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Assessing Merit
This Guide is provided by the Public Service Commission to help human resources advisors support deputy heads in developing organizational approaches.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
The merit system has been the foundation of a competent, professional, non-partisan public service for almost a century. It plays an essential role, not only by protecting against political patronage, but also by ensuring that employees are hired and can advance based on their ability to do the work rather than on personal favouritism. The merit system reflects a commitment to fundamental public service values and is comprised of more than just the merit principle alone.
The merit system refers to the collection of processes, practices, rules and procedures governing particular appointment actions. Some of these are prescribed in legislation or regulations. Others flow from enabling provisions in legislation and regulations. Still others are the result of policy decisions made either by the Public Service Commission (the Commission) or by organizations.
II. How merit will work
The Public Service Employment Act (PSEA):
- Provides a definition of merit;
- Grants deputy heads the discretion to establish the factors that will be considered in determining merit; and
- Balances this discretion with a strong role for the Commission in setting the framework that will guide the decision-making process. This framework includes the clear delegation of authority and strong accountability measures.
The following aspects of the PSEA are especially important in safeguarding merit and guiding its application:
- The preamble sets the goal of excellence, integrity and fair and transparent employment practices;
- A legislated prohibition against political influence in appointments;
- Clear authority for the Commission to establish policies that ensure appointment decisions are based on sound principles; and
- An explicit requirement that deputy heads respect these policies.
As part of the Commission's role in setting policy related to merit, the Commission will require that the guiding values of fairness, transparency, access and representativeness assist organizations in the appointment process. The values are defined as follows:
Fairness
- Decisions are made objectively and free from political influence or personal favouritism; policies and practices reflect the just treatment of persons.
- Persons have the right to be assessed in the official language(s) of their choice in an appointment process.
Transparency
- Information about strategies, decisions, policies and practices is communicated in an open and timely manner.
Access
- Persons from across the country have a reasonable opportunity to apply, and to do so in the official language(s) of their choice, and to be considered for public service employment.
Representativeness
- Appointment processes are conducted without bias and do not create systemic barriers to help achieve a public service that reflects the Canadian population it serves.
The value of access promotes linguistic duality, representativeness of the designated groups in the Employment Equity Act, and regional and cultural diversity in the public service.
The Commission will not dictate the process by which appointments are made. Instead, using the appointment values as a guide, it will set policy on key decision points in the appointment process, as well as on overarching issues. Internal organizational policies set by deputy heads must be consistent with the Commission's policies. Organizational policy is only required with regard to area of selection and corrective action and revocation.
III. Roles and Responsibilities
Under the PSEA, merit has two components.
- First, everyone who is appointed must meet the essential qualifications, which includes official language proficiency.
- Second, the manager (or other delegate of the deputy head) may take into account:
- qualifications that are considered an asset for the work, currently or in the future;
- any current or future operational requirements and organizational needs that he or she has identified; and finally,
- the current and future needs of the public service, as determined by the employer, in deciding on the needs of their organization.
The essential qualifications, asset qualifications, operational requirements and organizational needs form the basis for the assessment of merit. These are collectively referred to as the "merit criteria." The legislation gives deputy heads the authority to establish merit criteria. Deputy heads will set essential and asset qualifications that conform to standards set by the employer.
Authority to assess and select persons to be appointed belongs to the Commission, which in all cases except circumstances such as the appointment of ministerial priorities at the EX level, delegates this authority to deputy heads. Deputy heads in turn sub-delegate this authority to managers. Since this authority belongs to the Commission, when assessing and selecting persons, managers are performing these functions on behalf of the Commission.
Therefore, managers play two roles. When establishing qualifications, managers are performing this function as a delegate of the deputy head. However, when assessing and selecting individuals, they are acting on behalf of the Commission.
A manager may call upon the services of others to assist in the assessment process. For example, a manager may call upon others to sit on a board to conduct interviews. The role of such persons is only to provide the manager with the information required to make an appointment decision. The ultimate decisions regarding appointments belong to the manager alone. In making these decisions, the manager will be acting both as the delegate of the Commission, and, with regard to the merit criteria, the delegate of the deputy head. While other persons who are assisting in the assessment are bound by the merit criteria set by the manager, the manager will have the flexibility to decide which of the criteria will apply at the time each appointment decision is made.
In order for merit to be applied, the manager must ensure that persons selected for appointment meet the essential qualifications identified at the outset of the appointment process. The manager must also "have regard to" the other criteria established at the outset - the asset qualifications, operational requirements and organizational needs. This does not mean that all of the other criteria must be applied to every appointment. Rather, it gives the flexibility to apply criteria as required to select the person who is the right fit for the appointment.
IV. Assessment and Selection
Appointments can be made by an advertised or a non-advertised process. The Commission's policy requires that:
- The choice of the appointment process be consistent with the organization's HR planning and the guiding values (fairness, transparency, access and representativeness);
- The deputy head establish and communicate the criteria for the use of non-advertised process; and
- A written rationale for a decision to use a non-advertised process be prepared to demonstrate how this process meets the established criteria and the guiding values.
Merit criteria may be applied in any order. A manager may determine who meets an organizational need or operational requirement before assessing the essential qualifications, if it is more efficient to do so.
The assessment for each appointment to be made from an advertised process must be completed before that appointment is made. Therefore, it is not necessary to complete the assessment of all merit criteria for all possible appointments at once. In large assessment processes when many appointments will be made over a long period of time, it may be more efficient to assess all common elements early in the process and apply other criteria as positions are to be filled. This will apply especially when the manager (or managers) applies different criteria to different appointments depending on factors that are specific to each appointment. In accordance with the Commission's policy, the merit criteria for an assessment process must be provided to interested persons in a timely fashion and sufficient information regarding the criteria to be used in screening must be included in the advertisement. As well, deputy heads are required to provide, upon request to interested persons, further information, including all of the merit criteria for the assessment process.
Essential qualifications must always be assessed. However, it is not always necessary to assess all of the other criteria identified at the outset of the process for every appointment decision. Similarly, while any person appointed must meet the essential qualifications, the manager will decide which of the other criteria will be used to choose the person who is the right fit for the position.
It is also possible to apply different criteria to different appointments in the same advertised process. For example, the organizational need to fulfil employment equity objectives could be applied to one appointment. Another appointment from the same process might be based on the person's strength in analytical ability or some other specific qualification that would complement the work team. Or a manager may choose to appoint a person with one or more qualifications that would be an asset to the work, or on the basis of a combination of criteria. As long as the person selected meets the essential qualifications, the other criteria can be used in many ways to determine which person is the right fit for the job.
V. Accountability
Managers must be able to explain why a person was considered the right fit for the job, taking into account both the qualifications and the other criteria that were identified and used to make the appointment. Managers must plan carefully at the beginning of each appointment process to ensure the factors that will be used in making a decision are identified and communicated to persons to be assessed.
The Commission's policy requires that the reasons for an appointment decision be documented. It also requires that persons who have been eliminated from consideration in an internal appointment process be provided with the opportunity to discuss this decision as soon as possible after it is made. The identification and application of merit criteria in internal processes is also subject to recourse through the Public Service Staffing Tribunal. In addition, the Commission has the authority to audit a deputy head's use of their authority to establish merit criteria.
The legislation gives more flexibility to decide how appointment processes will be conducted within their organizations. The Commission will hold organizations accountable for the decisions they make. Given the less rigid definition of merit, increased delegation to deputy heads and greater managerial discretion, the Commission is placing a greater emphasis on the establishment of adequate safeguards to ensure that appointments are free from both political influence and personal favouritism.
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