Audit of Delegation of Authorities, Organization Design and Classification - Follow-up Report Status Update as of December 31, 2014
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Action Plan Implementation Status Update Report to the Audit Committee - As of December 31, 2014
Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch
| Project Recommendations | Action Plan | Expected Completion Date |
Program Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The Director General of Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch (HRWSB) should ensure that risk levels for staffing and classification activities requiring Workforce Management Board (WMB) approval are reviewed and updated periodically and given that the WMB is now a permanent governance structure within AANDC, articulate how the mandate of WMB relates to the Sub-Delegation Instrument Delegation of Authority for Human Resources. | The risk levels are reviewed periodically to adjust according to the level of change management and evolution of practices in the department. Given that WMB is now a permanent fixture of the Department, the Sub-Delegation instrument will be reviewed to ensure alignment. In the interim, a reference to WMB will be added to the instrument. | Q1, 2014/2015 | Status: Completed Update/Rationale: Risk Levels for staffing activities requiring WMB approval have been reviewed in June 2014 (many actions have been moved to Risk Level 1 (low risk)). The Sub-Delegation instrument has been adjusted and signed by the Deputy Minister (Colleen Swords) on July 23, 2014. Reference to WMB can be found on page 8 and 40. AES: Completed. Recommend to Close. Closed. |
| 2. The Director General of Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch should ensure that process expectations, including those used in organizational design, are clear, formally documented, and communicated to the appropriate individuals to ensure consistency in operational practices and to reduce the amount of data entry errors. In addition, appropriate and timely financial and non-financial status reporting on requested classification actions should be communicated to all interested parties, beyond just the HR community (i.e. to clients of the HR services). | As part of the HR Service Centres' review, process, procedures and responsibilities will be looked at to ensure they are clear. Communication with clients will be enhanced to reflect not only process expectations from an AANDC perspective, but also to ensure continuous alignment with Common HR Business Process which is a government-wide initiative effective as of April 1, 2014. |
Q1, 2014/2015 and ongoing | Status: Underway Update/Rationale: The report containing analysis, recommendations and options was shared with RDG's by e-mail sent on December 15, 2014 for their review. A conference call was scheduled for January 29, 2015 to get RDG's impressions in line with the suggested recommendations and options. HRWSB members will be briefed on the results and recommendations in Q4 of 2014/15. AES: Ongoing. |
| 3. The Director General of Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch should ensure that operational practices are adequately documented and communicated and adequate controls are in place to improve the accuracy and consistency in file management practices among HR Service Centres. | Check list will be developed and continuous feedback will be provided to HR advisors and managers during processes, and following quality assurance reviews. | Ongoing | Status: Completed Update/Rationale: All regional Classification resources have been transferred to the Classifications CoE. Standardized operational processes, to improve the accuracy and consistency in file management practices across the country, are being developed and implemented. This will include working in close collaboration with corporate staffing. AES: Completed. Recommend to close. Closed. |
| 4. The Director General of Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch should ensure the quality assurance approach includes a more efficient risk-based sampling approach, and improve the effectiveness of the QA process through supervisory review of testing results, establish a process for follow up on identified issues, and update work descriptions for those conducting quality assurance activities. | As part of the Branch reorganisation, the Quality Assurance services are under review. Adjustments to QA methodology and job descriptions will be done as a result of this review as required. | Q1 & Q2, 2014/2015 | Status: Completed Update/Rationale: The classification monitoring function has been transferred to the Classification CoE. As a result, the monitoring approach and techniques are under review. In essence, the CoE will keep performing regular monitoring exercises to ensure classification activities are performed according to procedures and policies. Monitoring activities includes random sampling of classification files, evaluations, checklists, work descriptions, etc. The information collected will serve in making recommendations to be communicated to the Classification team. AES: Completed. Recommend to close. Closed. |
| 5. The Director General of Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch should ensure there is a certified HR Classification Advisor in each region, provide organizational design and classification training to requisite employees, and obtain client (i.e. functional managers) feedback on the implementation of generic work descriptions to assess potential implementation challenges. | All HR service Centres have Classification advisors. As part of its reorganization, the Branch is putting in place a Centre of Expertise in Classification. The regional Classification advisors, while located in the Services Centres, will report to the Centre of Expertise. Training plans for classification advisors will be reviewed and adjusted as required. |
Q1, 2014/2015 | Status: Completed Update/Rationale: Part of the HR reorganization was to centralize the classification function in the NCR and create a center of expertise (CoE) which is responsible to provide classification services nationally, corporate functions, grievances and monitoring. The center of expertise team now includes all AANDC classification staff. The transfer of the positions will be completed over the month of September. When all employees are transferred within the CoE, all training plans will be reviewed by the Manager and adapted accordingly to the CoE needs. Part of the mandate of the Classification CoE is the implementation of generic work description. This is a priority and the CoE will track any progress made. Tracking will be done through PeopleSoft. Once a month, CoE will track any reviewed positions using a generic work description and update the chart. Any feedback provided by functional managers will be analysed and actions will be taken when necessary. AES: Completed. Recommend to Close. Closed. |
| Feedback on implementation of generic work description will be sought from functional managers as part of regular processes. | Ongoing |