2007 May Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Human resources planning

3.27 The Department should develop and implement a comprehensive human resources plan that clearly defines its current and future human resources needs, both for Canada-based staff and locally engaged employees. (3.14–3.26)

The Department agrees that a comprehensive human resources plan must be developed and implemented. In the last few years, significant progress has been made in establishing the capacity and systems necessary to plan in a complex and multi-dimensional environment. The development of a comprehensive Canada-based staff plan is in the final planning stages and is expected by spring 2007. Building on the Management Consular Officer model, the Department is developing plans for key professional groups in order to ensure that the Department has the right people in the right place doing the right job.

For locally engaged staff (LES), the Department will develop a framework by winter 2008 to guide missions with their LES planning, focusing on identifying key competencies required for its LES workforce. These mission-specific plans are based on local labour laws, and current and future human resources needs. There is little or no LES mobility between missions, the LES are not subject to the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), and each country has its own set of terms and conditions of employment. As such, resourcing strategies and plans for the LES should be distinct from the Canada-based staff population, although intricately linked to the Department's current country strategy process. This process analyzes mission, policy, government, and other requirements and develops a mission-specific strategy ensuring that this is placed into an overall government context. These strategies then form part of the Department's overall business plan.

Workforce management

3.64 As part of its human resources plan, the Department should outline its strategies to fill current and projected gaps in its workforce, including how recruitment, promotion, assignment, and language training activities can best contribute to ensuring that it has qualified people in the right place at the right time. (3.28–3.63)

The Department agrees with the recommendation and recognizes that strategies to fill current and projected gaps in its workforce are important elements in human resources planning. Recent changes to the departmental configuration, as well as the conversion in 2005 of the Foreign Service group, have had a significant impact on data integrity. Data integrity and the management of vacant positions are key success factors in determining immediate and longer term needs. To address this, the Department has already created a unit headed by an executive to focus on human resources data integrity and anticipates that it will take up to two years to update all the systems to ensure quality data.

The Department is working with the Statistics Canada Centre for Workforce Planning and Forecasting to modify its systems and improve its ability to address workforce gaps.

As suggested in this report, the Department agrees and will continue to use non-traditional means to staff positions, whenever appropriate. The Department agrees that foreign language training needs must be better linked to the staffing conducted by the Department and will endeavour, by winter 2008, to study foreign language training requirements and develop an action plan.

3.72 The Department should strengthen the management of its locally engaged employees and better support mission managers in carrying out their responsibilities. (3.65–3.71)

The Department agrees that the capacity to deliver quality services to the locally engaged staff (LES) population and their management teams needs to be strengthened. In the 2007–08 fiscal year and beyond, the Department will undertake to re-examine the current business model. As part of this re-examination, the type of support that is required and what form it should take will also be examined, and the experience of other governments will be sought in order to obtain best practices used around the world.

By winter 2008, the Department will develop a strategy to review benefits provided to LES employees around the world, including the LES Employment Regulations, terms and conditions, classification, and human resources delegation authorities.

3.87 The Treasury Board Secretariat, with the active participation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and other departments and agencies, should

• lead a comprehensive review of the challenges facing the Public Service in posting employees abroad; and
• ensure that appropriate mechanisms are in place, either within or outside the Foreign Service Directive (FSD) framework, to allow departments and agencies to respond in a timely and effective manner to changing circumstances affecting the assignment of qualified staff around the world. (3.73–3.86)

Treasury Board Secretariat's response. The Treasury Board Secretariat agrees. The Secretariat is committed to establishing and leading a partnership of key departments and agencies to comprehensively identify the challenges facing the Public Service in assigning staff abroad, and to developing and implementing a reasonable and effective plan of action in a time frame appropriate to the challenges. The Secretariat will establish this partnership and commence this work by summer 2007.

The Department's response. The Department agrees that a serious examination of the issues facing those being posted abroad is essential. Currently, most "FSD-related" issues are considered, but few of them are resolved through the National Joint Council (NJC). This co-development process does not easily permit priority focus on one issue, but sets all issues among the total FSD package. This negotiating process has proven to be quite cumbersome and the current FSDs have remained essentially unchanged for over 40 years, despite dramatic changes in Canadian society and changing government priorities.

This framework seriously limits the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's and other departments' ability to respond to new or evolving government priorities and programs, all the while being charged with the responsibility and accountability for the program delivery. In addition, a large number of employees unrepresented by any bargaining agent in the process find themselves subject to these regulations, although they have no appeal rights within the NJC forum.

Attempts to support Canadian government employees serving in extreme high risk operations such as Afghanistan and Haiti are still being negotiated is part of the FSD process, which began in 2005.

The Department welcomes the authority and flexibility to meet our obligations through a more streamlined and responsive FSD or other mechanism, or by obtaining separate authorities for operational needs. The Department suggests that the governance process should be re-examined.