ARCHIVED - Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada - Report

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Section II: Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

Strategic Outcome

Wrongdoing in the federal public sector is detected, resolved and reported, while public servants are protected from reprisal, resulting in a greater integrity in the workplace.

Program Activity: Disclosure and Reprisal Management

Program Activity Description

To provide advice to federal public sector employees and members of the public who are considering making a disclosure and to accept, investigate and report on disclosures of information concerning possible wrongdoing. Based on this activity, the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner will exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the review, conciliation and settlement of complaints of reprisal, including making applications to the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal to determine if reprisals have taken place and to order appropriate remedial and disciplinary action.

2010-11 Financial Resources ($ thousands)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
4,191	4,395	3,318

2010-11 Human Resources (FTEs)

Planned	Actual	Difference
33	17	16

Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets	Performance Status
Increased confidence in Canadian federal public institutions	Inquiries and investigations are conducted efficiently and in accordance with the PSDPA	Review of current practices and establishment / refinement of all processes and procedures	Mostly Met – See the following table “1) Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP” for details
	Public servants and Canadians are aware of the role and mandate of the Office	Reach out to all federal public servants Reach out to the general public	Mostly Met – See the following table “2) Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP” for details
	Recognition of disclosure as a pro-social behaviour	Develop tools and best practices Implement the Prevention Strategy	Mostly Met – See the following table “3) Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP” for details

1) Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP		Performance Status	Performance Summary
Provide an efficient, safe and confidential disclosure mechanism, and protect against reprisals relating to disclosures and participation in investigations.	Carry on efforts for improving the effectiveness, efficiency and timeliness of internal procedures related to the handling of disclosure and reprisal protection files, including triage, intake, investigations, etc.	Mostly Met	The Office made adjustments to its case management system and reporting processes. This was further supported by the detailed and valuable feedback on the nature of the issues and identified areas for improvement regarding file procedures and documentation processes from the third-party review. The Office finalized and implemented the internal Policy and Procedures Manual which provides clear procedures for conducting investigations as well as service standards. The Office conducted a process mapping exercise for the Disclosure and Reprisal Management program. The exercise helped to more clearly delineate business activities and to improve efficiencies. This facilitated the revision of the organizational structure to better align human resources with business processes. The Office staffed key positions including that of Executive Director, launched the Deputy Commissioner staffing process and doubled the size of the investigations team to provide the necessary capacity to address the increasing workloads.
	Complete an update of the Office's strategic outcome and program activities.		The Office participated in TBS' process to amend the 2012-13 Management, Resources and Results Structure. This process will conclude in 2011-12 and the amended strategic outcome will be reflected in the 2012-13 fiscal year.
	Continue research and development of the Office's performance measurement strategy, in alignment with the updated strategic outcome and program activities.		The Office conducted a comprehensive review of the performance measurement strategy to better align, measure and communicate the performance of the Office's activities and to prepare for the upcoming five-year review of the Act. This included the identification of activities, outputs, outcomes, performance standards and the finalization of a program logic model. This information formed the basis for the 2012-13 Management, Resources and Results Structure amendment process and will be formally reflected in the Office's 2012-13 Performance Measurement Framework. The Office also now regularly produces operational statistics to allow the management team to review and address efficiency issues in a timely fashion.
	Finalize lists of potential experts and investigators who can provide support on a contractual basis in order to help deal with high volumes or complex files.		Following the revision of the Office's strategic and operational plans, finalizing the list of external experts and investigators was not deemed to be a priority for the 2010-11 fiscal year. However, much of the work has taken place and will be completed in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

2) Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP		Performance Status	Performance Summary
Inform public servants and Canadians about the role and mandate of the Office.	Undertake outreach initiatives aimed at creating awareness and understanding of the Office's role and mandate among Members of Parliament and Senators.	Mostly Met	In response to the crisis resulting from the OAG report, PSIC adopted a proactive, open and transparent communications approach to keep public sector employees informed of the Office's new priorities and their implementation status on a periodic basis by way to direct email communication with all heads of agencies, Crowns and other federal institutions. The Office continued to meet with Senior Officers across the public sector to gain an understanding of their experiences in receiving and handling internal disclosures, to discuss challenges in implementing the Act, to build strong working relationships and to raise awareness of its mandate. To date, the Office has met with close to two-thirds of the federal institutions that have designated a Senior Officer under the Act. The Office also continued to facilitate the Senior Officers Support Network, which is made up of a number of Senior Officers with considerable experience who have agreed to make themselves available to members of this community and to provide support and information where required. This network allows Senior Officers who have questions, are newly appointed or who do not have much practice in dealing with protected disclosures under the Act to rely on the expertise and experiences of more seasoned Senior Officers.
	Organize a workshop in order to help create awareness with organizations and key individuals involved with disclosure legislation and practices.		The Office hosted a two-day practical workshop in the fall for all Senior Officers to enable them to share challenges, best practices, tools and techniques for applying the Act and to help build a community of peer support. Bringing together those who are responsible for implementing the Act provided an opportunity for participants to gain a better understanding of each other's roles, and to learn from each other's experience. 52 departments and federal organizations were represented and the feedback collected showed a 98% overall satisfaction rate.

3) Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP		Performance Status	Performance Summary
Promote a work-place culture in the federal public service that is open to disclosure and protects from reprisal.	Implement various components of the Office's Prevention Strategy, including development of a decision-making model for potential disclosures that will help improve case management practices.	Mostly Met	Following the success of the decision-making guide to making a protected disclosure of wrongdoing under the PSDPA, the Office intended to complement this tool with the development of a guide for supervisors and managers to receive protected disclosures of wrongdoing under the PSDPA from employees. After the revision of the Office's strategic and operational plans, the development of a guide for supervisors and managers was no longer deemed to be a priority for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
	Maintain liaison with key stakeholders within the federal public sector (such as unions, senior officers responsible for internal disclosure, senior officials for values and ethics, etc.) to discuss actions aimed at promoting desirable workplace culture.		The Office initiated the creation of a new Advisory Committee whose mandate will be: to provide recommendations on broad strategic directions, policies and priorities of PSIC; to provide a challenge function to support PSIC being able to most effectively meet the needs of disclosers of wrongdoing and reprisal complainants; and to provide a forum for the provision of advice and the exchange of views of all key stakeholders on issues affecting the management of disclosure of wrongdoing and complaints of reprisal. The Committee will comprise representatives from PSIC, advocacy groups, unions, APEX, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Senior Officers' community.
	Continue to exchange ideas with Canadian and international advocacy groups that support disclosers.
	Determine possible approaches for addressing systemic vulnerabilities in the federal public sector previously identified with the assistance of key partners.

Performance Summary and Analysis of Program Activity

The 2010-11 fiscal year was an extraordinary one characterized by the departure of the former Commissioner, the December 2010 OAG report and the subsequent appointment of an Interim Commissioner. While the Office succeeded in meeting the majority of the plans established in the 2010-11 RPP, the circumstances required the Office re-evaluate and re-prioritize its plans. As a result, the Office focused on initiatives such as solidifying the team by staffing various key positions, completing the third-party review of past closed files and finalizing the internal Policy and Procedures Manual in order to increase confidence in the Office.

Lessons Learned

Despite the concerted efforts by the Office and by a number of stakeholders to raise awareness of the importance of disclosing wrongdoing and preventing reprisal, continued work is still required to support a culture that encourages coming forward.

For the federal public sector as a whole, the Act represents a cultural-shift, and some public servants have yet to fully understand and accept the value and necessity of a formal disclosure and reprisal protection regime. Concerns exist that many may still believe that reporting wrongdoing will not make a difference, is not their responsibility or that the Act will not provide them with adequate protection.

Members of the investigations branch have heard during the course of their work that there is still a stigma attached to disclosing wrongdoing. Being what is commonly referred to as a whistleblower is considered by some to be a “career killer” and disclosers are presumed to be acting on ulterior motives. There is apparent difficulty in believing that someone discloses because they simply want the wrongdoing to stop. 

