Recommendations
Recommendation on Monitoring and Evaluation
The Committee recommends that the federal government support greater monitoring and evaluation to achieve the goal of employment equity in the federal public service. This requires better tracking, development and collection of employment-related data by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and for more information on this topic to be made available to the public. Such an effort should include improved review of the appointment process in the federal public service, including for non-advertised positions, to allow for more accurate tracking of employment equity goals and analysis of how effectively they are being integrated into hiring policies and practices.
Up-to-date data on the workforce adjustment processes is also necessary to ascertain their impact on employment equity. This information should be released as it becomes available to allow for analysis to be conducted in a timely manner. Tracking and reporting on the types of discrimination complaints being brought forward, as well as measures taken in response, are also necessary to provide important data to identify barriers to employment equity.
Finally, also to facilitate monitoring and evaluation, the Committee urges the Treasury Board Secretariat to include the following information in future annual reports with respect to employment equity:
- Data and information compiled further to consultations with federal public service labour unions and the Employment Equity Chairs and Champions Committees;
- The employment equity workforce analysis tables already being provided to federal departments and agencies each year to help them integrate employment equity considerations into their human resources and business planning;
- Updates concerning the relevant programs and initiatives of the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Public Service Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Commission and analyses of how these are impacting the overall implementation of the Employment Equity Act;
- Best practices from employment equity initiatives undertaken by individual departments and agencies;
- Summaries of the activities of the Joint Employment Equity Committee and the Interdepartmental Network on Employment Equity;
- Updates with regard to progress being made in encouraging self-identification and self-declaration among federal public service employees;
- Updates concerning progress in developing more reliable methods of determining the representation rates for the designated groups under the Employment Equity Act;
- Information concerning the guidance and direction provided by the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer to deputy heads and individual departments and agencies concerning employment equity; and
- Analysis of the observable trends in employment equity statistics for the federal public service and the factors that may be influencing these trends.
Recommendation on Advocacy and Employee Participation
The Committee recommends that the federal government expand its efforts to promote greater advocacy and employee participation on issues concerning employment equity within the federal public service. Such efforts should include the creation of an Employment Equity Champions and Chairs Committee for women as already exists for the other employment equity groups, given that full employment equity for this group has also not yet been realized. The Committee also calls on the government to develop and support mechanisms and safeguards to ensure federal public service employees are able to organise and independently raise their concerns, address discrimination and advocate for employment equity.