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Section II – Detailed Performance by Strategic Outcome and Program Activity

PSC Strategic Outcome

The PSC has one strategic outcome: 

To provide Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, able to provide service in both official languages, in which appointments are based on the values of fairness, access, representativeness and transparency.

During the past year, the PSC used three program activities to support achievement of the strategic outcome:

• 1.1.0 Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality
• 1.2.0 Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality
• 1.3.0 Staffing Services and Assessment

Performance information

The PSC's annual report presents the results of our oversight of departments' and agencies' staffing activities. It provides an overview of measures and progress towards each element of our strategic outcome: competency, official languages, non-partisanship, representativeness, fairness, access and transparency. The Strategic Outcomes performance measurement framework has been developed based on results outlined in our annual report.

The following table identifies the performance indicators, measurement strategies and targets for reporting on the achievement of the strategic outcome on an annual basis. The achievement of the strategic outcome over time will be measured primarily through longer-term trends identified from the PSC's analysis of annual data, from ongoing audits and studies and from the five-year evaluation of the PSEA.  The specific PSC program activities and related results that contribute to the achievement of this strategic outcome can be found in the body of this report.

PSC Strategic Outcome

To provide Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, able to provide service in both official languages, in which appointments are based on the values of fairness, access, representativeness and transparency.

Performance Indicators

Overall Assessment:

Performance Indicator:

• Results of oversight activities (monitoring audits, studies, evaluations and investigations)

Performance Information:

• The overall picture of performance is assessed as acceptable, with very few examples of excellence. While departments have made improvements to their planning of staffing strategies, further progress is required to achieve the longer-term objectives of the PSEA implementation. Further progress is also needed in the areas of departmental accountability systems and human resources support systems, including the support provided by the HR community.

Accountability

Performance Indicators:

• # of PSC appearances before Parliament
• # of PSC Reports tabled in Parliament

Target: under development

Performance Information:

• PSC appeared before Parliamentary committees 6 times
• PSC tabled 5 reports including the PSC Annual Report

Representativeness

Performance Indicator:

• # of employment equity groups where representation in the public service is below workforce availability (WFA)

Target: Zero

Performance Information:

• Measure under review

Merit/Competency

Performance Indicator:

Posted recruitment qualifications and criteria for positions are bias-free and barrier–free (indicator updated in 2008)

Target: under development

Performance Information:

• Nearly 80% of respondents to a PSC 2007/08 survey agreed that posted qualifications and criteria for positions are bias-free and barrier–free

Merit/Competency

Performance Indicator:

• Perception of public service employees about competency of people hired

Target: 85%

Performance Information: Progress made towards target

• 76% of respondents to the 2005 PS  survey responded that they believe that, in their work unit, people can do the job

Non-Partisanship

Performance Indicators:

• Perception of Canadians about non-partisanship of the public service
• # of annual cases of political influence on an appointment decision identified by the PSC
• # of annual cases of improper political activities by public servants or deputy heads identified by the PSC

Target: under development

Performance Information:

• No data available this year on perception of Canadian on non-partisanship in the public service – measure under review
• The PSC continues to find little direct political influence in the staffing system.
• 19 investigations found improper political activity by public servants – suggests need for increased communication of requirements to public servants

Merit/Official Languages

Performance Indicator:

• # of non-compliant cases with respect to official languages requirements

Target: Zero

Performance Information: Progress made towards target

• There were 156 non-compliant cases as of March 2008 - this is down from 892 in 2005 and 238 in March 2007.

Access

Performance Indicator:

• % of jobs open to the public having a national area of selection (NAOS)

Target: 55% for 2007/08 and to 100% by 2009-2010 (excluding casuals and short terms)

Performance information: Progress made towards target

• For the fiscal year 2007-2008, 2,645 advertisements out of 5,032 (52.6%) were open to the public using a NAOS.

