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March 2023

HR Council Newsletter

A Collective Voice, A Collective Purpose: HR Excellence

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In This Edition

Call to Action: Transforming Hiring to Make It More Inclusive Than Ever

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In June 2021, amendments were made to the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce, and eliminate or mitigate biases and barriers that disadvantage individuals from equity-seeking groups. One of the key amendments to the PSEA scheduled to take effect in July 2023 is the requirement to review assessment methods and how they are applied to identify biases or barriers. If biases or barriers are found, then reasonable efforts must be made to implement mitigation strategies to eliminate or reduce their impact.

Building on a Cultural Shift That Is Well Underway

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The recent changes to the PSEA support an even broader cultural shift toward accessibility, equity and inclusion that began several years ago. They build on other legislative changes and initiatives in this area, including the following:

  • amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act to add two new prohibited grounds of discrimination (genetic characteristics and gender identity or expression); 
  • the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service;
  • Nothing Without Us: An Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada, including the federal government’s commitment to hiring 5,000 people with disabilities in the public service by 2025;
  • the new Accessible Canada Act; and
  • the current review of the Employment Equity Act.

Practical Tools to Facilitate New, More Inclusive Hiring Practices

To complement the existing Federal Public Service Inclusive Appointment Lens tool —which provides hiring managers and HR specialists with some insights to consider at each stage of the appointment process to strengthen diversity, accessibility and inclusion in appointment decisions — the Public Service Commission (PSC) has recently released new tools. The following documents are intended to help them identify potential biases and barriers in their assessment methods, as well as to support them in adopting appropriate mitigation strategies:

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These two documents fulfill the requirement to identify, remove and mitigate potential biases and barriers before using the selected assessment methods.

Guiding Principles

From the outset, the Guide to Mitigating Biases and Barriers in Assessment offers the following two important definitions:

Bias: “Any belief or assumption within the context of an assessment method or its application that results in an over- or underestimation of the the qualifications of people from equity-seeking groups, due to factors unrelated to the qualifications being assessed in an appointment process.”

Barrier: “Anything related to the assessment method or its application that hinders the full and equal opportunity of members of equity-seeking groups to fully demonstrate their qualifications for a position in an appointment process.”

The guide goes on to describe six guiding principles for implementing fair assessment methods:

  • awareness of self and others;
  • accessibility;
  • validity and reliability;
  • standardization;
  • transparency; and
  • fairness.

These guiding principles are incorporated into the tool and apply to all parts of an assessment method and its implementation. The guide proposes the following three steps to identify, remove or mitigate biases and barriers:

  1. Describe the key elements of the assessment method.
  2. Identify any potential biases or barriers that may exist with this method.
  3. Implement strategies to mitigate biases and barriers that are suitable to the method and qualifications being assessed.

Concrete Examples of Mitigation Strategies

The Tool for Mitigating Biases and Barriers in Assessment provides a comprehensive list of common biases and barriers related to assessment methods, screening, written tests, interviews and reference checks. It also suggests possible mitigation strategies at all stages of the appointment process. Here are some examples:

  • Assessment methods: the assessment method does not accurately measure the qualifications required
    In these cases, it is recommended that more than one method be used to assess the qualifications required. For more information on this topic, please see the Flexibility in Assessment guidance.
  • Screening: requirement for recent, significant or continuous professional experience
    Here, it would be best to avoid using restrictive experience criteria by clearly defining the expectations of the required experience and why it is essential for the position.
  • Written tests: evaluations that are too long or complex
    To ensure that the assessment questions and materials are easily understood, they can be tested with a number of people from a variety of backgrounds, including incumbents.
  • Interviews: overemphasis on past work behaviours
    In these situations, individuals being assessed should be encouraged to consider all their previous experiences (e.g., volunteer activities and academic work in Canada and abroad).
  • Reference checks: limited number and choice of references
    In this case, it is recommended that the individual is given the opportunity to use other categories of references who can attest to their performance (e.g., colleagues, clients, partners, other stakeholders).

Finally, it may be encouraging to remember that this cultural change will make it easier than ever to recruit a diverse workforce into the public service. These enhancements to current practices are also likely to increase confidence in the staffing process, which is something to celebrate!

