Transcript
Transcript: Supporting Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Through Staffing
[00:00:00 The CSPS logo appears onscreen.]
[00:00:05 The screen fades to Sabrina Pepe.]
Sabrina Pepe (Canada School of Public Service): Hello everyone. Welcome to this session entitled, "Supporting Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Through Staffing." Thank you for joining us. My name is Sabrina Pepe and I am the Manager of Community Development and GC Learning Priorities at the Public Sector Operations and Inclusion Branch here at the Canada School of Public Service. Before I go any further, I would like to acknowledge that today I am in Ottawa, Ontario, on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. Some of you are joining us today from different parts of the country, working on different Indigenous traditional territory. I encourage you to take a moment to recognize and reflect on this and to seek to understand the long history of this territory. Today, we'll have a few interactive scenarios during this session, thanks to the Wooclap platform. So, you can visit www.wooclap.com now and enter the code, "EEDI2," in order to participate. You'll also have the opportunity to ask your questions to the presenters. To send in your question, simply click on the raised hand icon in the top right-hand corner of your screen. And of course, feel free to ask your question in the language of your choice.
[00:01:21 Steven Davidson and Catherine Fortin-Dorego appears in separate video chat panels.]
I'd now like to take a moment to introduce our presenters for this session, speakers Steven Davidson and Catherine Fortin-Dorego, staffing support advisors at the Public Service Commission of Canada. Without further ado, I give the floor to Steven and Catherine.
Steven Davidson (Public Service Commission of Canada): Good afternoon and thank you for the introduction, Sabrina. It's our pleasure to be here today to talk about staffing options to support employment equity, and diversity and inclusion under the Public Service Employment Act. Over the last few years, the staffing support division at the PSC has received lots of questions on these topics and we hope to address as many of them as possible through the delivery of this session. Also, we are thrilled to see such a strong interest in this subject and that so many of you took the time out of your busy schedules to join us. Over the next hour, we will be exploring this topic by providing you with the legal and policy foundations, as well as practical information that will help you in the context of your own work, including supporting the employment equity, and diversity and inclusion objectives of your hiring managers and organizations. We hope that you find this session both informative and engaging. Once again, we sincerely thank you for joining us. Now, let's get started.
In our time together, we will touch on three objectives. We'll start by discussing the differences between obligations under the Employment Equity Act and the broader scope of diversity and inclusion programs. Next, we'll explore the employment equity obligations under the Employment Equity Act, focusing on how they relate to staffing and recruitment processes. Finally, we'll provide an overview of the staffing options within the Public Service Employment Act highlighting how these can support our goals for employment equity, and enhance diversity and inclusion in our workforce. Along the way, we will also touch on how we can adjust our hiring practices to be more inclusive. Through this session, we hope that you can gain a deeper understanding of these important concepts and how they can lead to a more diverse and representative workforce.
In general, the Employment Equity Act is designed to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability, and in the fulfillment of that goal, to correct the conditions of disadvantage and employment experienced by women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. These are also known as the four designated EE groups. By giving effect to the principle that employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way, but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences. Please note that the term, "Indigenous peoples," aligns with international usage and has replaced the legislative term, "Aboriginal peoples," that appears in the Employment Equity Act and the employment equity regulations. However, the definition has not changed. Therefore, we will be using the term, "Indigenous peoples," for the remainder of this session. The Employment Equity Act has a specific purpose and a scope. While the act is comprehensive in addressing employment equity for these groups, it does not explicitly cover the broader concepts of diversity and inclusion. This leads to the question: What is the definition of diversity and inclusion?
According to the Treasury Board Secretariat's Policy on People Management, diversity is about having a workforce that reflects a wide array of identities, abilities, backgrounds, cultures, skills, perspectives and experiences. This definition emphasizes the importance of representing Canada's diverse and evolving population. Diversity includes, but is not limited to, differences in ethnicity, race, culture, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, educational background, and marital or parental status. These also relate to the 13 prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act, which are referred to as, "equity seeking groups," in the Public Service Employment Act. It's important to note that the Employment Equity Act addresses specific legal obligations towards equity for designated groups, while diversity and inclusion goes beyond legal compliance. Also, diversity and inclusion involves creating an inclusive workplace culture that values and respects differences, ensuring that everyone feels welcome. By understanding both the specific requirements of the Public Service Employment Act, and the broader goals of the Employment Equity Act and the broader goals of the diversity and inclusion, as well as how they relate to recruitment, we can work towards a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace.
We would like to provide you with some important background information about the Employment Equity Act, including its scope and objectives. When the act and its regulations came into force, it created a new legislative framework for employment equity that governs both private and public sector employers under federal jurisdiction. At its core, the purpose of the Employment Equity Act is to break down systemic barriers leading to discrimination in the workplace. This is so that no person would be denied employment opportunities for reasons unrelated to ability. The act focuses on historical and systemic barriers to employment faced by four designated groups. It also allows specific measures to target these four groups. In the context of staffing within organizations that are subject to the Public Service Employment Act, it is important to understand the specific measures within the PSEA to support the objectives of the Employment Equity Act. Catherine will now go over the ways that the PSEA can be used in your work as staffing professionals to support EE objectives.
