Executive Summary
Ontario’s 2002-2003 Civil Service Commission Annual Report examines many human resources (HR) management initiatives that the Ontario Public Service (OPS) has been leading in its pursuit of organizational excellence. Set within the context of a vision of being the best public service in the world and a workforce renewal and revitalization agenda, the report looks at several phenomena that are shaping organizational culture, changing the way employees feel about their organization and, ultimately, ensuring the OPS’s ability to achieve public-service excellence.

The report shares ideas about how the OPS is nurturing an innovation culture, building on many successes as well as laying out a plan that ensures it sustains its enterprising momentum. The report also covers strategies and activities that are inspiring an environment of recognition and positive reinforcement, in part, to cultivate the innovation culture. Not surprisingly, an interesting trend emerging is the increasing emphasis being placed on the relationship between individual effort or contribution, rewards and their positive impact on organizational performance. The introduction of a pay-for-performance framework is clear evidence of this relationship’s strategic importance.

The report builds the case for ensuring effective leadership is in place today and in the future. Effective strategies for managing executives are discussed. Planning for future capacity, including leadership, has been an OPS priority for the past few years. A maturing HR planning agenda is reviewed, as is an emerging planning hybrid that focuses on the human resource needs of specific occupations. HR planning for middle managers is profiled, along with a proposed management development program. Additionally, as unions and associations represent approximately 85 per cent of the OPS workforce, working with bargaining agents to build relationships characterized by mutual respect is a priority.

Other high-impact workforce management activities reviewed include: the budding communities of practice phenomenon, which not only stimulates organizational learning, but also enables horizontal working relationships enterprise-wide; employee surveying and its critical role in fostering a positive and healthy workplace environment; and strategies that ensure the OPS can attract and retain the best talent needed to deliver business results.

Program evaluation was a key priority in 2002. Human resources (HR) programs and policies are being evaluated within a rigorous framework. The report provides an overview of the strategy and its current status.

International events such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and the recent SARS health crisis have prompted the OPS to examine its emergency preparedness. The report shares insights into how the organization has strengthened its ability to anticipate and respond to crises.

The report concludes with a brief discussion of the emerging priorities that will engage the OPS in the months and years ahead.

INTRODUCTION
In a year of significant challenge, the Ontario Public Service (OPS) has demonstrated its ability to respond quickly and effectively to a wide range of organizational issues and crises. A long-term human resource strategy to renew and revitalize the organization is helping us foster a workforce that is innovative and well-equipped to deliver quality public service. Significant progress has been made through an integrated network of workforce management practices that emphasize up-to-the-minute human resources strategies and programs; early dispute resolution and improved labour relations; business continuity during times of crisis; and a workplace culture that recognizes and rewards innovation. Our 2002-2003 Annual Report highlights how the OPS is building a vibrant and versatile organization to support the capacity for delivering quality service to the people of Ontario.

OPS VISION AND WORKFORCE AGENDA
For the past several years, the Ontario Public Service (OPS) has been pursuing an ambitious restructuring and renewal agenda, working toward its vision of becoming a public service that is the best in the world, focused on its core businesses and delivering quality services, as a smaller, more responsive, more integrated and accountable organization.

To help the OPS become and remain the best public service in the world, the organization’s current focus is on serving the people of Ontario by:

• Building a culture that fosters, recognizes and rewards innovation.
• Sharing a dynamic culture that attracts and retains the best and brightest employees.
• Working together across organizational boundaries to meet customers’ needs.
• Living the values of a professional public service.
• Delivering tangible results and protecting the public interest.

Achieving this vision is greatly dependent upon having a highly skilled workforce with the talent to anticipate and respond to emerging issues and urgent situations. This report illustrates how the OPS is pursuing organizational excellence through strategic investments in the current and future workforce.

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR A RENEWED AND REVITALIZED PUBLIC SERVICE
In 1999, a plan to renew and revitalize organizational capacity through the organization’s most crucial resource, people, was launched. The Human Resources Strategy for the OPS (HR Strategy) provided a foundation for responding to public-sector management challenges. It created a workforce-investment blueprint designed to foster government-wide HR management renewal, particularly in the areas of planning, learning and policy.

In the 2001-2002 Annual Report, a strategic framework of integrated renewal and revitalization outcomes was introduced that builds on the direction set by the HR Strategy. The framework will help to realize our OPS vision while remaining in alignment with business goals. This framework guides program development and implementation by providing the frame-of-reference for all people-management pursuits. It is intended to ensure that the OPS has constant workforce capacity to deliver high-quality service and consists of five strategic outcomes:

*Excerpt from OPS Renewal & Revitalization Outcomes. See Appendix C for full chart.

PRIDE IN QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICE
How employees and citizens feel about and refer to public service is a critical indicator of organizational well-being and effectiveness. The OPS is taking active steps to enhance its image as a quality organization, one that attracts and retains top talent and provides superior service to customers. Fostering a culture that stimulates and engages employees to achieve business results is central to this strategic outcome.

