Public Service Commission

www.psc-cfp.gc.ca

Common menu bar

• Français
• Home
• Contact Us
• Help
• Search
• canada.gc.ca

Breadcrumb

1. Home >
2. Annual Reports >
3. 2009-2010 Annual Report

Chapter 6

Oversight

6.1  Effective oversight is part and parcel of ensuring the Public Service Commission's (PSC) accountability to Parliament for the integrity of the highly delegated staffing system encouraged by the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA). The PSC uses a continuum of tools, which are managed in a highly integrated way, to ensure that deputy heads exercise their delegated authorities appropriately and adhere to the core and guiding values of the PSEA and the PSC Appointment Policy Framework. This chapter focuses specifically on the key findings of the PSC's audits, studies and investigations into appointment processes in 2009-2010, as well as the progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review Committee regarding the PSC's oversight activities. The PSC Audit and Studies Plan for 2011 and 2012 is presented in Appendix 4.

Audits

6.2   The PSC completed the following audits in 2009-2010.

6.3   Follow-up audit of the Canadian Space Agency — In May 2006, the PSC placed a condition on the delegation of appointment authorities of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The objective of the follow-up audit was to determine whether the CSA had adequately responded to the recommendations from the PSC's May 2006 Audit report.

6.4   On-going audit of the Immigration and Refugee Board —Following the 2009 audit of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), the PSC and the IRB signed an agreement stating that the PSC will continue to audit appointments as they are made by the IRB. The IRB also developed an Action Plan in response to the six recommendations made by the PSC. The objective of the new audit work was to determine whether the IRB's appointments and appointment processes comply with the PSEA, the PSC's Appointment Framework, the IRB's human resources policies, other governing authorities and the instrument of delegation signed with the PSC. The focus was on appointments and therefore no further work was planned to evaluate the IRB's framework, systems and practices in place to manage its public service appointment activities. The audit covered the period from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010.

6.5   Seven entity audits — Audit of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Audit of the Canadian Grain Commission, Audit of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Audit of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Audit of Library and Archives Canada, Audit of the National Parole Board and Audit of the Public Service Labour Relations Board — The objectives of the audits were to determine whether the organizations had the appropriate frameworks, systems and practices in place to manage their appointment activities. The audits also examined whether the organizations' appointments and appointment processes complied with the PSEA, the instrument of delegation signed with the PSC and other governing authorities.

6.6   One government-wide audit — Audit of Appointments from Collective Staffing Processes — The objectives of the audit were to identify the characteristics of the various types of collective staffing found in the federal public service, to identify noteworthy practices and to describe how organizations manage collective staffing processes. The objective was also to determine whether collective appointment processes and resulting appointments comply with the PSEA, the PSC's Appointment Framework, the related organizational policies and other governing authorities. The audit focused on the appointment activities of four selected organizations.

Studies

6.7   The PSC completed the following studies in 2009-2010.

6.8   Casual Employment: Sources and Practices — This study focused on the methods used by hiring managers in identifying their source of casual workers. The study examined practices in four organizations — Canada School of Public Service, Elections Canada, Canadian Heritage and Passport Canada — between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008. The study described the labour markets from which casuals are hired, examined the reasons why managers use casual employees and the factors that influenced these decisions and identified noteworthy practices associated with casual hiring.

6.9   The study found that the main sources of casual workers were past employees of temporary help agencies, former public service employees and former students hired under a student employment program. The study found that managers hired casual workers to meet short-term and unexpected needs and that students are often hired into casual positions temporarily prior to being bridged into public service positions. The use of pools of prequalified candidates was identified as a good practice for gaining quicker access to casual workers.

6.10  Verification of Educational Credentials — Job applicants' provision of accurate background information in appointment processes is fundamental to our merit-based system. The purpose of this study was to describe public service practices and policies with respect to the verification of educational credentials reported by applicants in external appointment processes.

6.11  The study found that there were no government-wide policies or guidelines stating that education must be verified within the context of a staffing process. Despite the absence of formal policies, all participating organizations had verification practices in place. Thus, 85% of all staffing files reviewed included at least one document indicating a more stringent verification procedure (such as a copy of the degree and/or transcript, a foreign equivalence statement or proof of professional certification), whereas 11% of the files included a curriculum vitae only. Fewer than 4% of the files reviewed had no documentation indicating that credentials were verified.

