Scan of WD's Human Resources Environment

The organization, management structures and processes for decision making within WD are described in detail in the Corporate Business Plan. This section of the Human Resources Plan deals specifically with the Human Resources organization.

The Director of Human Resources manages the Human Resources function in WD, with generalist services provided by a Human Resource Consultant in each region. Centralized compensation and classification services and functional specialist support are delivered from headquarters in Edmonton. All Human Resources Consultants are authorized Authority Delegation specialists. All WD managers completed Authority Delegation Training in advance of the December 31, 2006 deadline and received sub-delegation in Human Resources management from the Deputy Minister. All incoming managers also complete ADT and internal training requirements before receiving sub-delegation from the Deputy Minister. An organization chart for Human Resources is included in Annex 12.

3.1 WD’s Organization

As a western-based department, WD is headquartered in Edmonton and headed by a Deputy Minister, whose office is also located in Edmonton.  WD’s workforce is located in the four western provinces and in Ottawa.  Four headquarters Directors General have accountability directly to the Deputy Minister in Audit, and Evaluation and Ethics, Corporate Services, Policy, and Finance and Programs.  An ADM heads each of the regional operations and the Ottawa liaison office with accountability to the Deputy Minister.  A high-level organization chart for the department is included in Annex 21.

3.2 Workforce Analysis

A large amount of information on the WD workforce is available for analysis. Detailed statistics are included in the Dashboard Report contained in Annex 3. To inform this plan, we know that at the beginning of February 2008:

• there were a total of 453 employees in the department with 393 having permanent or indeterminate status;
• 87 per cent of the workforce consisted of indeterminate/permanent employees;
• the average employee age is 44.4;
• Executive (EX) group average age is 51;
• Commerce Officers (COs) account for approximately one third of the WD workforce;
• up to 34 per cent of CO population and 59 per cent of EXs are eligible to retire within the next 5 years;
• WD’s current turnover rate is 16.2 per cent, an increase from the 2006–2007 rate of 13.3 per cent;
• women comprise 60 per cent of the WD workforce, with good gender balance at EX levels;
• 98.4 per cent of employees meet the bilingual requirement of their position;
• internal representation of all employment equity groups exceed work force availability; and
• Aboriginal representation at the Executive level requires attention.

This data, along with the internal and external environmental scans that follow, suggest the key priorities for WD’s Human Resources work plans.

3.3 Internal Scan

Given the recent visioning exercise undertaken in 2006–2007 and the confirmation of the department’s priorities for 2008–2009, WD does not anticipate any major shifts in strategic directions over the short to medium term that would significantly impact Human Resources planning. The visioning exercise has aligned our program focus with the priorities of the Government and that alignment is expected to endure for the three-year planning horizon of this plan.

Similarly, with respect to funding, WD has secured A-Base funding until March 31, 2010, which provides reasonable levels of certainty for Human Resources planning purposes. This budgetary and policy stability is fairly new to the department and provides a favourable environment for WD to deepen our capabilities and to improve our effectiveness as an economic driver in the West.

The labour-management environment in WD is productive as well and this plan assumes that both parties will continue the excellent tradition of dialogue and cooperation that has been evident in recent years.

The internal scan, in summary, suggests that the Human Resources issues identified in the workforce analysis and the needs associated with our business goals can be addressed within a relatively stable planning environment. However, in the WD Risk Management Assessment, an area of risk related to Human Resources was identified. This risk relates to recruitment, retention, succession planning and training. The work plan in Section 5 identifies strategies to mitigate these risks.

One specific area of potential risk is the future direction of the Western Canada Business Service Centres, which receive separate funding through Industry Canada and will need a funding renewal decision over the next year to eighteen months. WD employees are located in some of these centers (particularly Manitoba). WD is carefully monitoring this situation.

3.4 External Scan

As a western-based department, WD draws most of its labour force from the West. As a consequence, our Human Resources planning is impacted by regional labour market conditions.

Western Canada is in a period of sustained growth and this is likely to continue over the medium to long term. Skills shortage abound and wages are rising as a result. Real estate prices in western cities are rising rapidly as well which presents relocation challenges. While the federal public service (and WD) are clearly seen as quality employers, as evidenced by the very large numbers of qualified applications received for most advertised positions, we will be challenged to recruit and retain the most qualified.

As noted in the workforce analysis, the Commerce Officer (CO) group makes up about one-third of our employee base. In some of the smaller markets such as Saskatchewan and to a lesser extent Manitoba, there is a relatively small pool of COs within the federal family from which to draw. The cultures within the public and private sectors are quite different making it sometimes difficult to draw CO employees from the private sector. For a variety of reasons, it can sometimes be difficult to draw CO employees from the private sector.

There is limited market availability of experienced staff in areas where functional expertise and specialization is required, especially in the areas of audit and evaluation, human resources, finance, and corporate administration (contracting, ATIP, and procurement). This creates difficulty in planning for anticipated retirements or adding internal capacity to meet business needs.

Western Canada is home to a majority of Canada’s Aboriginal population. This population group is far more youthful than the general population and frequently experiences low levels of income, employment and marketable education and skills. The population is migrating more from rural and remote reserves to urban environments, particularly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. There is intense competition from all levels of the public sector and, to an increasing degree, the private sector for highly qualified Aboriginal staff.

Similar competition takes place for qualified employees that are bilingual in French and English. The pool in Western Canada is small compared to other parts of the country and WD has had difficulty recruiting for bilingual positions in some areas of the West and in some positions. This situation seems to become more difficult moving as you move from East to West. WD has developed a strong relationship with the official languages minority community in language community in Western Canada and places a high priority in this area.

In general, recruitment to WD is not an issue for entry-level positions. However there are issues with recruiting at more senior levels in the department, in particular in BC and Alberta.

The degree to which the federal Public Service is competitive with the provincial and municipal governments varies across the West. This situation also worsens as one moves from East to West. In Manitoba, federal salaries are generally higher than those of provincial and municipal counterparts. In Saskatchewan, salaries are relatively at par. In Alberta, salaries are no longer competitive with either municipal or provincial governments. In BC, this is also the case with certain employee groups. However, in all four western provinces, WD is seen as having a good workplace with interesting work and broad scope to contribute to growing and developing the economy. This helps us in attracting employees.

The retention issue in the western provinces is somewhat more complex, especially in BC and Alberta. Employees who join WD from outside the federal Public Service come with the expectation that they will have advancement opportunities relatively early in their careers. This is particularly true for younger employees during their first five years with WD. Because WD has such a flat management structure, there are limited possibilities for promotion. When these employees realize this, they tend to leave for other, larger organizations where there are opportunities to advance. The challenge for WD is to find ways for newer employees to receive a variety of interesting, challenging work experiences and developmental assignments to keep them engaged while respecting longer-term employees who would also like to advance within the organization.

WD’s Ottawa office faces intense competition for qualified staff as well. The Ottawa environment is very dynamic regarding Public Service career opportunities. Certain professional groups (Economists, Communications Professionals) are in high demand and as a result, the Ottawa office is often a stepping-stone. Recruitment and retention issues are also acute for Human Resource professionals and Finance Officers in Ottawa and the West. Retention is an issue but similar to the case with WD’s western offices, the good work environment at WD is attractive to potential employees. In Ottawa, federal salaries are still competitive with provincial and municipal salaries.