Fairness

Performance Indicator:

• Perception of public service employees about fairness of appointment processes

Target: 85%

Performance Information: Progress made towards target

• 70% of respondents to a PSC survey completed in fiscal year 2006-07 and first half of 2007-08 strongly agreed with the statement that “internal appointments are made fairly”

Transparency

Performance Indicator:

Perception of public service employees about transparency of appointment processes

Target: 85%

Performance Information: Progress made towards target

• 70% of appointees who responded to a PSC survey completed in fiscal year 2006-07 and first half of 2007-08 indicated that they viewed appointments made in their work units in an open and transparent way.

PSC Program Activities Architecture

The chart below illustrates the PSC's complete framework of program activities and program sub-activities which roll-up and contribute to progress toward the PSC's strategic outcome.

PSC's Program Activity Architecture

Strategic Outcome: To provide Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, able to provide service in both official languages, in which appointments are based on the values of fairness, access, representativeness and transparency.

• Program Activity 1
  Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality
  • Policy, Regulation, Exclusion Approval Orders and Guides
  • Delegated Appointment Authorities
  • Non-delegated Authorities
• Program Activity 2
  Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality
  • Monitoring
  • Audits, Studies and Evaluations
  • Investigations and Early Intervention Mechanisms
• Program Activity 3
  Staffing Services and Assessment
  • Staffing Services
  • Assessment

Program Activity 1.1.0 – Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality

Program activity description

This program activity develops and maintains a policy and regulatory framework for safeguarding the integrity of public service staffing and ensuring political neutrality. This activity includes establishing policies and standards, providing advice, interpretation and guidance and administering delegated and non-delegated appointment authorities.

Strategic Outcome

To provide Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, able to provide service in both official languages, in which appointments are based on the values of fairness, access, representativeness and transparency

Program Activity

Appointment Integrity and Political Neutrality

Program Sub-Activities

• Policy, Regulation, and Exclusion Approval Orders and Guides
• Delegated Appointment Authorities
• Non-delegated Authorities

Performance information

Expected result: Recruitment strategies and staffing practices, consistent with the new PSEA and PSC strategic outcome, are implemented across the public service

Performance indicator 1 (indicator refined in 2007/2008 to increase measurability): Level of success in implementing recruitment strategies and staffing practices, consistent with the new PSEA and PSC strategic outcome, across the public service

Partially Met

• Target: Evaluation findings on the implementation of the new PSEA

Performance evidence: The five-year evaluation of the legislation required by the PSEA (section 136) is in development. However, the National Area of Selection (NAOS) impact assessment showed that greater experience and system readiness were needed for successful expansion to all remaining groups and levels across the country. Therefore, the policy change on area of selection was postponed and the PSC will move forward with full implementation by December 2008, once it can ensure government-wide readiness to meet the increased volume of applications resulting from this expansion.

Performance indicator 2: Number of delegation instruments with limitations or conditions imposed by the PSC

Partially Met

• Target : Zero (two reported in 2006-2007 Annual Report)

Performance evidence: In 2007-2008, we imposed a delegation condition on one organization (Office of the Correctional Investigator) and carried over the imposed delegation conditions for two other organizations (Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP and the Canadian Space Agency) which have been in effect since 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2007-2008, we also developed delegation conditions for the RCMP that came into effect in the first quarter of 2008-2009.

Performance indicator 3: Number of complaints to Public Service Staffing Tribunal (PSST)

Partially Met

• Target: Under development 
  2007-2008 was the first full year of PSST decision-making and will serve as a baseline.

Performance evidence: There were 566 complaints to the PSST. No finding of abuse of authority has been made by the Tribunal this year. Deputy heads reported conducting two investigations concerning internal appointment processes. These investigations resulted in one revocation and one corrective measure.

Related resources

Resources	Planned Spending	Total Budget Authority	Actual Spending
Financial ($ thousands)	17,051	19,684	16,993
FTE	156	N/A	146

Performance analysis

While progress has been made in the second full year of PSEA implementation, the delegated staffing system and the new political activities regime require that the PSC continue to offer focused support, guidance and effective tools. This will enable organizations to effectively manage their delegated appointment responsibilities and also maintain the political impartiality of the public service.