6.12  Use of Temporary Help Services in Public Service Organizations — In response to a request from Parliament, the PSC undertook a study of the use of temporary help services in the public service. The use of temporary help services is appropriate when managers are dealing with short employee absences and temporary increases in workload and when there is an ongoing staffing process. The study found improper use of temporary help services to address long-term staffing needs which should be addressed through the PSEA. The study is being tabled at the same time as this Annual Report and full findings are presented there.

6.13  New Indeterminate Employees: Who Are They? (Update) — Subsequent hiring of casual or term employees can be seen as a testament to the value of the work they do and to their future potential. However, over-reliance on the temporary workforce to fill permanent public service jobs potentially limits the pool of candidates and provides privileged access to some. This study focused on the prior public service work experience new hires had before becoming indeterminate employees.

6.14  As noted in the PSC 2008-2009 Annual Report, the proportion of new indeterminate hires with no prior experience in the public service increased from 15.9% in 2004-2005 to 35.0% in 2008-2009. The results for 2009-2010 (see Table 15) indicate that there was a further increase to 37.0% of new indeterminate hires with no prior experience in the public service. In recent years, one-third of new indeterminate hires were found to have experience as a casual employee; that trend continues in 2009-2010.

Source: Public Service Commission Job-based Analytical Information System

¹ New indeterminate hires with prior experience as students are included in this column only if they had no experience as a specified term or casual.

6.15  To What Extent Do Casuals Become Employed Under the Public Service Employment Act? (Update)³⁵ — The extent to which casual hires are subsequently appointed to term or indeterminate positions is of interest in the context of fair access to public service jobs. While appointments to term and indeterminate positions are made on the basis of merit, the candidates for casual employment are not required to be assessed on merit. Further, the experience gained through casual work is a potential competitive advantage.

6.16  Previous studies found that the proportion of casual employment spells ending with appointment under the PSEA increased in recent years, from 41.0% in the period 1997-2005 to 47.8% in 2006-2007 and 53.1% in 2007-2008.

6.17  The recent data (see Table 16) indicate that the proportion of casuals with subsequent employment under the PSEA remains high, at 54.0% in 2008-2009, with an increased proportion of casuals employed in indeterminate positions, 36.9% in 2008-2009 compared to 26.3% in 1997-2005.

Source: Public Service Commission Job-based Analytical Information System

¹ In these updates, each employment spell was followed until March 31, 2010 to observe if there was an appointment under the Public Service Employment Act.

6.18  Appointments under the Public Service Employment Act Following Participation in Federal Student Employment Programs (Update) — This study examined the extent to which participants in the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) and the Co-operative Education and Internship Program (CO-OP) are subsequently appointed under the PSEA.

6.19  The original study found that, on average, 22.5% of students in federal student employment programs³⁶ during the eight-year period from 1997 to 2005 were subsequently employed in term or indeterminate positions in the public service. A majority of these first appointments under the PSEA were to indeterminate positions. Casual employment was observed in 37% of employment spells with term or indeterminate appointments under the PSEA. Higher rates of subsequent employment under the PSEA were observed in the following years.

6.20  This year's update (see Table 17) found that students were more likely to find permanent employment: the proportion of former students in indeterminate positions was 24.1% (2005-2006) and 20.4% (2006-2007). The proportion of students who were employed as a casual worker prior to term or indeterminate appointment under the PSEA was 42.8% (2005-2006) and 47.0% (2006-2007).

Source: Public Service Commission Job-based Analytical Information System

¹ In these updates, each student employment spell was followed for a minimum of three years to observe subsequent appointments under the Public Service Employment Act. The fiscal years refer to the date when the individuals had their spell as a student.

6.21  Acting Appointments and Subsequent Promotions in the Federal Public Service (Update) — The objective of this study was to explore whether an acting appointment gives an employee an advantage in terms of gaining a subsequent promotion. An acting appointment may provide the person with an advantage when the position in which the person is acting is filled permanently, an advantage not available to other candidates.

6.22  In the original study on acting appointments, the rate of promotion for employees into the same position and level following an acting situation during the period 2002-2004 was estimated at 41.3% in the public service, substantially higher than the comparable promotion rate for non-acting employees. Public service-wide, acting situations that ended with a promotion lasted 15 months on average, two months longer than those ending without a promotion. However, there was no statistical evidence that the duration of acting appointments affected the likelihood of being promoted.

