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Follow-ups sent to parliamentary committees following an appearance from the Public Service Commission
From April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010

During the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the Public Service Commission (PSC) provided a total of 18 follow-ups to 4 Parliamentary Committees. For the House of Commons, the PSC appeared before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO), while the Finance Committee, Human Rights and Official Languages heard testimonies from the PSC in the Upper Chamber. The follow-ups were on a wide range of topics such as non-partisanship in the public service, use of temporary help services, employment equity at the EX level and recruitment of bilingual employees.

In addition, OGGO adopted a unanimous motion requesting that the PSC conduct a special study on issues such as the use of temporary help services. It was the first time in the history of the PSC that this type of request was made.

Modernization of Human Resources Management - Managing the Reforms (Chapter 3 of the February 2005 Report of the Auditor General of Canada)
 
In 2009-2010, the Staffing Management Accountability Framework (SMAF) was revised and issued to departments and agencies. The SMAF has been streamlined based on the PSC's analysis and extensive consultation conducted in September and October 2009. Consultation included a round table with representatives from various-sized organizations hosted by the PSC and discussions with the Human Resources Council (HRC), the HRC’s SMAF working group, the Personnel Advisory Group, the National Staffing Council and the Interdepartmental Monitoring Network. As a result, indicators are clearer and more aligned with central sources of information, and overlap has been removed. 

The PSC has also modified its definitions of organizational size to better align with those used by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) for organizational Management Assessment Framework (MAF) assessments. This will help streamline reporting to deputy heads and support communications. The PSC has also aligned the organizational submission time frame of the Departmental Staffing Accountability Report (DSAR) to better coincide with TBS’ MAF time frame and with requests from the Committee of Senior Officials. The revised SMAF includes focusing more clearly on expectations for the development and monitoring of organizational staffing strategies that link with business and human resources plans, including post-secondary recruitment strategies, as applicable. The performance indicators have been reduced from 37 to 29, resulting in a reduction of reporting requirements. 

A new approach, reporting template and assessment tools were developed for micro‑organizations (fewer than 100 employees). The statistical information packages
were also updated, and information from the PSC’s Survey of Staffing is now included.

A protocol for co-ordinating the collection of organizational information for audits and DSAR reporting was developed and implemented to minimize the reporting burden for departments and agencies under audit.

The PSC maintains ongoing communications by presenting any updates made to the SMAF and reporting framework to the HRC and any other venue, as deemed necessary. The PSC conducted information sessions on the revised SMAF and updated statistical package with more than 50 organizational representatives in December 2009. All reporting documents and tools were posted on the PSC Web site.

The PSC will continue to build on its successful consultation process with organizations to continuously improve the SMAF and amend it accordingly. The PSC will also continue to modify the SMAF to respond to the regular maintenance of the indicators and the expectation of the PSC.

The PSC has used and modified the SMAF over the past three years to respond to various initiatives, and it has now achieved a steady state.

In addition, in 2009-2010, the PSC and the Office of the Chief Human Resource Officer have completed a review of organizational systems, approaches and practices for gathering employment equity self-identification data. A joint letter to heads of human resources has been prepared and is expected to be released in April 2010.  This letter will inform departments and agencies that they will be able to use self-declaration information as self-identification information by persons who are their employees, provided that the applicant's prior consent has been obtained. This procedure will assist in ensuring greater accuracy of employment equity information.

In carrying out its audits of the staffing activities of departments and agencies, the PSC performed the following audits and studies during the reporting period:

Entity audits
Audit of Infrastructure Canada
Audit of the Canada Border Services Agency
Audit of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Audit of Health Canada

Follow-up audit
Follow-up audit of the Office of the Correctional Investigator

Government-wide audit
Audit of the Federal Student Work Experience Program and subsequent appointments through bridging mechanisms

Studies
Study on the data collection of non-advertised appointment processes
Career progression in the federal public service – Temporary versus permanent start-ups

Statistical study updates
Time to staff in the federal public service – An update
To what extent do casuals become employed under the Public Service Employment Act? – Update
New indeterminate employees: Who are they? – Update
Acting Appointments and Subsequent Promotions in the Federal Public Service – Update