Daphne Meredith told a meeting of human resources specialists this week that federal managers face the “tension” of competing values as they prepare for the Conservatives to announce their deficit-reduction plan. They have an anxious workforce wanting to know where the axe will fall and a government that has shrouded information about those cuts in cabinet secrecy.
As important as it is to manage public servants facing layoffs with respect and fairness, the government’s needs come first, she said.
She pointed to the newly-released values and ethics code for the public service, which lays out five golden rules or values that all public servants must live by in doing their jobs — respect for democracy, respect for people, integrity, stewardship and excellence. Public servants must sign the code as a condition of employment and can be fired or disciplined if they breach it.
She said tough decisions such as the anticipated downsizing creates “tensions” between values that have to be worked out. Departments are wrestling with how fast they can get information to anxious public servants about the fate of their jobs. At the same time, the government has come under fire from opposition parties for the lack of transparency around the widely anticipated cuts.
“How do we balance the need to get the news out and help them (employees) work through it with respect for the government to actually finalize its intentions and be able to communicate a plan based on messaging it wants to promote?” Meredith said at conference held by the Conference Board of Canada on the changing public-sector workplace.
“In this case, we respect the democratic values. It is the government’s plan going forward. We need to give them the respect of finalizing its plan, communicating its plan before we deal with the employees affected.”
The Conservatives have offered few details about the spending and operating review, which will be announced in the upcoming budget. Critics argue this has silenced debate on what programs and level of service Canadians are prepared to give up in the name of austerity.
Last week, Treasury Board directed all departments to refrain from providing any details on the cuts in their annual plans and priorities reports to Parliament. Treasury Board President Tony Clement distanced himself from the directive, which he said was sent by bureaucrats. The directive was also a reversal of an earlier order that the reports, normally released in March, will be delayed until May and must include details on the cuts.
Ralph Heintzman, a research professor at the University of Ottawa who headed Treasury Board’s first office of values and ethics, basically agreed with Meredith that the job of a non-partisan public service is to support the government.
But once decisions about cuts have been made, Heintzman said, employees should be treated with respect and fairness as outlined in the code.
“If the code says people are important, then you don’t slough them off,” he said. Loyalty is a two-way street and if public servants are expected to act in a way that (is) loyal and supportive of the government, then it works the other way around. The government should show loyalty to employees and treat them with consideration when they are being laid off.”
Meredith said departments don’t have to leave employees in the dark until the details of the reductions are announced. She said they can explain to their workers the process for managing layoffs, how managers will decide what jobs to cut. She said unions should be in the loop and briefed on the processes that will be used in making decisions about who stays and who goes.
The workforce adjustment policy offers affected employees various options to cushion the blow of layoffs. They can opt for cash payments to leave, accept retraining, swap with employees who want to leave or go on a priority list to find another job in the public service.
Many wonder if the government will suspend any of these options as part of its downsizing plan.
But Meredith said restraint is just one of the forces that will dramatically change the public service, what it does and the way it manages its workforce.
Technology, social media and a 24/7 news cycle are forcing public servants to respond to issues and problems faster. On top of that, the bureaucracy is undergoing a major demographic shift as baby boomers leave. Half of today’s employees joined the public service over the past 10 years. Meredith said the influx of young workers bring new and much-needed skills, but managers also have to train them and help bridge the knowledge and experience gap left by those who retired.
She said Public Service Modernization Act that was supposed to transform the public service and bring its hiring and firing practices into the 21st century hasn’t worked. A recent review of the legislation showed the problem lies with the culture of the public service, not the law. She said “culture change” has to be “hardwired” into the public service.
“No clause in an act is going to do that for us. It has to come from within.”
She said the government is reducing the number of rules and policies governing human resources and has a plan to overhaul the back-office so departments are working on a common system and business process by 2015.
“By 2015, I wager here and now that we will have a wholly different way of doing human resources in government just because of what we are doing in the back-office,” she said.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: KATHRYN MAY
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