Other Useful Resources:

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New Practical Tools to Support You in Your Role and Development

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Professional development is not only about continuous learning, it’s also about making the best use of the resources available to you. As such, we are pleased to remind you of the following initiatives recently launched by the HRC:

PE Competency Development Framework

This Framework, built around the PE Competency Profile, is designed to guide you in your development as an HR professional. Participants who use the Framework will become increasingly independent and engaged in their role. They will also develop their strategic perspective, business acumen and organizational awareness.

NEW! Organizational Design and Job Evaluation Component

The Organizational Design and Job Evaluation component has recently been incorporated into the Framework. While the Framework tools are designed to support the competency development of HR professionals across all disciplines, specific annexes for Staffing, Labour Relations and the new Organizational Design and Job Evaluation streams are featured in the competency assessment and learning plan tools.

Visit the HRC GCxchange site to explore this new addition and the full suite of Framework tools!

Learning Plans Content Update

In early March 2023, the PE-01 and the PE-02 competency assessment tools and their associated learning plans were updated to remove learning products that had recently been archived by the Canada School of Public Service. Archived products were replaced with corresponding available products.

The Framework Can Benefit Students Too!

Summer often coincides with student hiring — a rich source of talent that offers many benefits to the organization. Why not take advantage of this time to start training student hires by leveraging the tools in the Framework? This will not only enable them to develop the skills necessary to become successful HR professionals, but it may also broaden their horizons to the many different career avenues in the human resources field. Consider implementing this best practice for supporting the next generation of HR professionals!

Looking to Recruit New PE-01 Talent?

A Fully Assessed PE-01 Classification and Labour Relations Advisor Pool is now available thanks to the collaboration of the HR Council, the Organizational Design and Job Evaluation Council and the Public Service Commission. There are only a handful of these highly competent candidates remaining, so if your organization is in need of new HR advisors, please follow the steps below – first come, first served!

  • Visit Careers in Human Resources and complete the form according to your needs.
  • Under ‘Additional Matching Options’ select ‘Organizational Design and Classification’ or ‘Labour Relations’.
  • Under ‘Assessment Board and Test Administrator’, indicate N/A.
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A pool of partially assessed PE-01 candidates across all disciplines is also available to meet your hiring needs! This diverse group of candidates possesses qualities and characteristics that will contribute to their success in the field of Human Resources Management.

Reminder: HR Resources at Your Fingertips!

Be sure to regularly visit the helloHR platform on the HR Council’s GCxchange site. You’ll find many resources to support you in your role and in your professional development, including the HR Resources Centre, which is sure to become one of your most valuable career tools!

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Coming Soon: HR Community Development

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Here’s a look at what we have in store for you in the coming months. Our team is working to :

  • update the Learning Roadmaps for HR Professionals, which will be offered in a new, more flexible and accessible format;
  • develop a job-aid to explain how all HR areas are interrelated and how they interact;
  • update the standardized job descriptions for the Informal Conflict Management System;
  • and much more!
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Community of Practice Spotlight

Did you know that there are now over 21 communities of practice (CoP) established across the various HR disciplines to facilitate collaboration towards a common goal of excellence in people management? Check out the incredible work of this edition’s featured CoP!

The People Management and Innovation Community of Practice is a collaboration hub facilitating people management innovation and experimentation efforts to uncover and scale best practices across the public service.

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Our Mission

Our mission is to build experimentation and innovation capacity in departments and agencies by sharing knowledge of various experimentation journeys, including their successes, challenges and pitfalls, in addition to developing best practices for collaboration and opportunities to scale for similar experiments across government.

Who We Are

The People Management and Innovation Community of Practice includes employees of all levels and is open to all public servants.

We maintain a membership list of permanent representatives that include behavioural scientists, human-centred designers, strategic foresight experts, HR data stewards, researchers, strategists, those working on the future of work and various people management functional areas, as well as members of the National Managers’ Community.

The Community is Co-Chaired by Julie Metcalfe, Director of Experimentation and Innovation at the Office of the Chief Human Resource Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Jason Lawson, Director of Strategic Planning at the Canada Revenue Agency.