The PSC demonstrated continuous leadership in the exercise of delegated appointment authorities through timely and relevant policy, advice and support to the 82 delegated organizations (as of March 31, 2008). In 2007-2008, the PSC offered 317 information sessions to 7,689 participants with the following results:

• 93% of participants indicated that they felt better prepared to exercise the flexibilities of the PSEA; and
• 64% of participants indicated that they felt more comfortable in explaining appointment and/or appointment-related decisions.

In April of 2007, the PSC expanded the requirements of the NAOS for external advertised officer-level jobs from the National Capital Region to all regions of the country. The result was an increase in access for Canadians to federal public service jobs from 19% to approximately 55%. Although the expansion of this requirement to all externally advertised non officer-level jobs was planned for December 2007, impact analysis undertaken by the PSC revealed that the current HR system lacked sufficient recruitment tools to support this initiative. As a result, the expansion of the NAOS was postponed until December 2008.

To facilitate the exchange of information from the PSC to its stakeholders, the PSC collaborated with various management and HR groups, including national and regional councils. The PSC responded to over 9,930 queries (e-mails and calls) in 2007-08 from individuals seeking guidance on a range of PSC and PSEA issues.  A snapshot of these queries for 2007-2008 demonstrated that 68% were complex in nature.

Although the number of queries has started to decrease, there continues to be a need to respond to queries from both the HR professionals and hiring managers. Based on feedback received from the community, our responses to enquiries were judged to be of high quality. However, evidence also suggests that the PSC needs to better develop means of delivering information sessions that are timely, targeted and make use of technology for delivery.

The PSC also sought feedback to improve elements of the appointment policy framework. Over the reporting period, the PSC used feedback from internal and external stakeholders to gauge the relevance and timeliness of policy information and guidance. The result was the identification of a number of issue and irritants that, once adjusted, will better assist departments in the assessment process.

In 2007-08, the PSC published the following two important guides: the Guide for Assessing Persons with Disabilities, which provides practical advice and procedures to follow when accommodating the needs of persons with disabilities in an appointment process; and the Volume Management Guide, which provides advice on how to manage the volume of applications in an appointment process. The result of the publishing of these guides is expected to be improved planning of staffing processes and enhance the ability of managers and HR advisors to make choices that respect the values of transparency, access, representativeness and fairness in screening and assessing candidates.

Under the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order (PSOLEAO), the PSC monitors appointments of persons who do not meet the linguistic requirements of their positions at the time of their appointment on a non-imperative basis. In 2007-2008, the PSC responded to 693 requests from organizations seeking clarification on use of the PSOLEAO in order to ensure that appointments made on a non-imperative basis respected merit and protected the linguistic duality of the public service. For the first time, the PSC incorporated its reporting to organizations on the use of the PSOLEAO in the Departmental Staffing Accountability Reports data for 2006-2007, thereby reducing repetitive reporting.

The PSC's monitoring of the use of the Priority Information Management System (PIMS) in 2007-2008 indicated an increased use of the priority system, reflective of increased staffing activity across the public service, with clearance requests increasing to approximately 42,000 for the fiscal year. This has led the PSC to implement further refinements to the PIMS, to hasten the priority clearance process and to improve the PSC's related monitoring capacity.

In 2007-2008, the PSC continued to support the implementation of the new political activities regime. Information/training sessions were held for departmental political activities designates and other audiences (e.g. network of values and ethic officers), as well as sessions on political candidacy delivered across Canada in June-July 2007. Although it has been two years since the coming into force of the PSEA, there remains a need to increase awareness about the rights and obligations of public servants engaging in political activities as defined under Part 7 of the PSEA.  The table below illustrates the disposition of new candidacy requests submitted by public servants in 2007-2008.

Status of political requests (April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008)

Source: PSC Internal Tracking System

What's next?