Employee Orientation
The OPS is developing a corporate, web-based orientation program to promote organizational values, instil pride in public service and support retention of skilled employees. Recent statistics from the Institute of Public Administration of Canada reveal that it can take up to three years for a new employee to become fully functional in the public service. Through a consolidated,
e-based orientation program, this timeframe will be reduced so that new employees will be more productive quickly, assimilate into OPS culture more easily and understand their public-servant role and contribution more effectively.
The orientation program will promote key corporate messages such as quality service, government and OPS structures, decision-making processes, corporate policies and values.
It will be designed specifically to:

• Supplement, support and enhance ministries’ current orientation programs and materials;
• Reduce duplication of information and effort across the OPS among various ministries’ orientation programs and websites, allowing them to focus on ministry-specific issues; and
• Link information to other websites, such as e-recruitment.

A Learning Advisory Panel (LAP) was established to provide input, advice and support for content and design processes. The LAP includes representation from line ministries and specialists in website design, communications, training and new hires. Program design is in the final stages. The goal is to launch the orientation program by fall 2003.

Innovation Culture
In “The Innovation Culture in the Ontario Public Service”(1) , Tony Dean, Ontario’s Secretary of the Cabinet, acknowledges the OPS’s capacity for innovation. He notes "the challenges [we’re facing] have never been bigger or more complex, or come at us at such speed. But never before have we had such capacity to overcome traditional ministry boundaries, to share knowledge, and create collaborative, innovative policy solutions".

Author Elaine Dundon defines innovation as “the profitable/successful implementation of strategic creativity”(2) . In her model, she delineates three types of innovation – efficiency, evolutionary, revolutionary:

• Efficiency Innovation: identifying new ideas for improving what already exists. Strategy typically is to cut costs, reduce cycle time, improve quality, etc.
• Evolutionary Innovation: identifying ideas that represent something distinctly new and better.
• Revolutionary Innovation: radically new and better ideas that may, in fact, dismantle the existing structure of the organization and the marketplace (relatively rare).
  

The OPS has success in implementing all three types of innovation. The most frequent have been efficiency innovations, best evidenced through a wide range of electronically-enabled business improvements such as the recently-implemented Electronic Travel Expense Claims (ETEC). The OPS has also achieved a wide range of alternate service delivery outcomes, business clustering and occupation-based HR planning, examples of evolutionary innovation.

1. Framework for Action 2002 (The Secretary’s annual strategic message to the OPS, which communicates the OPS’s critical transformational agenda. The 2002 Framework for Action examines how the organization is shaping an innovation culture through such levers as e-government, working horizontally and knowledge management.)
2. Elaine Dundon, Seeds of Innovation (American Management Association, AMACOM Books, 2002).

A March 2002 customer satisfaction survey indicated that 71 per cent of recent users were satisfied with the OPS’s e-services.

In 2002, the OPS won international recognition for its innovations in governance from the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM). The award recognized achievement in four key areas:

• Using a citizen-centred approach by integrating services;
• Creating a virtual network to connect inspections, investigations and enforcement functions across ministries;
• Co-ordinating policy and planning in clusters of ministries; and
• Integrating the delivery of internal business support services.
  

The continuing challenge is to build upon such areas of excellence to achieve an enterprise-wide culture that supports innovation in all areas and at all levels. One way the OPS is responding to the challenge is by creating the OPS Innovation Fund. Resulting from collective bargaining with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) in 2002, this fund (along with the OPS Recognition Fund, discussed below) was created to recognize exceptional performance in the OPS. Through this fund, a government-wide culture of innovation will be developed by recognizing and rewarding employees’ innovative solutions for the issues facing the organization.

Currently in the design phase, the OPS Innovation Fund will be built on principles that ensure its integrity and ongoing effectiveness at supporting, rewarding and sustaining an innovation culture. Critical organizational development principles are being used in the program’s design, such as facilitated employee and bargaining-agent involvement, to create a process that will meet both enterprise and individual needs.

Recognition
In today’s competitive employment market, recruiting and retaining skilled workers is no longer just about money. Managers are thinking in terms of broader strategic rewards and rethinking how they can offer talented and highly-skilled employees the rewards that will help keep them engaged and focused on meeting strategic objectives. Strategic rewards embrace everything an employee values in the workplace, and cover both monetary and non-monetary incentives, including recognition.

Employee recognition can occur in different ways. Informally, employees are praised, honoured or encouraged spontaneously for everyday demonstrations of excellence, verbally, through a letter of appreciation, or by other means by a manager.

More formal recognition incorporates structured acts of appreciation that measure more long-term displays of excellence. In the OPS, the formal recognition program, Amethyst Awards, recognizes individuals, groups or partnerships that make exceptional contributions to public service in client service, innovation, valuing people, professional achievement or life-time achievement. The Quarter Century Club, another formal program, focuses on tenure of public service exceeding 25 years.

