Policy on the management of executives

The Policy on the Management of Executives is comprised of the following related directives:

• Directive on organization and classification of the executive group;
• Directive on executive compensation;
• Directive on the Performance Management Program for the executive group; and
• Directive on career transition for executives.

Effective July 16, 2007, the policy and directives clarify the powers of deputy heads, while improving transparency and accountability. More specifically:

• When deputy heads need to recruit from outside the public service, they will have the discretionary authority to negotiate, exceptionally, with the candidates certain monetary and non-monetary aspects of their compensation.
• Certain monetary and non-monetary aspects have also been added to facilitate executive management, for example:
  • approval of acting appointments of more than 12 months will be the responsibility of deputy heads, rather than the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer; however, extensions beyond 12 months should occur only in exceptional cases;
  • executives with a consecutive series of acting appointments will no longer have a three-month waiting period for each appointment;
  • there will be a possibility of offering, exceptionally, employees acting in EX positions up to 10% of the maximum salary as an incentive to filling the position on a temporary basis;
  • various provisions were adopted regarding annual leave, sick leave, education leave and exceptional leave (formerly paid special leave and discretionary leave)
  • severance pay will be calculated on a pro rata basis for partial years of service (up to 28 weeks);
  • deputy heads will be able to authorize, subject to the departmental quota set, special deployments to quickly re-deploy executives and then staff their positions to promote development and knowledge transfer before retirement;
  • inter-group deployments within the EX group will be allowed under certain conditions;
  • the leadership competencies will be a more formal part of executives’ performance evaluations;
  • clarifications have been provided on eligibility for the Performance Management Program and on how to determine performance pay.

The Policy Suite Renewal Initiative is an important component of the Federal Accountability Action Plan. The renewal of the government’s management policies clarifies the management responsibilities and accountabilities of ministers and deputy heads. By strengthening and streamlining how government works, the renewed policies make government more effective and accountable.

For further information about the changes to this policy and about the renewal of all federal government policies, you can visit http://publiservice.tbs-sct.gc.ca/prp-pep/index-eng.asp.