PSAC Response to the Government Action Plan

Recommendation 2:

Help departments and managers make progress toward and achieve the benchmark.

1. Share the experience and approaches of other departments and of federally regulated and private sector companies and organizations. Individual departments to adapt such experiences and approaches to their corporate environments and requirements.

We support this recommendation and would suggest that provincial and territorial government experience also be examined.

2. Educate managers about:

a) human resources policy and practices and, within that context, employment equity policy and practices;

b) labour markets and equip them to do labour market analysis;

c) the existing array of Public Service Commission tools for targeted recruitment and appointment.

The Alliance agrees that systems, policies and practices related to staffing in the federal public service need to be assessed in light of their potential adverse impact on members of the equity groups. More importantly, we need to ensure that those with staffing authority develop and increase their capacity to recognize potential barriers and to understand the strategies to remove barriers and implement corrective measures. The Public Service Employment Act and Regulations are one of the tools that managers can use with respect to the appointment of equity group members. However, section 4(1) of the Regulations specifies that "the appointment of a member of a disadvantaged group in accordance with an employment equity program is excluded from subsection 21(appeal rights) of the Act. The PSAC supports mechanisms that provides for an equity designation of a staffing process, where underrepresentation is deemed to exist and where consultation/collaboration has occurred with the bargaining agent representatives. This equity designation process would provide that only candidates from the underrepresented equity group(s) be considered for staffing actions that have been identified. The Alliance is of the view that such appointments must be subject to comparable recourse rights in order to afford the same rights to members of the equity groups who are appointed under this mechanism, as afforded to all others in the federal public service.

3. Widen the applicant pool by:

a) expanding the geographic area of selection to reach larger recruitment pools;

b) making use of Public Service Commission tools for targeted recruitment and appointment;

c) making financial provision to assist managers to meet increased relocation costs.

We agree that barrier free geographic areas of selection are critical to ensuring that visible minorities have a fair access to competitions. We know that visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples are not proportionally distributed across provinces and territories. We know as well that the majority of public service employment is distributed in the National Capital Region, Ontario, Québec and British Colombia and that the vast majority of recruitment into the federal public service occurs locally. Measures that will ensure that geographic areas are expanded to include regions that have a higher representation of visible minorities and reimbursement of relocation expenses, will correct the historic pattern of exclusion. Measures that facilitate public sector wide recruitment will avoid the concentration of visible minorities and other equity groups in selected Departments/Agencies.

4. Ensure qualified visible minority applicants are referred rather than screened out:

a) review the criteria for selected positions;

b) hire for competencies, including new competencies, rather than for position alone.

We appreciate that the Task Force members may have wished to recommend a selection mechanism that would, at first glance, appear to reduce the potential for gender or race/cultural biases, given that the potential of credentialism and specific job experience (as opposed to job skills) are reduced with a competencies based approach. We cannot support a recommendation that favors competencies for groups of jobs or jobs at different levels, over position identified assessment factors. Although we acknowledge that competencies may provide a transparent and focused selection process, we are concerned that a competencies based approach will favor the richest and more varied attributes applicable to the widest possible range of jobs. This may have the effect of adversely affecting those groups who have been traditionally disadvantaged in the labour market, hence continuing systemic discrimination. Employment equity literature abounds with cautions to employers with respect to ensuring that assessment factors measure, in a barrier free manner, requirements that are job related.

We would like to examine any analysis the central agencies may have carried out that would address our concern. For the time being, we have not seen any indication that the development and implementation of a "competencies" based approach will result in reduced potential adverse impact compared to the current assessment process. Rather than attempting to replace a system that is cause for concern with another, we should discuss an appropriate barrier free staffing system as well as a corrective staffing measures.

With respect to the linguistic proficiency required for positions, the PSAC is of the view that a review of criteria in order to identify and remove employment barriers, combined with the employer’s accommodation obligations, provide the tools necessary for appropriately dealing with this question.

5.        Ensure the integrity of the selection process:

a) establish corporate inventories of visible minorities available for selection board duties; those inventories to include members from the private sector;

b) provide training for visible minorities within the public service for selection board duties.