Many ministries have their own formal recognition programs. The Ministry of Natural Resources’ PRIDE program (People Recognizing Innovation, Dedication and Enthusiasm) is celebrating its fifth year of operation. It enjoys a high success rate due to extensive employee involvement in its design and implementation. Management Board Secretariat’s VOICE awards have been recognizing employee excellence for two years with high participation rates. The Ministries of Citizenship and Tourism and Recreation Discovery Award rewards best practices, best team, excellence in customer service, outstanding leadership / team player, spirit, and innovative risk-taking. A ‘Recognition Treasure Chest’ has been distributed to staff to support informal recognition by managers and peers. A number of other ministries, such as Finance and Labour, are currently developing their own recognition programs.

To stimulate further the recognition spirit, the OPS Recognition Fund is being established to:

• Complement existing formal and informal recognition initiatives enterprise-wide;
• Create a permanent recognition culture based on OPS values and principles; and
• Encourage and financially support managers in taking a leadership role in fostering a recognition culture.
  

Drawing on such principles as strategic alignment, best-practice fund operations, “recognition” as a core behavioural competency, and active employee involvement, the fund will help to drive renewal and revitalization outcomes by:

• promoting OPS values;
• inciting senior management championship;
• motivating employees and creating community spirit;
• supporting continuous learning and improvement; and
• enriching our employment value proposition to attract and retain skilled workers.

A critical success factor for the fund’s implementation is active employee involvement in the program’s design. Several design and consultation sessions with key stakeholders are being facilitated across the organization, including managers, employees, recognition co-ordinators and bargaining agents. Managers are being trained in the importance of recognition to increase awareness of employee recognition and its impact on business outcomes. Managers are also learning guiding principles and practical skills in everyday employee recognition, how to identify behavioural strategies, and to increase supports for a recognition culture.

DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP
Results-oriented leaders with strong people skills capable of shaping business direction and alignment with organizational objectives are essential to achieve the OPS vision. Through critical value-added processes, the OPS is proactively addressing the needs of leaders both today and in the future to advance the public service transformation agenda. Leaders are being equipped with the necessary supports to manage relationships with their local bargaining agents and restore workplaces after a lengthy labour disruption.

Executive Management
Building on an established compensation structure, the Centre for Leadership has initiated a salary survey with the goal of determining and reporting on how OPS deputy ministers and four classification levels of senior management jobs are positioned relative to comparable positions in the private sector, the broader public sector, other government jurisdictions and other management and professional groups within the OPS. In addition to salary, performance-based incentive ranges are being benchmarked as part of the survey. A similar survey has been conducted for the information technology executives, whose rate structure has not changed for five years.

The Centre for Leadership is also in the process of refreshing the senior management core competencies to include a greater emphasis on people-focused competencies. This activity is scheduled for completion this summer.
In addition to technical competencies, four critical leadership competencies were identified for information technology executives:

• Strategic communication
• Teamwork / collaboration
• Innovation / creativity
• HR / people management
  

These new competencies have been implemented and now are a fundamental component of the performance management process.

Middle Management Development
Middle managers are the largest management group in the OPS and, based on known demographics, there is a potential vacuum in filling management positions. Consequently there is an urgent need to develop a strategy for ensuring a ready and ongoing supply of qualified managers.

Specifically the management development strategy is aiming to:

• enhance the existing knowledge and skills of middle managers to improve business outcomes;
• co-ordinate management development activities to ensure consistent managerial training;
• support succession management for middle managers; and
• recognize the need for ministry-specific priorities in management development.

HR planning for middle managers is currently focused on creating and implementing a management development program for all 3,400 managers OPS-wide. Central to this program is the establishment of core middle-management competencies, which will form the basis of professional development for current and future middle managers. The proposed management development program is composed of four elements:

• Corporate learning and development
  • corporately-supported learning and development activities
• Career management and development
  • self-assessments, career mapping tools and succession management
• Individual learning and development
  • competency advancement courses, mentoring, coaching, self-study
• Ministry-specific learning and development
  • specialized activities unique to a ministry

Strategic HR Planning
The OPS has invested significantly in HR planning activities as an important component of the workforce management framework. The HR Strategy and a commitment to accountability in public service laid the foundation for the strategic emphasis now placed on a high-performing planning agenda. This allows measurement of how effectively business goals are being met, as well as progress toward the achievement of the OPS vision. The renewal and revitalization outcomes and related HR reporting requirements allow for a rollup of ministry results and achievements through HR plans. This helps provide an organizational snapshot of where the organization is and map progress from one year to the next.

Aligned with the broader business planning process, ministries develop two-year HR plans and report their progress annually. In 2002, ministries identified the following key workforce issues in their HR plans:

• capacity (workforce capacity, future skills gaps, staff strength, learning and development);
• organizational challenges (labour relations management, staff mobility, organizational flexibility); and
• attraction (to management, to the OPS, employer of choice, youth recruitment).

Many of the corporate initiatives currently under way address these issues – innovation, recognition, succession management, management development, e-recruitment, youth strategies, communities of practice, to name a few.

