The people management system in the public service is broken and needs to be fixed quickly, but lacks the HR expertise to fix it, according to an association of public service executives.
“Only meaningful, profound change in the management of people will enable the public service of Canada to remain relevant and effective for the 21st century,” states a position paper written by the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX).
Last April, Prime Minister Jean Chretien created a task force on modernizing human resources management in the public service. APEX has issued what it calls a “strong warning” about any attempt to overhaul the system: “There is serious doubt that the capacity currently exists within the public service to deliver on the objectives of HR reform. After years of cuts, we are short on the HR expertise and the money to plan and implement new systems. The association therefore urges the government not to proceed with the reform initiative unless it intends to resource the effort appropriately, with new hiring, information, training and the right technology.”
Pierre de Blois, executive director of APEX, said one of the reasons there is a shortage of HR expertise now is that in the ’90s, when public service departments were under pressure to cut costs, HR wasn’t viewed as an essential service and was often one of the areas to be cut.
In effect those decisions have put Canadian citizens at risk. An inefficient public service is a threat to all Canadians since it has responsibility for important public health measures, everything from food to toy inspection, he explained.
The criticisms from APEX were echoed by the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, in the annual report on how the federal government manages its operations. In particular, Fraser pointed out flaws in recruitment in the public service.
“The complex, rules-driven staffing system has been an obstacle to recruiting qualified applicants in the public service for 40 years. The government knows the system is broken. It has been broken for a long time, and it needs to be overhauled to secure the long-term effectiveness of our public service,” she said.
Improved staffing is one of the most urgent needs for the public service since it faces a large number of retirements in the near future. In a survey, conducted by APEX last year, 40 per cent of executives indicated “with a fairly high degree of certainty” that they will retire within five years.
“The number one reason why executives want to retire is that they are frustrated with bureaucracy and administrative process — i.e. HR,” said de Blois. “Unless you reform HR you are going to encourage a lot of execs to retire even before they get full pension.”
Almost 20 per cent of respondents to the survey said they plan to leave as soon as possible, regardless of the effect on their pensions.
This is a potential crisis, said de Blois, because the two levels below the executive rank have similar intentions about retiring. “When you start to look at who can replace them, you have to look three or four levels below (the executive ranks).”
Both APEX and the Auditor General are calling for legislative action to make the kinds of fundamental changes that are necessary.
“We are saddled with a system of staffing and appeals which are mired in 25 years of process,” said de Blois.
Since staffing appointments in the public service can be appealed, the entire hiring process is slowed down — thus promulgating the harmful stereotype of a slow-moving public service, making it more difficult to attract people — and the entire system is now predicated on avoiding appeals, he said.
In its position paper, APEX suggests formal interviews should be used less in selection decisions because “not all highly competent people perform well in that environment.”
Hiring managers tend to create a staffing process based predominantly on the interview, showing they can prove that everyone goes through exactly the same process.
“We are saying we are relying on that too much,” said de Blois. “We have to be a bit more creative and a bit more imaginative and use tools to evaluate candidates.”
The Auditor General also blamed inflexible staffing practices for creating a culture of short-term hiring.
The Auditor General’s report also outlines improvements that can be made without legislative changes.
For example, deputy ministers are called upon to ensure human resource planning is an integral part of business planning. In the six departments studied by federal auditors, all had some form of human resource plan but few had specific recruitment targets or identified current or anticipated staff shortages. Nor did they discuss related threats or risks.
And where there is a plan in place, it often isn’t used to guide decision-making because it isn’t communicated well to line managers. Asked if their departments had a formal HR plan, almost half of all managers said that either no plan existed or they did not know, and only 22 per cent said they had a plan that helped guide recruitment.
“Only meaningful, profound change in the management of people will enable the public service of Canada to remain relevant and effective for the 21st century,” states a position paper written by the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX).
Last April, Prime Minister Jean Chretien created a task force on modernizing human resources management in the public service. APEX has issued what it calls a “strong warning” about any attempt to overhaul the system: “There is serious doubt that the capacity currently exists within the public service to deliver on the objectives of HR reform. After years of cuts, we are short on the HR expertise and the money to plan and implement new systems. The association therefore urges the government not to proceed with the reform initiative unless it intends to resource the effort appropriately, with new hiring, information, training and the right technology.”
Pierre de Blois, executive director of APEX, said one of the reasons there is a shortage of HR expertise now is that in the ’90s, when public service departments were under pressure to cut costs, HR wasn’t viewed as an essential service and was often one of the areas to be cut.
In effect those decisions have put Canadian citizens at risk. An inefficient public service is a threat to all Canadians since it has responsibility for important public health measures, everything from food to toy inspection, he explained.
The criticisms from APEX were echoed by the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, in the annual report on how the federal government manages its operations. In particular, Fraser pointed out flaws in recruitment in the public service.
“The complex, rules-driven staffing system has been an obstacle to recruiting qualified applicants in the public service for 40 years. The government knows the system is broken. It has been broken for a long time, and it needs to be overhauled to secure the long-term effectiveness of our public service,” she said.
Improved staffing is one of the most urgent needs for the public service since it faces a large number of retirements in the near future. In a survey, conducted by APEX last year, 40 per cent of executives indicated “with a fairly high degree of certainty” that they will retire within five years.
“The number one reason why executives want to retire is that they are frustrated with bureaucracy and administrative process — i.e. HR,” said de Blois. “Unless you reform HR you are going to encourage a lot of execs to retire even before they get full pension.”
Almost 20 per cent of respondents to the survey said they plan to leave as soon as possible, regardless of the effect on their pensions.
This is a potential crisis, said de Blois, because the two levels below the executive rank have similar intentions about retiring. “When you start to look at who can replace them, you have to look three or four levels below (the executive ranks).”
Both APEX and the Auditor General are calling for legislative action to make the kinds of fundamental changes that are necessary.
“We are saddled with a system of staffing and appeals which are mired in 25 years of process,” said de Blois.
Since staffing appointments in the public service can be appealed, the entire hiring process is slowed down — thus promulgating the harmful stereotype of a slow-moving public service, making it more difficult to attract people — and the entire system is now predicated on avoiding appeals, he said.
In its position paper, APEX suggests formal interviews should be used less in selection decisions because “not all highly competent people perform well in that environment.”
Hiring managers tend to create a staffing process based predominantly on the interview, showing they can prove that everyone goes through exactly the same process.
“We are saying we are relying on that too much,” said de Blois. “We have to be a bit more creative and a bit more imaginative and use tools to evaluate candidates.”
The Auditor General also blamed inflexible staffing practices for creating a culture of short-term hiring.
The Auditor General’s report also outlines improvements that can be made without legislative changes.
For example, deputy ministers are called upon to ensure human resource planning is an integral part of business planning. In the six departments studied by federal auditors, all had some form of human resource plan but few had specific recruitment targets or identified current or anticipated staff shortages. Nor did they discuss related threats or risks.
And where there is a plan in place, it often isn’t used to guide decision-making because it isn’t communicated well to line managers. Asked if their departments had a formal HR plan, almost half of all managers said that either no plan existed or they did not know, and only 22 per cent said they had a plan that helped guide recruitment.