• Through feedback provided by HR and manager participants at various information sessions, it is clear that HR professionals and hiring managers continue to need support in taking full advantage of the flexibilities provided by the PSEA. The PSC will look at providing information to all stakeholder communities in a timely, targeted, and technologically efficient manner.
• The PSC will continue to seek feedback on the policies and guidance it provides, using various methods, including more formal surveys. It will look to the results of its audits and studies, PSST decisions, impact analysis and the comments of stakeholders in continuously refining its policies and developing new tools and guidance documents that support staffing. It will continue its impact analysis to understand the ongoing effect of a NAOS on appointments to the public service and to implement an action plan to ensure sufficient readiness for the expansion of NAOS in December 2008. This will involve guidance on random selection and other policy issues.
• Collective staffing processes enable managers to use one staffing process to fill several positions within or between organizations. Managers can save time and resources by establishing a pool of candidates from which appointments can be made. The PSC will be consulting organizations and adjusting its guidance on informal discussion in the context of collective staffing. It will also work towards drafting an Exclusion Approval Order to reduce the burden of the notification requirements when doing collective staffing. These adjustments to the PSC's policy framework and guidance will support efficient, values-based staffing.
• The risk of non-compliance with the new provisions under Part 7 (Political Activities) of the PSEA is higher when public servants are not aware of their rights and obligations under the political activities regime. Work was initiated in 2007-2008 to revise the approach to monitoring political activities to be more results-based and to focus on risks to political impartiality.

The following sub-activities contribute to the achievement of the Program Activity 1.1.0:

 Information, by sub-activity, can be found in the electronic version of this document on the publications section of the PSC’s Web site.

• Policy, Regulation, and Exclusion Approval Orders, and Guides – provided the PSC with expertise in policy interpretation, application and development
• Delegated Appointment Authorities – provided continuous support to delegated organizations and external stakeholders and took actions to deal with deficiencies in delegated organizations; and 
• Non-delegated Authorities – ensured proper application of the political activities provisions of the PSEA in relation to political candidacy, the PSOLEAO and managed administration of priority entitlements.

Program Activity 1.2.0 – Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality

Program activity description

The Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality activity provides an accountability regime for the implementation of the appointment policy and regulatory framework for safeguarding the integrity of public service staffing and ensuring political neutrality. This activity includes monitoring departments' and agencies' compliance with legislative requirements, conducting audits, studies and evaluations, carrying out investigations and reporting to Parliament on the integrity of public service staffing.

Strategic Outcome

To provide Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, able to provide service in both official languages, in which appointments are based on the values of fairness, access, representativeness and transparency

Program Activity

Oversight of Integrity of Staffing and Political Neutrality

Program Sub-Activities

• Monitoring
• Audits, Studies and Evaluations
• Investigations and Early Intervention Mechanisms

Performance information

Expected result: Organizations have implemented PSC monitoring and audit recommendations, and corrective action as a result of investigations, which contributes to safeguarding the integrity of staffing and political neutrality (expected result and performance indicator refined to increase measurability)

Performance indicator:  Percentage of PSC audit recommendations and corrective action implemented by organizations

Partially Met

• Target: 100%

Performance evidence: As part of its annual monitoring activities, the PSC monitors the implementation of audit recommendations. In some cases, PSC audits lead to conditions being placed on departments' staffing authorities. The PSC pays particular attention to progress made by these organizations, which presently include the Canadian Space Agency, the Office of the Correctional Investigator and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.  When the PSC determines that sufficient progress has been made, it conducts follow-up audits with the objective of removing imposed conditions. Follow-up audits for these organizations will be initiated in the upcoming fiscal years in accordance with the PSC audit policies. As part of its annual monitoring activities, the PSC also monitors the implementation of corrective actions as a result of investigations. In 2007-2008, the PSC determined that the organizations implemented corrective actions in 2 of the 3 founded investigations under Section 66 (external appointments). In the third case, the organization's deadline to implement the corrective action has not yet expired. Organizations have implemented corrective actions in 3 founded investigations under Section 69 (fraud).

Expected result: Enhanced risk-based oversight of the integrity of public service staffing

Performance indicator 1: Percentage of coverage of oversight activities (monitoring, audits, studies and evaluations)

Partially Met

• Target: 100%

Performance evidence:  In 2007-2008, the PSC assessed staffing activities of 75 departments and agencies and provided feedback to them. In addition to its monitoring activities, the PSC tabled four audits and released two studies in the fall of 2007 with the Annual Report and one additional study was released prior to that, in July 2007. Also during this period, significant progress was made on other reports, including one audit (RCMP) that was tabled in May 2008 and others scheduled for publication in the fall of 2008. In 2007-2008, the PSC established and communicated its Audit, Evaluation and Studies Plan for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 and an evaluation framework to support the five-year review of the PSEA. The plans are the result of extensive consultations with stakeholders, both internal and external to the PSC. The Audit Plan is based on a rigorous risk analysis and is part of our efforts to audit departments and agencies on a five- to seven- year cycle.