Ministries, as well, are actively engaged in activities to manage the challenges. The Ministry of Transportation has implemented Developing Leaders, an initiative for feeder pool employees that will provide participants with stimulating, challenging experiences to develop their leadership competencies.

The Ministry of Labour is building increased self-reliance and ownership for occupational health and safety and organizational wellness through the enhancement of an internal responsibility framework. The Ministry of the Environment is developing a consolidated recruitment strategy for high-demand, specialized skill-sets (e.g., hydrogeology, policy and microbiology).

Occupation-Based HR Planning
One challenge facing the organization is the size and diversity of the OPS – balancing corporate and local needs when the latter cut across more than 20 different business plans. Co-ordination of corporate planning and ministry initiatives requires continuous dialogue and consultation.

One way of meeting these conflicting demands is to enable and drive the emerging occupation-based approaches to HR planning. Several occupational groups (e.g. HR, information technology, finance, policy, communications and members of the inspections, investigations and enforcement community) have coalesced to generate strategic HR plans to meet their current and future workforce requirements, including learning needs. This planning hybrid is particularly effective at building a more highly skilled, flexible workforce because individual groups’ unique needs receive more attention than otherwise available in the larger planning process.

Occupation-based HR planning is an excellent example of working horizontally to break down traditional organization barriers and achieve a unified public service. This approach to resource planning has benefits for organizational performance, service delivery and long-term capacity to achieve business results.

Succession Management
In addition to the corporate succession planning process for the executive team (led by the Secretary of the Cabinet), the OPS is establishing an ambitious corporate approach to succession management that will build government-wide capacity to link individual employee potential with urgent organizational needs. Augmenting the attraction agenda, the need to invest in the current workforce is recognized for growing the required talent for high-priority occupations. The OPS will be introducing a Succession Management framework to encourage and advance the development of employees with leadership skills and other core capabilities.

Rebuilding Union-Management Relationships
The spring of 2002 began with a 54-day strike by the OPS’s largest bargaining agent, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents 61 per cent of the workforce. Regrettably, the strike caused many of the expected outcomes of a lengthy labour dispute: service disruption, excessive backlogs and difficult labour relations between the involved parties, as well as with other bargaining agents.

The organization has been making efforts to heal itself post-strike. In many workplaces, relationships are stabilizing and returning to a healthy working level. As unions and associations represent approximately 85 per cent of the OPS workforce, working with bargaining agents to build relationships characterized by mutual respect is a priority.

Continued implementation of recommendations from the Grievance Administration Project (GAP) is one of the key strategies being used to enable workplace restoration. Established in 1999 as an initiative to reduce conflict and generate a more productive labour relations culture, several recommendations were implemented in 2002-2003, including the following:

• Innovation and recognition funds, as highlighted earlier in the paper, are presently in the design stages. While they were negotiated into the OPSEU collective agreement, their application covers all OPS employees;
• Further integration of labour relations skills into performance management including key corporate commitments from deputy ministers and their management teams to develop and implement plans to strengthen management-employee relationships through joint labour-management training, such as joint training sessions in conflict resolution, aimed particularly at Stage Two of the grievance process and at the ministry-level grievance file review process;
• Labour relations training strategy that promotes greater use of mediation and alternate dispute resolution in the workplace, and that provides managers with stronger labour relations skills and encourages senior managers to adopt a more strategic approach to labour relations. The training strategy also includes a professional development component for labour relations and human resources professionals. It also includes specific training for labour relations interns.
• Workplace labour relations committees pilot project within three ministries (Attorney General, Finance and Transportation); these committees will resolve grievances at the second stage with the assistance of a Grievance Settlement Board vice-chair, when necessary. Joint training is a critical component of the initiative and it will include the use of interest-based approaches for dispute resolution. Joint training is scheduled for early in the next fiscal year, with an implementation schedule to be determined by the parties following training.
  

LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Fostering a culture in which people are actively engaged in their own learning is the foundation of organizational success. Over the past year, the OPS has been setting corporate learning priorities, building learning infrastructure and encouraging employees to take ownership for their professional development.

Corporate learning priorities identified for 2002-2003 included orientation, quality service, management development, e-government, organizational wellness, competencies and communities of practice. A variety of e-learning opportunities were explored, such as an online orientation program for executives, and online management training for the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, proclaimed in 2002.

Communities Of Practice
One of the more innovative learning investments the OPS has made is in the emerging communities of practice (CoPs). A community of practice is a group of people doing similar work who seek to learn from each other, share best practices and problem-solve together. They are usually informal groups who self-organize to address immediate problems and share solutions about their work. The formal occupation-based groups (discussed above) define long-term, profession-specific, human resource planning requirements and learning plans, while the CoPs action the plans’ articulated learning strategies.

Recognizing the organizational value of CoPs, four groups were funded through the Corporate Learning Fund. Information technology specialists in the justice cluster, human resources managers, human resources consultants and administrative support staff participated in a pilot designed to determine how to build, sustain and evaluate CoPs’ effectiveness. The project involved forming and supporting the groups with coaching and infrastructure, and developing a best practice tool-kit to aid other groups interested in creating a community of practice.