[00:08:15 A slide is shown with the text:
"Where to begin for Employment Equity?
-Identify underrepresentation in the four designated employment equity groups: women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. These are known as representation gaps"
-Consult employment equity plan
-Consult human resources strategies for achieving employment equity objectives
-Consider organizational direction or guidelines for employment equity hiring
-Consider the current and future needs of the organization or the public service as a whole
-Establish hiring objectives based on statistical evidence"
"What is a representation gap?
When workforce representation is less than the workforce availability, which may be at different levels:
-Public service (national or regional)
-Organizational (national, regional, or at the branch level)
-Specific occupational group both at the public service or organizational level (e.g. types of occupations or management levels)".]
Catherine Fortin-Dorego (Public Service Commission of Canada): Thank you, Steven. So, where can we begin? So, as we've seen in the previous slides, employment equity is linked to the concept of underrepresentation in the for-employment equity groups. In the context of EE, please note that any subgroups or equity seeking groups should not be confused with these four groups. We've been talking about underrepresentation, but how is it defined? So, the determination of whether there is underrepresentation is done by comparing the representation of each designated group in each occupational group of the employer's workforce. This is then compared to the representation in Canada's workforce, also referred by the term, "workforce availability." The Employment Equity Act requires an analysis of an organization's workforce data against workforce availability data to detect current or forecasted representation gaps. These gaps, or underrepresentation, both current or forecasted, must be addressed by setting EE hiring targets. It's a requirement to have an employment equity plan when an organization's workforce analysis has detected one or more representation gaps.
So, as mentioned in the examples on the right side of the slide, a gap can be at various levels. In practical terms, for your own work in staffing within your organization, this information is usually found within an organizational employment equity plan, or it may be a part of a wider human resources plan. This information is essential for hiring managers to fill their EE obligations. Also, it's important to understand that when workforce availability benchmarks have been reached or surpassed and there are no current or anticipated situations of underrepresentation, deputy heads are deemed to have met their employment equity goals and may no longer use staffing measures provided under the PSEA for EE purposes.
Now, that we've covered the theory, including where to find information about employment equity gaps, we can now explore the practical application of these concepts in our day-to-day work. We'll start by examining the options that are available under the PSEA to assist organizations to address their employment equity gaps. So, the first option is through Section 34 of the PSEA, which sets out the requirements related to the area of selection, which I'm sure all of you already know. So, in other words, who is eligible to be a candidate in an appointment process? Specifically, it allows the use of four criteria, geographic, organizational, occupational, or the focus of today's subject, employment equity. Therefore, the first staffing option is to restrict this area of selection to one or more EE groups. For example, you could restrict it to persons with disabilities employed in the public service across Canada.
For the second option, it's also possible to establish a different area of selection. For example, a larger area of selection for EE group members. You could restrict it to all persons employed of your organization and persons with disabilities employed in the public service across Canada. This is because the PSC's Appointment Policy, Annex A, lists exclusions and exceptions to the national area of selection requirement, and this indicates that the requirement to establish a national area of selection does not apply to external advertised appointment processes that are limited to members of designated EE groups for which there is underrepresentation. So, for further instructions related to the staffing, to setting your area of selection for internal advertise processes, you should look and refer to your own policy on area selection for your organization. So, as a reminder, when expanding or restricting your area of selection, it's important to ensure that it is supported by your organization's current or forecasted representation gaps and ensure that the area of selection will allow a sufficient pool of employment equity candidates.
Another option is to use merit criteria, and specifically, an organizational need under Section 32 of the Public Service Employment Act. So, using an organizational need is the most common way to incorporate EE into an appointment process. As a merit criteria, an organizational need offers hiring managers with the flexibility to invoke an EE need at any stage within the appointment process. This means it can be used from the very start of the appointment process, such as after determining the eligibility of candidates or all the way until the end when the hiring manager is choosing between qualified candidates for an appointment.
Addressing an EE gap using an organizational need could also be part of a hiring manager's articulation of selection decision, which is the mandatory requirement to provide the rationale in writing for choosing a specific candidate for an appointment. It's also important to note that when establishing an area of selection that limits eligibility based on belonging to a designated EE group, that this is a measure separate from identifying an organizational lead. Therefore, there is no need to have a corresponding organizational need when using the area of selection mechanism. However, it could be helpful to have an organizational need if the area of selection is expanded for one or more designated EE groups. But the appointment process is also open to candidates who do not belong to the EE group. In addition, the choice of using an advertised or non-advertised appointment process, purposes related to employment equity could also be possible. So, each organization has its own direction on the use of advertised or non-advertised appointment processes and this may allow for a non-advertised appointment used to address an employment equity gap. And finally, we'd like to point out that it is also possible to use the persons with priority entitlement pool to hire a candidate who has self-declared as a member of an EE group, and this option could also help you of decreasing your time to staff.