Performance indicator 2: Number of public service organizations with delegated staffing authorities whose staffing performance did not meet all essential staffing performance identified in the Staffing Management Accountability Framework

Partially Met

• Target: Zero

Related resources

Resources	Planned Spending	Total Budget Authority	Actual Spending
Financial ($ thousands)	28,860	32,488	28,490
FTE	264	N/A	240

Performance analysis

Oversight activities hold deputy heads accountable for the exercise of their delegated appointment authorities and allow the PSC to fulfill its reporting obligations to Parliament. This program activity has made significant progress in ensuring that organizations implement the system infrastructure. Also, it has helped strengthen both respect for the appointment values of the PSEA and the integrity of the appointment process.

PSC monitoring activities provided feedback to federal organizations to identify areas for improvement, as well as risks and public service–wide issues. In 2007-2008, the PSC updated its departmental annual monitoring framework – Staffing Management Accountability Framework (SMAF) and DSAR to put more focus on short-term outcomes and staffing values as well as key change areas needed for long-term success of the PSEA. The result of these changes will enable the PSC to provide more timely feedback to delegated organizations and a more rigorous assessment of the overall integrity of the staffing system to Parliament. These changes have also resulted in the reduction of the reporting burden on departments by about 60%. 

In addition, an important component of helping to ensure the integrity of the public service appointment process is the conduct of independent audits, studies and evaluations by the PSC. Four audit reports meeting professional standards were published in 2007-2008. These reports covered a diverse range of issues and risks to the staffing system including audits of staffing activities of three small entities and one government-wide audit. Key results stemming from PSC's audits included the PSC removing conditions on the delegation of staffing authorities it had previously imposed. Another audit (Audit of the Office of the Correctional Investigator) resulted in recommendations for improvement and in the PSC placing a condition on the organization to provide quarterly reporting on its staffing activities.

The Audit of the Movement of Public Servants between the Federal Public Service and Ministers' Offices examined staffing actions spread among 24 organizations and covered the period from 1990 to 2006. The audit was done because of parliamentary interest in this area. As a result of the audit, PSC recommended to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat that they develop and recommend to Treasury Board, a policy governing the movement of public servants between the public service and ministers' offices to ensure that these moves are undertaken in a fair and transparent manner, upholding the principle of political impartiality, and that they are effectively monitored.

Three statistical studies were published in 2007-2008; two of these covered issues of staffing from the temporary workforce and the other dealt with acting appointments and subsequent promotions. These studies provide benchmark information and insights about potential opportunities for improvements that can be used in modernizing staffing in the public service.

The PSC established and communicated a risk-based Audit, Evaluation and Studies Plan for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 for some 80 entities that fall under the purview of the PSEA, for which delegation agreements have been signed. The plan was the result of extensive consultations with stakeholders, both internal and external to the PSC. 

To protect the political impartiality of the public service, the PSC conducts ongoing monitoring activities in this area. In 2007-2008, the PSC provided feedback to deputy heads on departmental performance regarding their efforts to safeguard political impartiality. Overall, organizations met the PSC's expectations on the elements of governance, communications and control. An exercise to validate the PSC's approach to monitoring political activities indicated general agreement, but there was concern expressed over the reporting burden for organizations. Work was initiated in 2007-2008 to revise the approach to monitoring political activities to be more results-based and to focus on risks to political impartiality of the public service when employees seek nomination as candidates.

In 2007-2008, the investigations and early resolution mechanisms at the PSC focused on the various types of investigations mandated by the new PSEA. The 169 investigations completed during the fiscal year helped to ensure the integrity of the staffing system as well as the political impartiality of the public service.