What We Offer

  • We host presentations about cutting-edge innovation initiatives taking place across the public service. 
  • We provide opportunities to network, ask questions and meet with other innovation experts across the public service.
  • We invite behavioural scientists to our meetings to answer your questions.
  • We maintain a GCcollab site where you may post about the exciting projects your team is working on and share your best practices with others. 

Interested in Learning More?

We invite you to join the People Management and Innovation Community of Practice on GCcollab and participate in our bimonthly meetings throughout the year.

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What You Said: Innovation in Recruitment

Since the way we work is evolving, the way we attract and hire public servants must evolve too. This may involve our approach as it relates to recruitment systems, outreach to potential candidates, communication strategies, or any other creative and forward-thinking mechanisms that an organization may implement into their staffing processes to recruit qualified talent for today and for the future.

For example, at the HR Council, we implemented the use of an online scheduling system (e.g., TimeTap), which allowed assessment board members to create and edit their own schedule of HR Remote Simulations to participate in. This approach significantly reduced the level of administrative effort requored for coordinating the assessment board process. Our feedback has been shared with the Public Service Commission.

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On our GC webpages, we invited you to tell us about your best practices or ideas for innovation in public service recruitment. Here’s what you said:

“Capture data on each phase of the assessment process to evaluate candidate success rates and improve tools and processes and support data-driven decision-making (e.g., tracking probation outcomes; comparing performance evaluations with candidate assessments).”

“We organize information sessions for candidates. This information is found on the job poster and invites candidates to learn more about the position or the process.”

“We recently implemented a student bridging inventory in VidCruiter. The automation in this system makes the inventory management process so much easier; an inventory with over 800 applicants is manageable for one student working part-time. “

“Apply a GROWTH approach to processes by utilizing assessment information to consider candidates for more than one classification level and/or create partially assessed pools in which candidates can reapply and only need to be assessed on the competencies they weren’t successful on the first time.”

“For every decision related to a staffing process, consider whether it serves to attract candidates and provides them with opportunities to demonstrate their skills, or whether it is an administratively convenient practice that limits the candidate pool.”

“Adding the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport in letters of offer as a mechanism to support new employees in getting the support they need to succeed at work.”

“We need to improve the ways in which pools are used in the public service. Consider limiting the number of applicants and implementing expiration dates for pools to ensure that qualified candidates can be managed effectively and efficiently.  Additionally, we should be sharing pools across organizations to prevent applicants from having to apply multiple times for the same type of position.”

“Leveraging social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook groups) and MS Teams channels to promote visibility of job opportunities, both externally and internally. Appointment processes should be advertised based on the type of people being sought (e.g., through university and college career centres and career fairs).”

“We need to reduce and simplify the selection process in order to attract people from outside the public service. For example, including a standardized public service competency dictionary on external recruitment posters or featuring diverse employee testimonials on organizational sites. Career development programs should be leveraged to encourage people with little experience but great potential to apply for public service opportunities.”

“Have conversational interviews to allow for more opportunities to evaluate their skills, abilities and aptitudes, rather than what they happen to mention in response to a vague or limiting interview questions (e.g., “We’ve talked about solving problems in your current role, but I see on your resumé that you have also spent some time as a supervisor, can you tell me about how you solved problems in that role?”).”

“Innovating by eliminating barriers in the application process such as providing sample answer structures, reducing the number of essential competencies for entry-level positions and using non-traditional credentials to demonstrate potential over existing knowledge.”

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What’s New?

HR Council News

Given the current and upcoming context, potentially impacting the broad HR community, the May 25th Michelle C. Comeau (MCC) HR Leadership Awards Ceremony will be postponed to September 27, 2023 from 1:30 to 3:30 pm (ET). In the interim, we will take the occasion this spring to ensure to properly recognize our community for their significant and ongoing efforts – more to come.

We thank everybody who has submitted a nomination to date, however, considering this new situation, the HRC has decided to extend the deadline to submit further nominations to March 31, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. (PST). We are especially seeking nominations for the Career Contribution and Business Leader award categories.

The nomination guidelines, frequently asked questions and nomination forms can be found on the HR Council’s GCXchange page and GCconnex page. We thank you in advance for sending the fully completed nomination forms to the HR Council’s mailbox at: HRCouncil/ConseilRH@tbs-sct.gc.ca. We hope that you will not miss out on the opportunity to recognize the outstanding achievements of your colleagues!