We agree that selection boards need to be representative of equity groups, particularly for underrepresented equity groups.

6. Use innovative recruitment and outreach approaches:

a) establish corporate inventories of visible minority employees who could participate in recruitment drives and outreach activities;

b) establish partnerships with other departments or with the private sector in recruitment and outreach activities.

We agree with this recommendation. As the "Embracing Change" report notes, visible minority employees are currently concentrated in four departments: Revenue Canada, Human Resources Development Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada and Health Canada. We know that similar concentration exists for the other equity groups. We agree with measures that will ensure that all employees have barrier free access to jobs across the federal public service.

Recommendation 3:

1. Reinforce a positive brand image of the public service as a competitive employer.

2. Articulate the objectives of human resources policy, and within that, employment equity and diversity, as critical to the mission of the federal government.

3. Integrate diversity into the employee curriculum:

a) deputy heads to be the champions;

b) establish managing diversity as a core competency of management;

c) extend diversity training to all employees, and relate training to workplace operations.

4. Establish interdepartmental programs for career and leadership development for promising new recruits and existing employees. Such programs to provide for:

a) mentoring;

b) rotational assignments;

c) training;

d) appointment to level rather than position.

The Alliance maintains the view that deployments/assignments etc. should only take place with the agreement of the affected employee(s). The Alliance has not received a clear commitment from the Public Service Commission that this right of refusal would be guaranteed with a level based staffing system. In fact, there appears to be a sentiment within government that level based staffing can only be effectively implemented if the requirement for employee agreement can be removed from the Public Service Employment Act.

The bargaining agents will insist that changes to conditions of employment be discussed through the appropriate bargaining process. While we recognize the desire of the Task Force members to find ways of bypassing a staffing system that has resulted in a lower selection share for visible minorities, we must again state our position that a level based system may not, in fact, be free of subjective biases. We again express our willingness to work with the Public Service Commission, the Treasury Board and Departments in order to devise a corrective equity staffing process.

On a cautionary note, in the process of discussing the appropriateness of level based staffing systems, it will be important to assess the potential impact of hires under 10(2) of the Regulations. Our experience with respect to members who have gone through a "reverse order of merit process", confirms our view that the abilities of someone who has been deemed less meritorious, can easily be questioned. We are of the view that there is a similar possibility that managers will not accept the merits of individuals hired under 10(2) (individual merit) as being equal to those hired under 10(1) (relative merit), in the course of an appointment to level. We will repeat here our preference for an equity designation staffing process, which would provide that only candidates from the underrepresented equity group(s) be considered, with a bias-free assessment of merit and with appropriate recourse rights.

5. Establish short-term (one to two years) youth internships to offer exposure to the executive levels of the public service, as well as international assignments.

6. Apply the benchmark of 1 in 5, to be attained by 2003, for visible minority participation in management development programs from entry to executive levels, program activity at the Canadian Centre for Management Development, and any new career path programs and internships. Where a shortfall exists, provision to be made for external recruitment.

7. Intensify efforts to attract a new generation of visible minority Canadian youth to the federal public service.

Provide for Implementation and Accountability

1. Make the action plan top-driven. Formulate the objective of achieving a representative public service into annual goals and include those goals as a key commitment in the performance accords struck between the Clerk of the Privy Council and deputy heads. These goals must be measurable and form part of pay-at-risk compensation.

2. Provide for the Committee of Senior Officials (COSO), a committee of deputy heads chaired by the Clerk of the Privy Council, to oversee implementation of the action plan.

3. The Public Service Commission to assist departments to achieve progress. The Commission to be responsible also for developing and administering an annual national awards program related to the action plan for the next five years to recognize individuals who make exemplary effort and achieve exemplary progress.

4. The Treasury Board Secretariat to provide strategic advice and assist departments to collaborate with each other and to evaluate annual progress by departments. If no progress is made, the Treasury Board Secretariat to work alongside those departments to establish agreed-upon targets.

5. In their annual employment equity reporting to the Treasury Board Secretariat, departments also to include reporting on progress on elements in the action plan. Such progress to be included in the President's annual report to Parliament on employment equity. The Treasury Board Secretariat should make provision for concurrent feedback by affected groups.