	0	0
s.68 Political Influence	0	0	0	0	0	0
s.69 Fraud	2	2	0	0	4	0
s.118 Improper Political Activities - Employees	2	0	0	0	0	1
Total	6	3	2	0	4	1

Note: The numbers may not add up as discontinued cases, and cases resolved via early intervention are not included in this table.

Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey Results

PS’s response rate to the 2018 Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey (SNPS) was 48.1%. Overall, PS’s SNPS results present employees being less satisfied in the quality of hires than other medium-sized organizations. Results also show managers being less satisfied in the way they hire and appoint persons and in the burden of administrative process since NDS implementation compared to other medium-sized organizations.

Below are key findings from PS’s 2018 SNPS results:

• 96% of managers agreed that appointees meet the performance expectations of the positions for which they were hired, compared to 94.4% in organizations of similar size, and 91.9% in the federal public service.
• 56.2% of employees agreed that people hired can do the job, compared to 67.6% in organizations of similar size, and 53.8% in the federal public service.
• 63.4% of managers agreed that the NDS has improved the way they hire and appoint persons to and within their organization, compared to 69.4% in organizations of similar size, and 56.1% in the federal public service.
• 91.7% of managers agreed that within their organization, the administrative process to staff a position is burdensome, compared to 84.0% in organizations of similar size, and 87.9% in the federal public service.

Diversity Profile 

PS is currently above workforce availability (WFA) for all designated grouPS (based on 2018 data). The WFA estimates in the public service for 2019 have been updated in the Workforce Profile although they have not been officially released yet.

Table 2 - Diversity Profile

Designated Group	Public Service Work Force Availability (WFA)	Public Safety Canada	Representation across the Public Service of Canada	New WFA 2019
Women	52.5%	60.3%	54.8%	52.6%
Aboriginal Peoples	3.4%	5.1%	5.1%	4.0%
Persons with Disabilities	4.4%	7.0%	5.3%	9.0%
Members of Visible Minorities	13.0%	15.2%	15.7%	15.3%

Source: Employment Equity in the Public Service of Canada, 2017-2018
Note: Organizational Employment Equity data for 2019 is not yet available

Priority Entitlements and Veterans

As of December 28, 2019, there were 10 Persons with Priority Entitlements (PPE) in PS.

From April 1, 2019, to December 16, 2019, PS has submitted 304 priority clearance requests, which included one priority appointment.

PS has appointed one Canadian Armed Forces statutory PPE (attributable to service) since the coming into force of the Veterans Hiring Act on July 1, 2015.

Table 3 - Priority Entitlements and Veterans

Period	Attributable To Service (Statutory)	Not Attributable To Service (Regulatory)
2015 (July 1) - 2016	0	0
2016 - 2017	0	0
2017 - 2018	0	0
2018 - 2019	1	0
Total	1	0

Source: PSC Priority Information Management System

Non-Partisanship in the Public Service

Since April 1, 2015, the PSC has processed two candidacy requests (1 federal and 1 municipal) from PS. None of them were elected.

The 2018 SNPS results indicate that PS’s employees’ level of awareness regarding their legal rights and responsibilities for engaging in political activities is 85.2%, compared to 80.1% for the public service as a whole, which is similar. In addition, 92.9% of employees indicated that they are able to make informed decisions about engaging in political activities, compared to 92.4% in organizations of similar size, and 88.5% in the federal public service.

Public Service Commission Initiatives

PS has not participated in any PSC-led initiatives.

Recruitment Programs

Regarding the use of PSC targeted programs:

• PS did not identify any positions for the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities.
• PS submitted three requests through the Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities in 2019, and hired one student through this inventory.
• PS submitted three requests through the Indigenous Student Employment inventory in 2019, but no one was hired from this inventory.

PS is leading the Young Women in Public Safety (YWPS) Student Employment Opportunity, which is a one-week internship that targets grade eleven or secondary four female high school students from all across Canada, and encourages them to explore various career paths in the field of public safety and security. The YWPS does not lead to any hires, it is only an opportunity to discover different types of careers. This year, YWPS took place from July 15, 2019, to July 19, 2019, in seven cities across the country. Throughout the week, 145 young women learned about the everyday operations of the portfolio agencies including border security at different ports of entry such as land or air; crime prevention programs within PS and some of the organizations PS partners with; correctional services; surveillance techniques; forensic investigation; and front line law enforcement from influential female leaders within these institutions. Some participants had the chance to visit penitentiaries, take part in emergency simulation exercises, and test their crime solving skills.

Staffing Support

Public Service of Commission Representatives and Organizational Contacts

The SSA assigned to this organization is Véronique Geoffroy, the primary organizational contact is Diane Chicoine, Manager, Policy and Programs, Talent Acquisition, and the Head of Human Resources is Nancy Sanders, Director General, Human Resources.

