New Direction in Staffing and GC Cloud – cures to outsourcing?
In 2016, the federal government introduced a suite of reforms to staffing policies under the New Direction in Staffing (NDS) and launched the Free Agents pilot, which seeks to better mobilize expertise within the public service. Since their introduction, early results indicate that further staffing reforms are needed while models like the Free Agents pilot may be a solution to the government’s growing reliance on outsourcing.
New Direction in Staffing: benefits remain to be seen
The NDS delegates much of the authority over staffing decisions from the central staffing authority, the Public Service Commission (PSC), to the departments and agencies. The NDS is intended to provide:
- more variety in hiring processes
- agile approaches to staffing and policies
- more room for managers to apply their judgment when staffing
- an increased focus on outcomes, including the quality of the person hired, and less on process1
These reforms give managers the ability to customize their staffing approach and was thought to improve their ability to attract new talent while reducing the time it takes to staff new positions.
If the NDS did in fact make staffing easier for managers, a decline in “time to staff” should have followed. While there have not been any official estimates of “time to staff” since the implementation of the NDS, in 2018 the President of the PSC, Patrick Borbey, indicated that more than 2 years after the implementation of the NDS “time to staff” may have actually gotten worse. He stated “time to staff” remains unacceptably long at 198 days, roughly 3 and a half days longer than the 2009 estimate of 194.6 days2.
The NDS has also not simplified staffing. In the 2018 Staffing and Non-partisanship survey the overwhelming majority of managers surveyed, 88% report that staffing remains burdensome, 62% indicate that it is still too slow, while only 46% believed that the NDS made staffing simpler3.
Even more troublesome is that the largest change in staffing outcomes since the implementation of the NDS has been an increase in the number of appointments made without an advertisement to the general public. Between 2015 and 2017, non-advertised appointments increased from 34% to 47%4. The commission admits that before the NDS, “a preference for advertised processes was established” while after, it was found that “the PSC no longer sets a preference and leaves deputy heads with the discretion to determine the appropriate balance between advertised and non-advertised processes.”5 The rise in unadvertised positions since the NDS, means that more appointments are being made on “who you know basis” and not on considerations of merit, transparency and diversity6.
The NDS has not reduced “time to staff” or provided a better channel for attracting new talent into the public service as it was intended. On the contrary, “time to staff” may have increased under the new regime while relaxed staffing rules allow managers to fill more positions without proper competitions. Although the NDS is a recognition that the staffing system needs to be fixed, it does not improve the areas of staffing that are driving outsourcing.
Innovative staffing models may be a cure to outsourcing
Beyond attempting to improve the current staffing system, the government is developing an entirely new model of structuring the government workforce. The nature of work in the public service, especially in a digital age, has become more and more project-based. This has been one of the main causes of the government’s growing reliance on outsourcing. The Government of Canada Talent Cloud (GC Talent Cloud) and the Free Agents pilot were created to organize skills and talents within the public service to deliver internal talent to departments doing project-based work. The cloud-based free agency model, at the core of these programs, could provide a viable alternative to outsourcing driven by project-based work.
The GC Talent Cloud, currently in the design phase, “aims to become a validated, searchable repository of cross-sector talent” where “workers have access to rights, benefits and union representation while retaining the flexibility to choose work inside and outside government7.” GC Talent Cloud advertises term positions and allows employees to string together project work while maintaining their benefits and pension. The talent cloud has potential to better match the resource needs of managers with skills already available within the public service.
The 2016 Free Agents pilot, hopes to be a proof of concept for the GC Talent Cloud. The program allows managers access to a pool of pre-vetted, highly skilled public servants for specific expertise on short-term projects. This model reduces the need for managers to look outside of the public service when they require specific skills on a project. Free Agents can be mobilized quickly and at a far more predictable cost than IT consultants.
This pilot also upholds the principles outlined by the Public Service Employment Act and Employment Equity Act because the entry point into the public service follows the staffing process. This pilot seeks to better mobilize the diverse talent that already exists within the public service. While this is a promising solution for the reliance on IT consultants, this model could also be used to fill temporary resource gaps that are often filled by temporary staff.
During the first year of the pilot, Free Agents were mobilized on 42 projects across 20 departments working in policy development, communications, science and research, and computer programming. 90% of managers reported being satisfied with the performance of free agents, and 84% reported that they would hire a free agent for another project8. The early success of the pilot has received praise from Canada’s Privy Council9, the OECD10 and was featured in the 2018 World Government Summit’s Edge of Government exhibit11.
The GC Talent Cloud and Free Agents program are far from being fully implemented across the public service. However, the concept, and early successes of the Free Agents program show that the government could be capable of providing cutting edge services without an unhealthy reliance on outsourcing.
Read PIPSC’s policy recommendations to ensure staffing in the public service is equal and equitable and to stop outsourcing and build an open, effective and transparent public service.
[1] The Public Service Commission.New Direction in Staffing – Message from the Public Service Commission to all Public Servants. 2017.
[2] House of Commons.Improving the Federal Public Hiring Process. p. 25. 2019
[3] Public Service Commission.Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey: Report on the Results for the Federal Public Service. 2018.
[4] Ottawa Citizen.Non-advertised appointments on the rise in the public service. 2019.
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] OECD. Embracing Innovation in Government: Global Trends 2018. p. 72. 2019.
[8] Ibid
[9] Government of Canada. Report to the Clerk of the Privy Council: A Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service. 2019.
[10] OECD.The Innovation System of the Public Service of Canada. 2017.
[11] World Government Summit.Edge of Government 2019. 2019