The pilot’s results are currently being evaluated and will be available later in 2003-2004. Preliminary observations reveal considerable value in this approach. This value has been recognized by the Secretary of the Cabinet, who has been an active champion of the administrative support staff’s community of practice. The result has been an increased profile for CoPs, creating greater support, identifying and eliminating barriers to participation (e.g. time conflicts), directing communities to issues of long-term organizational importance and developing links to other communities. Other groups (policy, organizational development and inspections, investigations and enforcement) have come together to form their own CoPs and are looking to the pilot to learn the key determinants of success.

MOTIVATING AND FLEXIBLE WORK ENVIRONMENT
A fundamental part of the workforce management strategy is building a community that fosters work and personal-life balance, flexible compensation and systems and tools that are motivating. Work-environment quality is a reliable barometer of organizational effectiveness, which is greatly dependent upon the extent to which employees are satisfied with the work they perform and their workplace environment.

Employee Surveying
Employee feedback is critical to the organization’s continuous improvement. Various types of surveys have been conducted across the organization to pinpoint employees’ attitudes toward and perceptions of the OPS as a place to work. Surveying is taking place on a corporate, business-cluster (e.g. justice, resource management, health services) and ministry-specific basis:

• Occupational groups, such as information technology, gather crucial attraction, retention and cultural details through employee surveys. Recent survey results reveal 89 per cent of information and information technology staff say their work is both interesting and challenging, a critical attraction and retention indicator. Surveying of this professional group has been in place for three years now. The response rate has increased from the 50 per cent benchmark to 62 per cent this year, indicating a good level of staff trust in the process and its outcomes.
• The Ontario Internship Program surveys interns to monitor program effectiveness. In 2002-2003, more than 75 per cent of interns indicated an intention to pursue ongoing OPS employment upon completing the program.
• Quality service practitioners collect data from employees (and our customers) to measure progress on quality initiatives. All ministries are conducting customer satisfaction surveys in compliance with a common measurement tool. This tool enables the OPS to measure its satisfaction levels against other jurisdictions.
  

Likewise, increased attention is being paid to the reasons employees leave the OPS. Standardized tools (questionnaires and interview forms) are now in place, which are designed to help ministries capture data regarding why employees are leaving and where they are going. The Ontario Internship Program, for instance, completes exit interviews with all interns leaving the program. Recent results show 100 per cent of interns surveyed would recommend the program to others.

As part of corporate requirements for the larger workforce, ministries will be reporting results relating to overall satisfaction ratings, i.e. “percentage of employees who leave voluntarily because they are not satisfied with employment in the OPS”. Data from various sources provide the opportunity to evaluate the experiences of different cohorts as they exit. This helps inform strategy development to ensure varying workforce needs can be addressed effectively.

A corporate employee survey is being developed specifically to track progress with workforce renewal and revitalization outcomes. This is the OPS’s first workforce survey of its kind. To maximize survey metrics, the initiative was tested with four ministries in order to:

• evaluate the survey as a valid and reliable tool for gathering employee data on
• retention and renewal issues;
• quality service initiatives;
• determine whether the survey design and delivery are effectively capturing employee perceptions on a variety of HR and quality service-related issues;
• test and solicit employee awareness of employment-related initiatives as well as the value employees place on such initiatives;
• find out if the survey tool will be appropriate for use throughout the OPS and what adjustments are necessary to improve its effectiveness;
• reduce “survey fatigue” by aligning the various surveys currently administered across the organization into one tool; andenable the pilot ministries and corporate partners to act on the recommendations.

Pilot results, analysis and recommendations are expected in late spring 2003. The intention is to launch the survey government-wide in early 2004. Senior management is committed to reviewing the survey’s outcomes, communicating them to employees and taking action when possible and appropriate.

Performance-Based Pay Systems
In addition to the corporate performance-based incentive award program in place for executives, the OPS has implemented a performance-based pay framework to ensure employee accomplishments for executives, managers and some bargaining groups are recognized. A new pay-for-performance policy for individuals in the Management Compensation Plan is now in place to manage performance outcomes. The policy is strategically aligned and integrated with the HR Strategy, renewal and revitalization framework and existing performance management structures, including the senior management model.

The OPS has also negotiated pay-for-performance plans with engineers (represented by Professional Engineers of Ontario), employees represented by the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO), lawyers represented by the Association of Law Officers of the Crown and the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association, and dentists and physicians represented by Association of Ontario Physicians and Dentists in Public Service. The AMAPCEO collective agreement also includes a re-earnable lump sum award for those eligible employees who have reached the salary maximum. These negotiated agreements represent leading-edge concepts as they apply to contractual agreements with represented staff.