6.23  The rate of subsequent promotion for acting situations during the period 2007-2009 (see Table 18) dropped noticeably to 33.5% from 41% in both the 2002-2004 and 2004-2007 periods. The duration of acting situations became shorter in the later period, 13.5 months if ended with a promotion and 12.5 months if ended without a promotion. The difference, one month on average, could not be associated with the experience gained during the acting situations.

Source: Public Service Commission Job-based Analytical Information System

¹ For the purposes of the study, an acting situation is defined so as to analyze the relationship between the duration and the outcome of acting appointments. Acting appointments can be sequential and extend well over a year: a situation defines the cumulative duration of all acting appointments to a specific occupational group and level. Subsequent promotion took place if the employee is appointed — within four months after the end of the acting appointment — to the same group and level of the position in which they were acting. Consequently, these estimates may differ from those found elsewhere in the Annual Report which reflect a different definition.

6.24  Study on Mobility of Public Servants (Update) — In its 2006-2007 Annual Report, the PSC identified the level of movement in the federal public service as a challenge. This study examined the nature and level of appointments leading to movement in the federal government.

6.25  After four years of sustained increase beginning in 2004-2005, mobility decreased to 41% in 2009-2010, a 3 percentage point drop from the previous year. The overall mobility rates in the public service varied since 1998-1999, from a low of 30% in 2004-2005 to a high of 44% in 2008-2009. Among the six occupational groups identified by the study as having especially high mobility (AS, EC, EX, IS, FI, PE), all but AS have shown a gradual decline in mobility since 2007-2008. The National Capital Region continued to experience a higher rate of employee movement than other regions.

Oversight review and recommendations

6.26  Following the Horizontal Strategic Review of Human Resources, in the fall of 2008 the PSC mandated an Independent Review Committee to determine the appropriateness of the approach and level of effort of the PSC's oversight and to identify areas for improvement. In assessing the appropriateness of the PSC's oversight approach, the Committee considered the spirit and intent of the PSEA: to modernize the staffing regime, balancing flexibility with greater accountability and ensuring that the conduct of appointment processes is based on merit, non-partisanship, fairness, transparency, access and representativeness.

6.27  The report was presented in January 2009 and concluded that the PSC's approach to oversight was appropriate, but that some calibration was required in the quality and amount of monitoring. The PSC accepted the Committee's report in full and an action plan was developed to address each of the recommendations. Five of the 18 recommendations have been fully implemented. Several require ongoing efforts and the remainder will be fully implemented within the next two years. The progress made by the PSC to address the recommendations is described in more detail in Appendix 5.

Investigations into appointment processes

6.28  One method used to correct errors and protect the integrity of the staffing regime in the public service is the ongoing conduct of investigations and audits into appointment processes. These oversight activities ensure compliance with the PSEA, the Public Service Employment Regulations (PSER) and PSC policies and assure Parliament and Canadians that merit is being observed and safeguarded within the staffing regime.

6.29  In 2009-2010, the PSC had a total of 470 active cases, of which 357 requests were received during the fiscal year and 113 were carried over from previous years (see Table 19). A total of 326 cases were completed, 80 of these through investigation. Of the 80 investigations completed, 32 were determined to be founded.

Source: Public Service Commission (PSC) Investigations Management Information System

¹ Cases are closed at intake for several reasons, i.e. the PSC has no mandate to investigate, there is no possibility of corrective action, or for other reasons which make the case unsuitable for investigation.

² Early Intervention is not offered other than for cases under section 66 of the Public Service Employment Act.

6.30  The PSC's investigations authority into appointment processes is found in Part 5 of the PSEA. Sections 66 through 69 of the PSEA describe the various appointment-related investigations that may be carried out by the Commission. These include:

• Appointments not made on the basis of merit, or where there are possible errors, omissions or improper conduct that may occur in external appointment processes (section 66);
• Errors, omissions or improper conduct that may occur in an internal appointment process where a deputy head has not been provided with delegated staffing authority (subsection 67 (1)), or in cases where a deputy head has been provided with delegated staffing authority and subsequently requests the Commission to investigate an internal process (subsection 67 (2));
• Reason to believe that there was political influence in an appointment process (section 68); and
• Reason to believe that fraud occurred in an appointment process (section 69).

