Employment Equity in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada—Annual Report 2017–18

Employment Equity in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada—Annual Report 2017–18

Introduction

This annual report on employment equity in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada outlines the state of employment equity representation for the 2017–18 fiscal year.

Employment Equity Environment

Enabling legislation

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada has a legislative basis in the Auditor General Act, the Financial Administration Act, and a number of other statutes. The Auditor General’s powers are set forth in legislation passed by Parliament.

Independence from government

The Office differs from most other government departments and agencies through its independence from the government of the day and its reporting relationship to Parliament. Controls are in place to assure the Office’s independence, including exemptions from certain Treasury Board policy requirements, status as a separate employer, and a 10-year non-renewable term for the Auditor General.

Application of the Employment Equity Act

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada is subject to the Employment Equity Act, in accordance with subsection 4(1)(c).

Work

The Office audits federal government operations and provides Parliament with independent information, advice, and assurance regarding the federal government’s stewardship of public funds.

The Office is in the business of legislative auditing and conducts

• performance audits of federal departments and agencies,
• annual financial audits of the government’s financial statements, and
• special examinations and annual financial audits of Crown corporations.

The Office also audits the governments of Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories, and reports directly to their respective legislative assemblies.

Since 1995, the Office has also had a specific environment and sustainable development mandate, established through amendments to the Auditor General Act.

The Office’s audit findings—which include good practices, areas requiring attention, and recommendations for improvement—are reported to Parliament.

Employees

The Office employs 569 people between its head office in Ottawa and four regional offices in Vancouver, Edmonton, Montréal, and Halifax.

The Office’s audit professionals are highly qualified in their fields and bring a rich mix of academic disciplines and experience to their work. They include accountants, engineers, lawyers, management experts, information technology professionals, environmental specialists, and economists. All financial audit trainees have a bachelor’s degree. The remaining audit staff have a graduate degree, or a bachelor’s degree and Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation, with some having additional credentials.

Auditors are organized into teams that are assigned to audits of specific departments, agencies, or Crown corporations, or to audits of Canada’s three territories. The auditors are supported in their work by specialists in law, professional practices, international relations, information technology, knowledge management, human resources, financial management, communications, and parliamentary liaison.

Work environment

The Office is committed to providing a work environment in which all are treated with dignity and respect, and all are supported as they strive toward fulfilling their career potential. The Office encourages open and honest communication to create a climate of trust and teamwork. It values everyone’s talent and diversity, and supports learning and quality-of-life endeavours.

Office employees are expected to demonstrate personal integrity and ethics, and to adhere to Office values, standards, and codes of conduct. People management competencies and behaviours are evaluated during recruitment and annual performance appraisals, and these evaluations serve to support learning plans.

Structure

The Principal, Human Resources, serves as Diversity Champion, and works to raise the profile of employment equity and diversity issues in the Office.

In addition, the Office maintains a Diversity Committee that promotes the Office’s employment equity activities while increasing awareness of equity and diversity issues, and enhancing employment and promotion opportunities for all groups.

The Chair of the Diversity Committee reports directly to the Principal, Human Resources, on any employment equity issues of note arising through the Committee. The Chair provides input on all policies and issues that may affect employment equity.

Employment Equity Implementation

Implementation of legislation

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada implements the requirements of the employment equity legislation by administering a voluntary self-identification survey. It then conducts a workforce analysis to determine the degree of representation of members of designated groups in each occupational group. This analysis is conducted annually. The results (as of 31 March 2018) are presented in Appendix B.

Employment equity records

The Office maintains orderly and accurate employment equity records. All employees are asked to complete a self-identification questionnaire before their first day at the Office and upon promotion.

The Office’s INTRAnet provides employees with easy access to current employment equity information.

Recruitment

In the 2017–18 fiscal year, 53 employees joined the Office. Of these employees, 79% were members of at least one of the following four designated groups:

• women,
• Indigenous peoples,
• persons with disabilities, and
• persons in a visible minority group.

The Office has established a resourcing strategy for 2017–2020 to address key challenges as it continues to recruit the resources necessary to fulfill its mandate. Specifically, this strategy highlights the Office’s continued focus on maintaining a diverse workforce that reflects Canada’s population.

As part of this focus on diversity, the Office participated in projects and programs to increase employment equity representation within its workplace and externally. These projects and programs included

• an Indigenous outreach and capacity-building project plan, which was developed to help the Office increase representation of members of the Indigenous group;
• the CPA Martin Mentorship Program for Indigenous High School Students, which provides ongoing career mentoring to Indigenous high school students; and
• LiveWorkPlay, an organization that helps young people with developmental disabilities integrate into society.