CAPABLE AND INNOVATIVE WORKFORCE
The OPS recognizes that highly skilled, motivated employees are essential to building the OPS’ ability to anticipate and respond effectively to high public expectations for government services, and to meet the government’s agenda in a rapidly changing environment. The following initiatives highlight some key activities the OPS has been leading to secure its ability to build a capable and innovative workforce with best-in-class talent.

Competency Management
A competency-based approach to workforce management is essential for creating and sustaining a capable and innovative workforce. It forms the foundation for all essential Human Capital management such as staffing, learning, succession management and performance management, by clearly articulating what work is to be done and how the work is to be performed. Competencies are linked strategically to organizational results, and represent those underlying characteristics that lead to job success.

In 2002, a program review of competencies was completed to assess competency use OPS-wide, and to gather and evaluate best-practice organizations’ experience and advice. The review’s findings include establishing:

• corporate policy that sets direction and builds the framework;
• infrastructure that creates a simple, accessible approach to competency use with usable tools;
• organizational capacity that supports implementation (e.g., training, e-learning).

A draft policy has been completed which integrates competencies into such processes as recruitment and selection, learning and development, succession management, and, over time, performance management. Enterprise-wide consultation on the draft policy is complete; approval and implementation are expected in 2003-2004.

A key tool being developed is a corporately supported, interactive web site to enable competency development and self-directed learning. A core competency profile for middle managers will also be introduced. This profile will serve as a model for ministries to adapt for their own particular uses. As previously noted, corporate core competencies for executives (first introduced in 1997) are currently being reviewed and refreshed.

Staffing Innovations
Workforce demographics (below, as of March 2003) remain a significant challenge for the OPS:

• 70 per cent of the workforce are “baby boomers”, while only seven per cent are under 30 years of age. The average age of “classified” (or permanent) workers is 44 years;
• 15 per cent of classified employees are eligible to retire within five years; 35 per cent within 10 years; and 55 per cent within 15 years;
• The similarity in age between senior management and its traditional “feeder groups” creates difficulties for effective succession management and the essential transfer of organizational knowledge; and
• Critical skills shortages – professional, scientific, management and executive staff (knowledge workers) – are at the leading edges of the OPS age and retirement eligibility curves.

The data are particularly important because the OPS, like many other public-sector employers, is affected by a lack of profile in the marketplace, which sometimes undermines the ability to attract talented, new public servants. The government has responded with strategies to modernize recruitment practices. For instance, the government introduced legislative changes to modify limited term employment appointments (extending the initial maximum length from one to three years). Other changes include more flexible, delegated decision-making authority and a new appointment category, term classified, to help attract skilled, high-demand employees for time-limited and project-based work. Policy work is under way to introduce these new provisions; implementation is expected later this year.

Innovative staffing practices, such as “pool hiring” and career fairs, are being used to better support hiring managers while offering job candidates broad access to OPS employment. Enterprise-wide e-recruitment is also under development. A key e-government enabler, e-recruitment will help manage recruitment costs, provide quality service to the public, enhance competitive advantage and position the OPS as an attractive employer in the marketplace. System development is under way this year with a 2004 launch planned.

The organization also continues to develop strategies targeting younger workers to remedy the demographic crisis, such as heightening the OPS presence on Ontario campuses. Such tactics complement the successful Ontario Internship Program, an initiative that recruits 150 recent college and university graduates each year into areas of skill shortages. This fiscal year, 7,730 applications were received, a 25 per cent increase over the previous year. Over the past four years, 79 per cent of intern-hires were under the age of 30. As of March 31, 2003, 79 per cent of interns chose to continue their careers with the OPS.

HR PROGRAM EVALUATION:
COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The government has implemented a program evaluation strategy to ensure that its priorities and commitments are being met and that core businesses are delivered with fiscal responsibility, accountability and value for money.

Established in the 2002 Speech from the Throne and the 2002 Ontario Budget, the program evaluation strategy committed all ministries to evaluate 100 per cent of base expenditures over a four-year cycle. All programs are to be assessed against four criteria:

• core business relevance;
• effectiveness;
• efficiency; and
• affordability and sustainability.
  

A parliamentary assistants’ committee has been established to advise the Chair, Management Board of Cabinet on:

• the scope and design of key evaluation projects;
• the progress of evaluation projects against the MBC-approved evaluation schedules and/or any changes to the schedules;
• findings and recommendations on key evaluation projects and resources for redirection into government priority areas (per 2002 Ontario Budget); and appropriate communications strategies.
  Management Board of Cabinet then reports on all program evaluations to Cabinet.

Management Board Secretariat (MBS) has begun the evaluation of HR management across the OPS. In Phase 1, MBS has been evaluating its HR management policy, programs and services including HR planning, learning and development, staffing, workplace discrimination and harassment, health and safety, labour relations, compensation, benefits, pensions and the Ontario Internship Program. The evaluations focused on program design, policies, advice and interpretation of governing legislation and collective agreements, as well as the collective bargaining process.

The HR program evaluations are being finalized and will be submitted to the parliamentary assistants’ committee and to Management Board of Cabinet for approval in summer 2003. Implementation will follow approval.