6.31  Early Intervention — In specific cases, the PSC offers to proceed with early intervention (EI) to help persons involved resolve their differences without the need for a formal investigation. Participation in this form of alternative dispute resolution is voluntary and cases not resolved through this process are referred to full investigation. Numbers of EI-eligible cases were fewer this year due to an increase in the number of referred cases following PSC audits. Post-audit investigation cases are not eligible for the EI process. In total, four cases were resolved through EI in this fiscal year.

Investigations under specific authorities

6.32  Section 66: External appointment processes — As seen in previous years, issues related to error, omission or improper conduct in external appointment processes represented the largest percentage of the PSC's investigations caseload. The PSC continued to conduct investigations under section 66 concurrently with investigations under section 69 (Fraud). These dual-mandate investigations allowed the Commission to consider a greater range of issues related to a single allegation and to address problems that may not have been identified under a single-mandate investigation.

6.33  Several investigations under section 66 indicated to the PSC that errors were occurring in appointment processes in the assessment of qualifications. Under the PSEA, the person to be appointed must meet each essential qualification in order for an appointment to be based on merit. Regard is also given to any asset qualifications, current or future operational requirements or organizational needs. Each essential qualification must be assessed individually, rather than globally. The PSC will be sending a letter to departments and agencies to remind them of this requirement.

6.34  Subsection 67(1): Internal appointment processes; no delegation — The PSC did not receive any new investigation files for internal appointment processes where staffing authority had not been delegated. In addition, there are no files outstanding from last year.

6.35  Subsection 67(2): Internal appointment processes; delegation — This fiscal year saw a noticeable increase in the number of requests for the PSC to investigate these processes (31 compared to 2 in 2008-2009). The increase resulted primarily from a large number of files referred to the PSC from two specific organizations and a PSC audit. These files were received late in the fiscal year and are still being assessed.

6.36  In cases where a deputy head has asked the PSC to conduct the investigation, no corrective action is taken by the Commission when the result is founded. However, the PSC does provide recommendations on corrective action to deputy heads upon submission of the investigation report.

6.37  Section 68: Political influence — The PSC did not receive any new investigation files related to political influence in staffing. In addition, there are no files outstanding under this section of the PSEA from last year.

6.38  Section 69: Fraud — The PSC received 21 files related to allegations of fraud in this fiscal year, an increase of four from the previous fiscal year. A total of 22 fraud investigations were completed during this time period, of which four were founded.

6.39  The fraud cases investigated were similar in nature to cases investigated in previous years, including allegations of individuals who may have cheated in written examinations related to appointment processes, individuals who were accused of altering the results of their official language tests and individuals who were accused of providing false references.

6.40  The types of corrective action applied in 2009-2010 in response to founded fraud cases included a requirement to obtain PSC permission before accepting a position in the public service and a requirement to attend training.

6.41  Deputy head investigations — In most cases where staffing has been delegated to a deputy head, the deputy head conducts any investigation into any errors, omission or improper conduct in internal appointment processes, using the authority provided under subsection 15(3) of the PSEA. As much as possible, the PSC monitors these internal investigations to ensure that the guiding values are fully respected and that procedural fairness is applied in the conduct of any internal investigation. Following its review of internal investigation reports, the PSC may choose to raise concerns with deputy heads, or conduct an audit of the appointment process.

6.42  Several issues were raised with deputy heads this fiscal year:

• The PSC noted that merit criteria were assessed globally rather than each qualification being assessed individually, as required.
• The PSC noted that a deputy head assumed responsibility for an internal investigation despite being personally implicated in the appointment process under investigation. The PSC views this as a contravention of the guiding values, as well as a conflict of interest.
• Some internal investigation reports did not adhere to principles of procedural fairness, or corrective actions did not fully respond to the allegations investigated.

6.43  The PSC raised these issues with deputy heads in an effort to outline the problematic areas and suggest improvements for any future investigation reports.

6.44  Audits conducted under section 17 of the PSEA — The PSC may choose to conduct an audit of an appointment process in cases where no authority exists to conduct an investigation. While no corrective actions result from these audits, findings and recommendations are provided to deputy heads.

6.45  Disclosure of personal information — Continuing a practice started in 2007-2008, the PSC uses its authority under section 19 of the Public Service Employment Regulations and section 14 of the Political Activity Regulations to disclose specific personal information. The PSC produces summaries of investigations, some anonymous and others containing personal information that are deemed to be in the public interest. These summaries are available on the PSC Web site at www.psc-cfp.gc.ca.

Endnotes

Primary navigation (left column)

Date Modified:

2010-10-05