An image of the HRC's new community-driven slogan: "A Collective Voice, A Collective Purpose: HR Excellence"

We are pleased to introduce the HRC’s new community-driven slogan: “A Collective Voice, A Collective Purpose: HR Excellence“! A big thank you to all of our community members who submitted their ideas through our December survey.

Are you interested in a career in Staffing and Recruitment?
Check out the NEW Exploring a Career in Staffing and Recruitment infosheet to learn more!

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HR Community News

Thanking Christine Donoghue and Welcoming Jacqueline Bogden

The HR Council would like to extend a very warm welcome Jacqueline Bogden, previously Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Emergency Preparedness and COVID Recovery), Privy Council Office, who became Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat, on February 27th , 2023.

On behalf of the HR Community, we would also like to extend our gratitude to Christine Donoghue, for her passionate leadership and indispensable vision as the Chief Human Resources Officer since 2021. We wish her all the best in her new role as Senior Official at the Privy Council Office and in her upcoming retirement.

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Did You Know?

30 Years of Support for an Engaged and Equipped Human Resources Community

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The Human Resources Council (HRC) is celebrating its 30th anniversary!

The HRC started 30 years ago with just 12 members as the Personnel Renewal Council (PRC), sharing a vision to represent the leadership of the Human Resources Community in the federal public service. It has now grown to 114 members from the core public administration, separate agencies, crown corporations, agents of Parliament and three partner central agencies (Canada School of Public Service, Public Service Commission and Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer).

Through its members, the HRC continues to be the voice of the Human Resources Community across the federal public service. It works collaboratively with all members of the broad and diverse HR Community to build capacities and strengthen connections.

Similar to its early beginnings, the HRC advocates on behalf of the HR Community, offering its perspective in discussions on initiatives, policy development and program management related to people management.

Looking to the future, the HRC will continue to offer many opportunities with which to engage, mobilizing our central agency partners and better equipping its members in leading excellence in human resources across the Federal Public Service.

30 years in and the HRC remains committed to representing a Collective Voice with a Collective Purpose of HR Excellence!

NEW Name for the HR Community of Practice Hub

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Human Resources Communities of Practice (HR CoP) have been coming together for many years to collaborate and work toward a common goal of excellence in people management. To better reflect the mandate and increasing engagement role of the Hub and the Regional Federal Councils, we are pleased to announce the new name for this important HR forum as The HR Community Engagement Hub. A special thanks to all participating members for their continued leadership, engagement, and collaboration towards HR excellence in the Public Service!

Various Hybrid Work Resources are Available to Support You

Interchange Canada

First launched in 1971, Interchange Canada is a talent mobility mechanism that facilitates temporary assignments of individuals in and out of the core public administration (CPA) of the federal public service to:

  • ensure transfer of knowledge and expertise;
  • build a better understanding and improve networks between the CPA and other business sectors;
  • contribute to the professional development of participants; and
  • meet organizational needs.
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Assignments are open to all employees of the CPA and to employees of other public, private and non-profit sectors, both in Canada and internationally. Participants must meet the requirements of the assignment and host organization. Assignments can be full- or part-time and can last up to three consecutive years. There is no minimum duration for an assignment.

Did You Know…?

  • Interchange Canada is a flexible and agile tool. It allowed the federal government to swiftly mobilize hundreds of public servants to support provincial and territorial pandemic responses and the Afghanistan Task Force with a blanket approval instead of individual assignment agreement for each participant.
  • Interchange Canada is not a staffing mechanism. Participants remain an employee of the sponsoring organization and continue to be subject to the terms and conditions of employment of their substantive position.
  • Deputy heads can:
    • approve assignment extensions up to two additional years beyond the three-year maximum;
    • approve salary refunds greater than 125% of the total compensation package associated with the group and level selected for the value of work to be performed. In other words, the 125% threshold is for deputy head approval and not a cut-off or maximum amount that can be refunded;
    • waive the minimum 6 month of employment requirement prior to participating in an Interchange assignment;
    • waive the two-year waiting period between assignments;
    • approve a refund of less than the full amount of the participant’s salary, employer-paid benefits, and/or relocation costs;
    • waive any or all provisions of the National Joint Council’s Foreign Service Directives (FSD) if the employee wishes to proceed with an assignment outside Canada without these entitlements, in accordance with FSD 3; and
    • provide relocation assistance for Interchange assignments of less than one year for executives, despite section 1.4 of the National Joint Council Relocation Directive.