Prepared by:

• Véronique Geoffroy,
• Staffing Support Advisor

Annexes:

• Annex A – A New Direction in Staffing (NDS) highlights for DHs
• Annex B - Data on Population and Staffing Activities

A New direction in Staffing – A merit-based system that is effective, efficient and fair

Appointment Policy

New focus on core requirements to provide sub-delegated persons greater discretion in making an appointment

• One Appointment Policy, no duplication with legal requirements
• Broader focus on values-based system, away from rules-based system
• Appointments Policy supported by streamlined guidance:
• A roadmap to the requirements in legislation, regulations and policy
• Options and considerations for decision-making where there is discretion
• Clear expectations for priority entitlements
• No restrictions to assessment methods for EX appointments
• Exceptions to National Area of Selection approved by deputy head

Delegation

• New ability to customize organizational staffing system based on unique context and evolving business needs
• Deputy head establish a direction on the use of advertised and non-advertised appointment processes
• Deputy heads to establish requirement(s) for sub-delegated persons to articulate, in writing, their selection decision
• Clarity on requirements related to investigations
• Attestation form to reinforce the accountabilities of sub-delegated persons

All PSC monitoring and reporting requirements now found in the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument

Monitoring and Reporting

Monitoring built by organizations, targeted to their needs

• Annual Departmental Staffing Accountability Report no longer required
• Annual reporting to the PSC limited to:
• Use of Public Service Official Language Exclusion Approval Order
• Exceptions to the National Area of Selection approved by the deputy head
• Results of any internal investigations
• Actions taken following any PSC investigations or audits.
• Deputy head responsible for ongoing monitoring of organizational staffing system based on the organization’s unique context
• Assessment of adherence to requirements, based on organization’s own risks, at the minimum every five years

PSC Oversight

System wide-focus

• Government-wide compliance audit every two years
• Renewed Survey of Staffing administered in alternating years with government-wide audit
• System-wide effectiveness and efficiency reviews to support continuous improvement
• Targeted PSC audits as a result of identified system-wide or organizational risks or at the deputy head request
• Investigations conducted when there is a reason to believe there was political influence, fraud or improper conduct in an appointment process

This document should be read in conjunction with the Public Service Employment Act, the Public Service Employment Regulations, the PSC Appointment Policy and the PSC Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument.

Annex B

• Regional distribution excludes unknowns

• Includes indeterminate and specified term appointments
• Excludes lateral and downward movements, deployments and acting appointments of less than 4 months
• Includes only appointments where the staffing process type is known (63% to 83% of appointments)

Key findings - Staffing and non-partisanship survey (2018)

• 56.2% of employees agreed that people hired can do the job, compared to 67.6% in organizations of similar size, and 53.8% in the federal public service.
• 63.4% of managers agreed that the New Direction in Staffing has improved the way they hire and appoint persons to and within their organization, compared to 69.4% in organizations of similar size, and 56.1% in the federal public service.
• 91.7% of managers agreed that within their organization, the administrative to staff a position is burdensome, compared to 84.0% in organizations of similar size, and 87.9% in the federal public service.

Hiring of former students includes indeterminate and term hires with experience in a federal student recruitment program within the last 10 years.

Internal time to staff is calculated as the number of calendar days between the opening date of the advertisement and the date of the first notification

The median internal time to staff for the public service (organizations subject to the Public Service Employment Act) for fiscal year 2018 to 2019 is 176 days

Internal time to staff for fiscal year 2018 to 2019

Public Safety Canada’s median internal time to staff for fiscal year 2018 to 2019 is 170 days

External time to staff is calculated as the number of calendar days between the opening date of the advertisement and the date of the first estimated external hire

The median external time to staff for the public service (organizations subject to the Public Service Employment Act) for fiscal year 2018 to 2019 is 186 days

External time to staff for fiscal year 2018 to 2019

The data is insufficient for providing results on external process times for Public Safety Canada

Technical notes:

• The Time to Staff - Internal Appointments (TTS-IA) is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an internal advertisement and the date of the first Notice of Appointment or Proposal of Appointment (NAPA) from the Public Service Resourcing System for internal term and indeterminate positions. As NAPAs are not required for all internal staffing actions, this measure is limited to reporting on internal promotional appointments.
• The Time to Staff - External Appointments (TTS-EA) is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an external advertisement and the date of the first estimated appointment of an individual from outside an organization subject to the Public Service Employment Act for term and indeterminate positions. Because data between systems is linked using a probabilistic match, errors in data linkage are a potential source of measurement error.
• Only estimated term and indeterminate appointments/notifications are included (deployments, casual and acting appointments are excluded).

Sources:

• Hiring and staffing activities data are derived from information received from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Incumbent File.  The Incumbent File is extracted from the Public Services and Procurement Canada’s pay system.  The data constitutes an estimate of hiring and staffing activities to and within organizations.
• Information from the Priority Information Management System and the Public Services Resourcing System is also used to determine if staffing actions are advertised or non-advertised as well as for calculating time to staff.
• The data are not expected to match an organization’s human resources data, due to methodology and timing differences.
• The Time to Staff - Internal Appointments (TTS-IA) is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an internal advertisement and the date of the first Notice of Appointment or Proposal of Appointment (NAPA) from the Public Service Resourcing System for internal term and indeterminate positions. As NAPAs are not required for all internal staffing actions, this measure is limited to reporting on internal promotional appointments
• Only estimated term and indeterminate appointments/notifications are included (deployments, casual and acting appointments are excluded)
• The Time to Staff - External Appointments (TTS-EA) is the median number of calendar days between the opening date of an external advertisement and the date of the first estimated appointment of an individual from outside an organization subject to the Public Service Employment Act for term and indeterminate positions. Only estimated term and indeterminate appointments/notifications are included (deployments, casual and acting appointments are excluded)
• Because data between systems is linked using a probabilistic match, errors in data linkage are a potential source of measurement error
• Hiring and staffing activities data are derived from information received from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Incumbent File.  The Incumbent File is extracted from the Public Services and Procurement Canada’s pay system.  The data constitutes an estimate of hiring and staffing activities to and within organizations.
• Information from the Priority Information Management System and the Public Services Resourcing System is also used to determine if staffing actions are advertised or non-advertised as well as for calculating time to staff.
• The data are not expected to match an organization’s human resources data, due to methodology and timing differences.