The only way to end wrongdoing is to address it, and until such time as the stigma attached to “whistleblowing” is removed, the government will continue to have situations where problematic behavior is allowed to flourish.

As the Office and departments deal and report on more cases and demonstrate that concrete actions have been made to correct wrongdoing and reprisals, it is expected that confidence in redress mechanisms will increase. The Act is the framework within which an effective disclosure and reprisal regime can function, and it is the Office's role to implement the Act in a way to ensure that this happens for the benefit of all public servants and all Canadians.

Program Activity: Internal Services

Program Activity Description

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. These groups are: Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Corporate Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Materiel Services; Acquisition Services; and Travel and Other Administrative Services. Internal Services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization and not to those provided specifically to a program.

2010-11 Financial Resources ($ thousands)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
2,347	2,461	2,006

2010-11 Human Resources (FTEs)

Planned	Actual	Difference
12	8	4

Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP		Performance Status	Performance Summary
Establish a management infrastructure that is solid and consistent with federal government standards	Review and improve the governance and organizational structure of the Office, in alignment with the updated strategic outcome(s) and program activities.	Mostly Met	During 2010-11, the Office reviewed and revised the organizational structure to better align to its business processes. This review was based on a mapping exercise to more clearly delineate business activities and to improve efficiencies, particularly for the Disclosure and Reprisal Management program.
	Develop and implement an information management strategy.		Some delays were experienced due to capacity issues for the implementation of an information management strategy. However, the Office was able to complete the initial stages of the development. Implementation will continue in 2011-12 and it is anticipated that the project will be complete in early 2012-13.
	Review workplace health and safety standards for creating a better workplace and ensuring compliance with applicable federal government policies and requirements of the Canada Labour Code.		To assist in fulfilling the legislative obligation as set out in the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Office implemented an Informal Conflict Management System (ICMS). The Office designated one of its executives as the ICMS officer and retained the ICMS services of another federal government department. This has provided staff with the flexibility and options to help them manage relationships and to prevent conflict in the workplace. An information session on ICMS was also delivered to PSIC staff and reference material was distributed.

Program Activity Plans Established in 2010-11 RPP		Performance Status	Performance Summary
Implement management practices aimed at fostering a culture that reflects values of integrity, respect, fairness, and professionalism	Finalize development of an integrated human resources management plan for the Office, including strategies relating to staffing and retention, temporary or contractual help, succession planning, learning and growth, performance agreements, etc.	Mostly Met	The Office finalized the integrated HR management plan. The Office also developed a Practical Guide on Alternative Work Arrangements to help employees balance work and personal responsibilities.
	Implement mechanisms for facilitating internal communications, the sharing of information and the transfer of knowledge among employees of the Office.		The Office pursued a number of initiatives including: holding regular all-staff meetings offering an Informal Conflict Management System finalizing the internal Policy and Procedures Manual for investigators
	Develop a code of conduct for employees of the Office that is consistent with the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service.		The process for developing PSIC's code of conduct for employees was initiated in 2010-11. This process will continue into 2011-12 and will not be finalized until the release of TBS' Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector.

Performance Summary and Analysis of Program Activity

The Office succeeded in meeting most of the plans established in the 2010-11 RPP. Due to capacity issues, though initiated, the information management project experienced some delays and is now expected to be completed in 2012-13. Also, the development of PSIC's code of conduct for employees will continue into 2011-12 in order to align with of TBS' Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector.

The December 2010 OAG report also had an impact on priorities for the Internal Services Program Activity and as a result the Office placed additional emphasis on initiatives to continue to ensure a healthy and productive workplace for employees and to support and strengthen the organization.

Lessons Learned

Maintaining human resources, namely through attraction, development and retention of employees with the right competencies, skills and experiences remains a demanding management responsibility. The Office has been able to overcome some of these HR-related challenges and has successfully increased its capacity by staffing highly experienced and skilled individuals. However, this is an ongoing challenge that the Office must be continually ready to address, particularly given the impact of the departure of even a small number of staff in an organization with fewer than fifty employees.

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