Activities, training, and communications

In the 2017–18 fiscal year, the Office carried out four activities to promote a corporate environment that supports employment equity values and ideals:

• a presentation on diversity in the public service and the inclusion of persons with disabilities—conducted by the Champion, Federal Employees with Disabilities;
• a Thai cultural festival—organized by the Diversity Committee;
• a presentation on the history and significance of three diverse cultural customs—conducted by the Office’s Toastmasters club; and
• fundraising for the Iqaluit food bank—organized by employees who participated in audits of the Nunavut government.

The Office promotes respect in the workplace through its employee onboarding program, as well as through courses from the Canada School of Public Service. Some of the courses offered to all managers and employees are on the following topics:

• respect and inclusivity;
• prevention of violence, harassment, and discrimination; and
• values and ethics.

The Office regularly distributes internal corporate communications that celebrate diversity. The following are examples of diversity celebrations that were subjects of communications posted on the Office’s INTRAnet site in the 2017–18 fiscal year:

• Asian Heritage Month,
• Black History Month,
• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
• International Women’s Day, and
• National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Talent management

The Office has a talent management program designed to attract, develop, motivate, and retain engaged employees. The goal is to create a high-performance, sustainable organization that meets its strategic and operational goals.

Over time, the Office will continue to emphasize representation as part of its commitment to developing an inclusive, barrier-free hiring and work environment.

Employment Equity Plan

In accordance with the requirements in section 10 of the Employment Equity Act, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada maintains an employment equity plan. The plan covers a three-year period and includes specific goals for improved representation. The Triennial Employment Equity Plan 2017–2020 was finalized and published in December 2017. It presents the Office’s commitments to enhancing or maintaining representation across occupational groups and levels, highlights the Office’s efforts to sustain an inclusive and respectful workplace, and reports on activities carried out to comply with legislation. Appendix A presents the Office’s commitments, targets, and results for the 2017–18 fiscal year.

Information and consultation

Ongoing communication is a critical factor in the success of the Office’s employment equity program. The Office undertakes a number of communication activities to support equity and diversity programs. The Office

• sends communications to encourage employees to celebrate diversity;
• has the information on the Employment Equity Act and related organizational plans and policies available on its INTRAnet site;
• provides employees with information about the Office’s progress on achieving representation objectives;
• encourages employees, management, and employee representative groups to engage in meaningful dialogue to enhance recruitment practices;
• builds bridges and establishes partnerships with educational institutions, professional associations, and service providers with the aim of achieving mutual goals; and
• creates meaningful consultation opportunities with employee representatives to improve policies and plans, such as the Triennial Employment Equity Plan.

Numerical goals

Employment equity is an important underlying value of the Office. The Office is committed to ensuring equal opportunity in its workplace for all employees.

The Office strives for 100% representation of workforce availability for each of the designated groups. The success of the Office’s efforts is monitored by the Diversity Champion.

Employment Equity Numbers

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s employment equity numbers are prepared according to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) developed by Employment and Social Development Canada. This classification comprises 14 employment equity occupational groups (EEOGs)—as defined in Schedule II of the Employment Equity Regulations—and 500 NOC unit groups.

A closer look at this system shows that the Office has a very specialized workforce:

• The 569 employees in the Office fall into 7 of the 14 EEOGs (Exhibit 1).
• Most of the Office’s employees (83.7%) are concentrated in just 2 EEOGs: professionals and middle and other managers (Exhibit 2).

Exhibit 2—Distribution of Office employees by Employment Equity Occupational Group

Exhibit 2—text version

Exhibit 2 is a pie chart showing the distribution of employees in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, according to major occupational groups.

The chart indicates that 6.5% of the Office’s employees are clerical personnel and 1.6% of employees are senior managers. Middle and other managers make up 26.9%, and 56.8% are professionals. Another 8.2% of employees fall into the “all others” category.

Shaded sections of the pie chart indicate that the majority of the employees—88.7%—are concentrated into two groups, middle and other managers and professionals.

Representation in designated groups—highlights

The Office compared its representation in each designated group with the most recent workforce availability figures provided by Employment and Social Development Canada in the Employment Equity Data Report. The Office used national figures for this comparison in most areas, with the exception of the administrative and senior clerical personnel category and the clerical personnel category, for which the Office used data from the National Capital Region.

Women

As of 31 March 2018, women represented 62.6% of the Office’s workforce, which is above the workforce availability of 51.1% (Table 4). Women are well represented in almost all EEOGs and salary bands (Table 11).

Indigenous peoples

The Office’s representation of Indigenous employees during the reporting period was 3.2%, which exceeds the workforce availability of 2.9% (Table 5). In other words, the Office had 18 Indigenous employees, surpassing its goal of 17 by 1.

Persons with disabilities

The Office’s overall representation of persons with disabilities during the reporting period was 8.8%, which is above the workforce availability of 4.2% (Table 6). In other words, the Office had 50 persons with disabilities, well above its goal of 24.

