Human Resources and Public Service Renewal

An effective human resource strategy is critical to ensuring that the department’s Strategic Outcomes are met, ensuring resources are well aligned with the strategic outcome areas, and ensuring that staff have the knowledge, skills and abilities to effectively achieve results.  As part of its commitment to management excellence, the department has developed an integrated departmental Human Resource Plan (see Annex E) that supports the strategic alignment of staff and Strategic Outcomes, identifies the key human resource issues and challenges facing the department, and commits to implementing action to address these issues and challenges.  The plan is fully integrated into corporate business planning, and is framed against the department’s Strategic Outcomes and Management Accountability Framework responsibilities.

WD’s staff complement of 403 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions are allocated against the department’s Strategic Outcomes as follows:

Strategic Outcome	2008–2009 FTE Allocation
Entrepreneurship and Innovation	195
Community Economic Development	122
Policy, Advocacy and Coordination	86
Total	403

Among the commitments detailed in the department’s Human Resource Plan, in the coming year, WD will assess its internal capabilities with respect to the priority areas of technology commercialization, trade development, research and development based clusters and value-added resource processing with a view to developing strategies to enhance our analytical capabilities in these areas to better support the Corporate Business Plan. 

As part of assessing and managing the human resource implications of achieving specific departmental business outcomes, the department is also mindful of the need to focus on overall Public Service Renewal as part of a government-wide public service agenda.

There are three overarching human resources realities that inform WD’s Corporate Business Plan:

• WD faces a renewal challenge, given the demographics facing the department and the public service as a whole.
• A refocused learning and development program will be important to WD’s renewal effort.
• The successful execution of WD’s business and human resource plans hinges on attaining management excellence throughout the organization and strengthening systems of accountability.

With this in mind, the department’s Human Resources Plan identifies six WD priorities for HR renewal:

1. Succession Planning
2. Outreach and Recruitment Initiatives
3. Building Strategic Leadership Capacity in Support of Business Goals
4. Accountability for Results
5. Human Resources Toolbox Initiative
6. Strategic Learning Needs Analysis

Intended Deliverables (including, but not limited to):  all regions implement the succession planning initiative, development of a new database for learning systems, implementation of a new internship program, commitment to hire new indeterminate professionals, assessment of the enhanced orientation program, new outreach material developed, rollout and implementation of core competencies, improved training and development for staff, and improved performance management systems.

Indicators of Our Success:  are specifically identified in the department’s Human Resources Plan (Annex E)