Overall, in this fiscal year, the PSC received a total of 299 investigations requests and opened 141 files for investigation compared to 86 in 2006–2007 which represents a 64% increase. The PSC started investigations into 8 appointment processes where fraud may have occurred compared to 1 in 2005-2006 and 1 in 2006-2007.

Of the 4 investigations on fraud that were completed, the PSC found 3 cases of fraud and in 1 case the allegation was unfounded. The PSC completed 17 investigations into allegations of improper political activity by public servants. In 16 instances employees were found to have engaged in improper political activities contrary to the PSEA. In 1 instance the allegation of improper political activity was unfounded.

It is also worth noting that early intervention (EI) was offered in 126 cases and in 78 files the parties agreed to participate in this process. To safeguard the integrity of staffing and the political impartiality of the public service, EI is not offered in cases of fraud and improper political activities. EI was successful in resolving 62 of the 78 files. This resulted in savings in time and resources as EI files are completed significantly faster than full investigation files and require fewer resources from areas such as legal services. Files completed through EI also produce longer-term benefits to all involved as the process has a mediation aspect, it is confidential, and it educates participants about the PSEA.

What's next?

• The issue of departments and agencies having more concrete annual plans and strategies that have measurable targets is central to the success of the strengthened accountability requirements under the new PSEA regime. The PSC will place increased emphasis on concrete measurable staffing plans and targets, and conduct a follow-up regarding success in implementing these plans.
• The PSC will continue to strengthen its capacity to undertake audits, evaluations and studies.
• The PSC will release service standards for investigation time lines, build its procedures to ensure consistency in approach, examine its reporting to ensure that it informs management decision-making, and broaden its outreach and awareness activities. These efforts will better align with PSC's accountability to Parliament for safeguarding the integrity of appointments and in overseeing the political impartiality of the federal public service under the new PSEA.

The following sub-activities contribute to the achievement of the Program Activity 1.2.0:

Information, by sub-activity, can be found in the electronic version of this document in the publications section of the PSC’s Web site.

• Monitoring – helped ensure departmental and agency compliance with legislative requirements of the PSEA in the context of delegated authorities. 
• Audits, Studies and Evaluations – conducted independent audits, studies and evaluations reported to Parliament on the integrity of the appointment process, including the protection of merit and political neutrality. 
• Investigations and Early Intervention Mechanisms – provided oversight of concerns raised about appointments. Investigations are also conducted into allegations of improper political activities of public servants.

Program Activity 1.3.0 – Staffing Services and Assessment

Program activity description

The Staffing Services and Assessment activity develops and maintains systems that link Canadians and public servants seeking employment opportunities in the federal public service with hiring departments and agencies. It provides assessment-related products and services in the form of research and development, consultation, assessment operations and counselling for use in recruitment, selection and development throughout the federal public service. This activity also includes delivering staffing services, programs and products to departments and agencies, to Canadians and public servants, through client service units located across Canada.

Strategic Outcome

To provide Canadians with a highly competent, non-partisan and representative public service, able to provide service in both official languages, in which appointments are based on the values of fairness, access, representativeness and transparency

Program Activity

Staffing Services and Assessment

Program Sub-Activities

• Staffing Services
• Assessment

Performance information

Expected result: Staffing and assessment services and products meet the business needs of clients and are consistent with the new PSEA and the PSC's strategic outcome

Performance indicator 1 (indicator and target refined to increase measurability):  Level of client satisfaction with PSC staffing and assessment services and products

Partially Met

• Target: Satisfactory consultation and survey results

Performance evidence: Consultations conducted during 2007-08, in the context of the transformation of our services, indicated that most of the PSC's current and potential clients are sufficiently satisfied with PSC offering and that most of them would come to us for staffing and assessment services even in a cost-recovery environment.

Performance indicator 2 (indicator and target refined to increase measurability): Degree of consistency of staffing and assessment services and products with the new PSEA and the PSC's strategic outcome

Partially Met

• Target: Satisfactory audit and study findings

Performance evidence: The internal evaluation of the Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program concluded that the program is consistent with the HR renewal priorities of the Government of Canada. The internal audit for the Public Service Resourcing System found that it will be a key enabler in the overall HR management initiative. It is a key output of the Public Service Staffing Modernization Project (PSSMP). The audit found that, while the project management and financial controls have been considerably strengthened, more work in this area will still be required to fully implement improvements recommended in the PSSMP Readiness Review, which was performed by an external contractor. 