Persons in a visible minority group

The Office’s overall representation of persons in a visible minority group was 17.6%, which is above the workforce availability of 15.5% (Table 7). In other words, the Office had 100 persons in a visible minority group, surpassing its goal of 88 by 12.

Representation in hires, promotions, and separations

This annual report includes an analysis of the number of employees from each designated group who were hired, promoted, or left the Office.

Hires

In the past year, 53 people joined the Office (Table 8). Of these new hires, 42 were from at least one designated group. More specifically,

• 34 of the people hired were women (64.2%),
• 13 were persons in a visible minority group (24.5%),
• 11 were persons with disabilities (20.8%), and
• 3 were persons in the Indigenous peoples’ group (5.7%).

Promotions

In the past year, 81 employees were promoted (Table 9). Of these promotions, 62 employees were from at least one of three of the designated groups. More specifically,

• 55 of the people promoted were women (67.9%),
• 15 were persons in a visible minority group (18.5%), and
• 11 were persons with disabilities (13.6%).

Separations

During the reporting period, 75 employees left the Office (Table 10). Of those who left, 53 employees were from at least one designated group. More specifically,

• 48 of the people who left were women (64%),
• 15 were persons in a visible minority group (20%),
• 2 were persons in the Indigenous peoples’ group (2.7%), and
• 1 was a person with disabilities (1.3%).

Conclusion

In the past year, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada met its objective of reaching 100% representation of workforce availability for each of the designated groups, increased the number of employment equity activities, and finalized its Triennial Employment Equity Plan 2017–2020.

Data from the 2016 Census suggests that the workforce availability of certain groups will increase. The Office will reassess its representation objectives on the basis of this new information and ensure that strategies will be in place to achieve its desired employment equity representation. Maintaining a diverse workforce reflective of Canada’s population is identified as one of the five key challenges in the Office’s Resourcing Strategy 2017–2020.

Appendix A—Employment Equity Action Plan: 2017–18 Commitments, Targets, and Results

Appendix B—Statistics

Report coverage

This report contains information, as of 31 March 2018, on the Office’s indeterminate employees and determinate employees with terms of six months or more. Employees who were on secondment to other organizations are also included in the Office’s numbers.

No information is reported on students or casual workers. Employees on leave without pay (such as those on care and nurturing leave or sick leave) are not included in these tables.

Data on people in the designated groups

All data was obtained through voluntary self-identification.

The completeness and accuracy of employment equity data depend on employees being willing to self-identify and being given the opportunity to do so.

The Office’s voluntary self-identification process began in April 1997. All employees are asked to complete a questionnaire before their first day at the Office and upon promotion. In addition, at any time during the year, all employees can complete or resubmit a self-identification questionnaire, available on the Office’s Human Resources INTRAnet page.

Tables 4 to 7 show the Office’s representation as a percentage of workforce availability, with comparative figures for the previous year. The Office believes that this is the best way to measure the current state of representation for each designated group.

The Office provides information by Employment Equity Occupational Group (EEOG). Tables 4 to 7 include information for the three National Occupational Classification (NOC) unit groups that account for the majority of the Office’s employees—other managers (NOC unit group 0414), financial auditors (NOC unit group 1111), and performance auditors (NOC unit groups 4161 to 4168).

Workforce availability

Workforce availability is the distribution of people in the designated groups as a percentage of the total Canadian workforce. For federal public service purposes, workforce availability is based on Canadian citizens in those occupations in the Canadian workforce corresponding to the occupations in the public service and is derived from 2011 Census data.

List of Tables

Table 1—Representation of designated groups in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Table 2—Distribution of employees by designated group and region of work

Table 3—Representation of designated groups by Employment Equity Occupational Group

Table 4—Representation of women by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

Table 5—Representation of Indigenous peoples by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

Table 6—Representation of persons with disabilities by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

Table 7—Representation of persons in a visible minority group by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

Table 8—Hiring by designated group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

Table 9—Promotions by designated group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

Table 10—Separations by designated group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

Table 11—Distribution of employees by designated group and salary band

Table 1—Representation of designated groups in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 2—Distribution of employees by designated group and region of work

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 3—Representation of designated groups by Employment Equity Occupational Group

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 4—Representation of women by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 5—Representation of Indigenous peoples by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 6—Representation of persons with disabilities by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 7—Representation of persons in a visible minority by Employment Equity Occupational Group and the three largest National Occupational Classification unit groups

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 8—Hiring by designated group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

As at 31 March 2018

Data includes employees hired into term positions (six months or more) and indeterminate positions. Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 9—Promotions by designated group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

As at 31 March 2018

Data includes promotions and reclassifications. Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 10—Separations by designated group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.

Table 11—Distribution of employees by designated group and salary band

As at 31 March 2018

Totals may not equal the sum of components because of rounding and suppression.