CANADA
New data has revealed that an increasing number of Canadian Federal Public Servants are being appointed directly to positions that have never been advertised as vacant.
Since the launch of a new policy framework for Public Service staffing in 2016, the use of non-advertised processes for internal appointments has expanded dramatically, raising concerns about fairness and transparency.
According to data released by the Public Service Commission (PSC), the Federal Public Service’s staffing watchdog, 34 per cent of internal appointments — promotions and acting appointments longer than four months — were non-advertised in 2015-16.
Two years later, in 2017-18, that figure had increased to 47 per cent.
At the executive level, the increase was even steeper. Between 2015-16 and 2017-18, non-advertised processes jumped from being used in 28 per cent of internal appointments, to 55 per cent.
Statistics were not provided on the use — or not — of advertisements for external hiring.
The PSC said the increase in non-advertised appointments could be linked to its New Direction in Staffing policy of 2016.
Before that it had an established policy that most vacancies should be advertised. Now “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”.
“At its core, the New Direction in Staffing represents a shift away from a focus on rules to a system that encourages managers to exercise their discretion when making staffing decisions, while meeting the simplified policy requirements in ways adapted to their organisations,” the PSC said.
However, Public Service employee representatives are raising red flags, expressing concerns that the policy’s provision for flexibility was leading to opaque and inequitable hiring and promotion practices, and was demoralising for many Public Servants.
President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, Debi Daviau (pictured) said she was hearing from her members that Deputy Heads basically had a free and clear right to make a choice on the process.
“They don’t have to consider anything other than their convenience and getting what they want,” Ms Daviau said.
Ottawa, 12 February, 2019