For more information, employees in the core public administration can contact their departmental Interchange Canada liaison officer (EX and NON-EX contacts). Employees from external organizations can contact the Interchange Canada team at interchange-echanges@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

Reminder: Collective Bargaining Process in the Core Public Administration

This spring will continue to be a busy time for collective bargaining across the public service, with 26 of 28 bargaining units in the Core Public Administration currently in negotiations. 

Information on the collective bargaining process and much more is available on Canada.ca’s collective bargaining pages. 

Are you familiar with your collective agreement? You can access it online to find out more about the terms and conditions of employment of each occupational group.  For up-to-date information on the negotiation status of your bargaining unit, visit the collective bargaining update page regularly. You can also read the frequently asked questions about collective bargaining in the core public administration to learn more. 

#GCMentorGC

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Have you heard of the Interdepartmental Mentorship Community of Practice?

This CoP is a place for individuals to connect with others working on mentoring files to collaborate and share effective practices and common issues with mentoring programming across the public service. For more information, or to connect on anything mentoring, please reach out to Justine Reynolds and/or Emily Smith.

Check out their listing of useful resources:

Busrides

Busrides is a product of the CSPS Digital Academy, and a destination created to deepen your understanding of everything digital and government. Check out their latest blog: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Explained.

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What’s Upcoming?

HRC Events

March 28th – HRC SmartShop: Overview of the Evaluation of Assessments Related to section 36(2) of the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), organized in partnership with the Public Service Commission and intended for the HR community. The objective is to highlight the effect of the PSEA changes on assessment processes, as well as to identify and mitigate the impact of potential biases on barriers in assessment. 

Register now!

April 5th – HRC SmartShop – The GC Workplace Accessibility Passport: Facilitating the accommodation process for persons with disabilities

This Human Resources Council SmartShop, organized in partnership with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHRO) and Office of the Public Service Accessibility (OPSA), is open to the entire HR community, to better understand:  

  • How the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport can facilitate a timely duty to accommodate (DTA) process for persons with disabilities and how it can be used to proactively identify and remove barriers.
  • How Human Resources professionals, including Labour Relations, can support managers in creating inclusive, respectful and accessible workplaces. 

Register now!

Other Events of Interest to the HR Community

March & April Workshops – Amendments to the PSEA: Application of the New Requirement

The Public Service Commission is also offering workshops and information sessions to support organizations preparing to implement changes related to the amendments to the PSEA.

March 28, 2023 – Artificial Intelligence Series: Unpacking ChatGPT
This event will unpack the benefits and risks of ChatGPT, and dig into the opportunities and limits the technology presents, including responsible AI considerations.
1 hour | Webcast

April 5, 2023 – The Hybrid Workplace Series: Navigating Challenges and Embracing Change in the Hybrid Workplace
This fifth event in the Hybrid Workplace Series provides an opportunity to examine the changes currently underway and reflect on the experience of transitioning to a hybrid work environment, which is new for many federal employees.
1 hour | Webcast

Important & Commemorative Dates

A promotional image of the 25th edition of Les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF) depicting two people smiling and holding masquerade masks with confetti falling around them.

The Language Portal of Canada is a proud partner of the 25th edition of Les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF), which will be held from March 1 to 31, 2023. This year’s theme, “Celebrations,” is a great opportunity to showcase the Francophonie across the country and to promote Francophone culture and traditions in all their diversity. 

March 31 – International Transgender Day of Visibility

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Contact Us

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Do you have any HR-related questions, news or initiatives that you would like to share in the next HRC Newsletter?

We always love hearing from the community!

Get in touch with our team at: HRCouncil/ConseilRH@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

Don’t forget to follow the HRC on GCXchange for the latest updates!

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Never miss an HRC Newsletter again!

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