In Phase 2, MBS will continue the evaluations joining with its partners in HR delivery – the Centre for Leadership, Shared Services Bureau and ministries – to complete the enterprise-wide evaluation of HR management.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY
Recent changes in domestic and international environments have now made potential targets of government buildings, information systems and officials. As an employer and provider of public services, the OPS has a duty to take steps to protect persons in its premises from injury or danger. Making sure measures are put in place to manage potential threats, natural disasters and other emergency situations is a vital step toward securing OPS employees, information, property and the safety of Ontarians.

During 2002-2003, the OPS made some important changes to internal security and emergency planning procedures that ensure the ability to respond to emergency situations. The government recently approved the establishment of a permanent emergency management program and Corporate Response Unit, complementing Emergency Management Ontario’s focus on emergency situations external to the OPS, to create a coordinated, comprehensive response to emergency situations in Ontario as they arise.

The new Emergency Management and Security Program will:

• help ministries fulfil their legal obligations to protect all staff and provide a healthy and safe workplace;
• co-ordinate security planning and emergency preparations across ministries in order to take quick action during a crisis;
• maintain linkages with other key organizations, such as Emergency Management Ontario, that help the OPS respond appropriately and quickly in emergency situations;
• facilitate compliance with code and regulatory obligations and Management Board directives;
• enhance the government’s ability to recover from business interruptions and provide continuity of services;
• establish a foundation to sustain the OPS’s ability to respond to and prepare for emergencies over the long term; and
• provide a link between physical security and information and information technology initiatives.

An Emergency Management and Security Unit has the responsibility to establish the program. It is also responsible for developing and implementing security strategies; co-ordinating emergency management; managing emergency training and audit functions; and undertaking emergency response for the OPS.

The Corporate Response Centre (CRC) provides internal OPS leadership in the event of an emergency. Led by the Secretary, Management Board of Cabinet, the CRC manages internal emergency responses that affect government buildings, staff, infrastructure or assets. During emergencies the CRC works with internal emergency management groups to provide information to ministries including direction related to the opening or closure of buildings or the treatment or management of staff.

An important component of the permanent emergency management program will be business continuity/recovery planning that will help ministries respond to any emergency that seriously affects government service-delivery. Part of ministries’ emergency management responsibilities will be to develop business resumption plans. The plans are essential to ensure that all aspects of ministry operations can resume activity within a reasonable period of time.

The early work undertaken by the program has focused on emergency response. Evacuation procedures were reviewed, tested and upgraded. As part of this work, the frequency of evacuation drills across the government was increased.

Security measures related to OPS buildings, information technology and personnel have also been reviewed. Having effective security is an important part of reducing or eliminating the potential for emergencies to occur. Levels of security are established by assessing the risk and vulnerability of the building, assets, and information.

Securing information and information technology is a critical component of emergency preparedness. An awareness/education/training program has been initiated for OPS employees that will ensure security is recognized as an essential part of their day-to-day activities. A comprehensive information security classification scheme is being developed that will enable implementation of consistent security measures to protect citizen and government information.

SARS
As fiscal year 2002-2003 drew to a close, the government declared Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) a provincial emergency that required immediate response. Ontario’s relatively high incidence rate for SARS, along with little understanding of its origin and treatment, meant increased anxiety for employees, especially those in direct service-delivery functions.

The government, as the employer, responded with a comprehensive strategy for the OPS that included:

• Staff redeployment to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Emergency Management Ontario;
• Regular public health liaisons;
• Addressing critical policy issues, such as employee health and safety and compensation;
• Ongoing dialogue with bargaining agents; and
• A vigorous communications strategy containing up-to-the-minute, e-based information and questions and answers aimed directly at staff concerns

Employees who interact with the public, such as customer service staff or driver examiners, raised specific concerns regarding dealing with people who may be infected with the virus causing SARS. Some of their main concerns were:

• How infectious SARS was;
• What the impact on compensation and benefits would be if they were required to be quarantined;
• The potential presence of SARS in the workplace;
• The ability to work from home if in isolation; and
• Dependent-care issues, particularly if an employee’s child’s school had been closed due to a SARS emergency.

Managers were immediately provided with training sessions to help them respond effectively to their employees’ concerns.

The experience with SARS has made clear the advantages of having a Corporate Response Centre linked to the Provincial Operations Centre to provide people with the information they need to ensure they are protected and focused on doing their jobs.