Related Resources

Resources	Planned Spending	Total Budget Authority	Actual Spending
Financial ($ thousands)	57,509	58,834	57,398
FTE	595	N/A	607

Performance analysis

The PSC has undertaken an extensive transformation process to become the service provider of choice for the provision of staffing and assessment services and products that meet the needs of delegated managers, employees and Canadians. This approach provides significant economies of scale and is consistent with the PSEA and the PSC's strategic outcome.

In 2007-2008, the PSC received approval from the Treasury Board to expand its use of cost recovery for assessment services. Cost recovery was previously limited to select assessment services offered by the Personnel Psychology Centre. The long-term plan is to seek authority to use cost recovery for most of the PSC's optional services.

Over the reporting period, the PSC has strived to offer staffing and assessment services within established service standards. Feedback received through formal presentations and surveys to senior management forums, like the Human Resources Council, SmartShops and consultations, leads us to conclude that managers' needs are being met, particularly for electronic recruitment tools, pools of qualified candidates and support for external recruitment and collective staffing processes. Testing and assessment services met service standards. Overall client satisfaction for occupational test services exceeded 90% for reliability of advice, courteous and professional service, and the availability of service in both official languages.

To reduce wait times for the SLE Oral Interaction test, the PSC introduced priority-based service standards in the fall of 2007. The PSC consistently met these new standards towards the end of 2007-2008. As of March 2008, oral interaction wait times were consistently within two weeks for language training and imperative staffing testing purposes, contributing to faster and more efficient staffing of bilingual positions.

The PSC continues to offer products, services and programs which are being used by an increasing number of delegated managers, functional communities and Canadians. This growth in demand is reflective of the relevance and quality of these services:

• the functional communities have indicated that they are attracted to the high quality of candidates obtained through the various recruitment programs and services, the ease of using such programs and how effective they are at meeting their recruitment needs;
• requests for coaching and counselling services offered by Executive Counselling Services increased by 14% and demand for specific developmental services, such as the Identification of Paths to Executive Development (IPEX), continued to grow;
• the volume of second language evaluation tests exceeded expectations, rising from approximately 81,500 in 2006-2007 to about 95,000 in 2007-2008; and 
• departments and hiring managers used over 230,000 PPC tests, assessments and e-instruments (an increase from 180,000 in 2006-2007) and took advantage of the PSC's largest PSR campaign to help them meet their respective recruitment target set in the context of the Clerk of the Privy Council's Public Service Renewal Initiative.

Furthermore, the PSC offered to managers access to large pools of qualified candidates that came from across Canada. This was possible by expanding the application of the NAOS requirement to include external officer-level positions as per the policy on area of selection.

What's next?

• In 2008-2009, the PSC will review and establish service standards for staffing and assessment business lines to include new business lines that will be launched on cost-recovery in 2008-2009. This will assist the PSC and its clients to assess the timeliness and quality of service provided as per the memoranda of understanding that are established.
• Client satisfaction measurement tools to capture essential elements of client satisfaction will be developed and refined. The information will serve to re-position PSC services and products on an ongoing basis to meet the evolving needs of the clients. To capture a more representative share of the client, we will improve survey collection processes.
• We will continue to build upon PSC success in the area of e-testing through investment in innovation and e-testing, in particular, in support of PS Renewal and NAOS. Finally, it will be important to finalize the business requirements for the Public Service Staffing Modernization Project — a comprehensive government-wide initiative led by the PSC to modernize both internal and external staffing. 

The following sub-activities contribute to the achievement of the Program Activity 1.3.0:

Information by sub-activity can be found in the electronic version of this document in the publications section on the PSC's Web site.

• Staffing Services – developed and delivered staffing services, systems, programs and products to departments and agencies, Canadians and public servants.
• Assessment – provided assessment-related products and services for use in staffing, selection and development throughout the federal public service.

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