LOOKING AHEAD: 2003 AND BEYOND
The snapshot of activities presented here, in addition to existing or possible environmental events, offers a glimpse into what the workforce priorities will be for the coming months and years:

• innovation and recognition – foster the development of a culture shift across the OPS by supporting and recognizing the efforts of employees in the development of innovative solutions to issues facing the OPS, and for the OPS to be viewed as an organization that rewards employee performance;
• compensation – another key priority is the development of a corporate compensation strategy that recommends an appropriate composition of the total reward package to effectively attract and retain staff;
• e-recruitment – an organizational priority that will contribute to customer-centred public services by increasing employment accessibility, and enhancing the OPS’s profile in the talent market;
• mandatory retirement – moving forward with initiatives to support legislation to allow more seniors to remain active in the workforce, retiring at a time of their own choosing, not at age 65;
• collective bargaining – the OPS will continue working with its collective bargaining partners to address ongoing post-strike issues, as well as ramp up for upcoming negotiations. Over the next 18 months, the OPS will commence collective bargaining with six bargaining agents, beginning with essential service negotiations and contingency planning;
• emergency management framework – recent world events and health crises have sharpened the need to anticipate and respond to emergencies in a way that places top priority on employee safety and security.
  

CONCLUSION
Our quest for public service excellence is driven by a solid workforce strategy and frmed by a web of performance measures and outcomes. Through this strategy, the OPS is ensuring ongoing workforce capacity to deliver seamless, high-quality public services. In the face of unexpected and critical challenges, we remain resilient and steady in our focus. Strong leadership, well-crafted strategy and dynamic and innovative public servants should result in the Ontario Public Service being one of the best public services in the world.

APPENDIX A
OPS Values Statement

Members of the OPS are committed to upholding the highest level of service quality and public trust.

We are open and honest in our behaviour, creative and responsive to change, and committed to continuous self-improvement and integrity. We will demonstrate these values within the context of a professional and accountable public service.

We are fair, consistent and committed to effective relations with the general public, clients, customers, other staff within and across ministries, and with elected officials.

In our relationships with our partners and agents, we are clear about expectations and criteria for success.

Within the structures and processes of government, we will continue to exercise fiscal prudence; we value training and organizational learning; and we are committed to consistency and fairness in our treatment of colleagues and staff.

Under the terms of the Public Service Act and through an oath of allegiance and secrecy, public servants in Ontario are responsible to the public through the elected government and Ministers of the Crown.

Civil Service Commission Mandate
Management Board of Cabinet (MBC) has overall responsibility for managing the financial, human and physical resources of the Ontario Public Service.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) administers the Public Service Act, and reports to the Chair of MBC. The Public Service Act, the legislation covering employment in the OPS, defines the composition and establishes the statutory authority of the Commission as an independent authority and non-partisan body to oversee matters affecting employment and human resources management within the Ontario Public Service. The CSC and MBC ensure that appropriate administrative policies are in place to manage human resources.

An independent authority and non-partisan body, the Commission is responsible for ensuring the application of the merit principle within the public service, particularly in the senior management ranks.

Civil Service Commission Responsibilities and Authority
Since the delegation of its human resource management functions to the Management Board Secretariat, the CSC continues to operate as a tribunal. The tribunal carries out the drafting of regulations and has adjudicative powers which, in law, cannot be delegated.
More specifically, the responsibilities of the Commission are to:

• recommend regulations relating to a wide range of human resource management issues affecting salaries, classifications, recruitment, benefits and hours of work, subject to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council;
• approve appointments, overage appointments, and assignments;
• considering a wide variety of staffing and recruitment actions, including salaries for individuals and appointments at the SMG3 level. (Note: authority for recruitment below the SMG 3 level has been delegated to ministries.)

Some of the administrative matters, which regularly appear on the Commission’s agendas, include recommendation of regulations regarding the establishment of classifications and compensation for non bargaining unit staff, approval of senior appointments and contracts, and waivers of competition.

The Commission also acts as the Board of Trustees to the Ontario Government Employees’ Charity Trust.

The CSC carries out its mandate in cooperation with MBS and the Executive Development Committee (EDC). MBS provides policy advice and administrative support to Management Board of Cabinet. MBS also supports the government as an employer. For example, it establishes policies for managing the government’s human resources, based on the regulations administered by the Civil Service Commission.

Civil Service Commission Membership 2002-2003
Chair, CSC

Kathryn A. Bouey
Chair, Civil Service Commission
12th Floor, Ferguson Block
77 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1N3........327-3805

Vice-Chair, CSC

Linda Stevens
Deputy Minister and
Associate Secretary of Cabinet, Centre for Leadership
Room 5320, 5th Floor, Whitney Block
99 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1........325-1607

Secretary to the Commission

Morag McLean
Director, Executive Services, Centre for Leadership
Room 5320, Whitney Block
99 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1N3.......325-1777

Commissioners

William Allen
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Citizenship
Deputy Minister Responsible for Seniors, Women’s Issues
6th Floor
400 University Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2R9........325-6220

Barbara Miller
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation
8th Floor, Hearst Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2E1 YY.325-6927

Tony Dean
Secretary of the Cabinet
Room 6420, 6th Floor, Whitney Block
99 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1........325-7641

David Guscott
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Transportation
3rd Floor
77 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Z8....…...327-9162

Ross Peebles
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs
6th Floor, 900 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1C2…… 325-3641

Kevin Costante
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
3rd Floor, Mowat Block, 900 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1L2……..325-4782

APPENDIX B

Ontario Public Service Statistics 2002-2003