Let's look now at some additional information that's important when using the options that are available under the PSEA to assist organizations to address their employment equity gaps. So, when talking about persons with priority entitlements, when an appointment is being made in accordance with an employment equity program, you must only consider persons with a priority entitlement who have self-declared as a member of the EE group to which the program applies. So, this means, let's say only persons with a priority entitlement who have self-declared as a member of the persons with disabilities group need to be considered if, we're going to go through a few options, an EE program has been established for persons with disabilities, there are qualified persons with a priority entitlement who have self-declared as belonging to the persons with disabilities EE group, and the hiring manager used an area of selection open to persons with disabilities, or the hiring manager applied an EE organizational need for appointing a person with a disability in a position. However, if there is no EE program, then all persons with priority entitlement should be considered.
So, we keep talking about employment equity program. What is it? So, consistent with the purpose of the Employment Equity Act, an EE program would generally refer to positive policies, practices and measures in place in an organization, such as elements of an EE or human resources plan designed to address identified underrepresentation of a designated group, also known as an, EE gap. So, each deputy head is responsible for developing their own EE program. So, similarly in the context of external advertised appointment processes, the preference provisions in the PSEA Subsection 39-1, needs to be respected. For example, if a veteran who is in the area of selection meets the essential qualifications, they must be appointed first. For example, this would mean that they can not be eliminated based on an employment equity organizational need. However, unlike priority entitlements, in making a selection decision for an appointment when considering qualified candidates with the same level of preference, such as deciding between two qualified veterans, Subsection 39-2 of the PSEA allows for the use of organizational needs, operational requirements, or asset merit criteria.
So, what is self-declaration? It's the term that the PSC uses for the collection of employment equity information voluntarily provided by applicants in an appointment process, and it's under the authorities of the PSEA, the Employment Equity Act and the Canadian Human Rights Act. Its confidentiality is protected under the Privacy Act. So, self-declaration information is used for statistical purposes. This could mean reports, analysis or special studies, and in the case of processes targeted to EE groups, to determine eligibility, the self-declaration information of applicants appointed to, or within the public service, may also be used for compiling workforce representation figures for reports to Parliament. So, on another note, for clarification, as these terms are sometimes confused or used interchangeably, "self-identification," is the term used for the collection of employment information voluntarily provided by employees, for example, by completing a self-identification form provided by the organization under the authority of the Employment Equity Act, for the statistical purposes of analyzing and monitoring the progress of EE groups in the federal public service and sometimes for reporting workforce representation to Parliament.
So, in appointment processes, please note that the Affirmation of Indigenous Identity Form must be used when the area of selection is limited to Indigenous peoples, an organizational need is used to increase the representation of Indigenous peoples, or an inventory of Indigenous candidates or a student employment program approved by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is used to increase the representation. In each of these cases, if the person being proposed for appointment belongs to the Indigenous peoples group, a completed Affirmation of Indigenous Identity Form must be a part of the appointment documentation. In addition to this, please note that the Annex B of the PSC's Appointment Policy, which is where we can find information requirements for appointments, so the records that must be kept. Whenever an employment equity is invoked in an appointment, so either through the use of area of selection, organizational need, non-advertised process or hiring persons with priority entitlement talent pool, the person being appointed must self-declare in writing as belonging to the EE group, and this must be kept in the staffing file. I'll now pass it over to Steven, who will discuss diversity and inclusion programs in the context of appointment processes.
[00:22:19 A slide is shown with the text:
"Where to begin for diversity and inclusion?
-Diversity may be used to address documented underrepresentation or disadvantage in other groups or within subgroups of the 4 designated employment equity groups"
"Departments and agencies should have a rationale and be able to provide supporting evidence to justify the decision to advance equality for these groups. Some examples of evidence:
-statistical evidence of underrepresentation
-testimonials with demonstrated evidence of underrepresentation through an Employment Systems Review
-other sources of information such as reports, studies (accessibility benchmark), Government of Canada commitment"
"Examples of diversity and inclusion strategies:
-Hiring focused on EE subgroups, such as Black people
-Hiring focused on groups other than EE subgroups such as 2SLGBTQI+
-Hiring members of an employment equity group where there is no current or forecasted EE gaps".]
Steven Davidson: Great. So, before we start exploring this topic, we would like to remind you that diversity and inclusion relates to employer programs in support of a workforce comprised of individuals who have an array of identities, abilities, backgrounds, cultures, skills, perspectives and experiences that are representative of Canada's current and evolving population. Now that we understand employment equity, what should we know about diversity and inclusion? First, we can start by understanding that any staffing action aimed at increasing representation of a subgroup of persons should be the result of a well-documented analysis that considers qualitative and quantitative data. Some examples of evidence include statistical evidence of underrepresentation, testimonials with demonstrated evidence of underrepresentation through an employment systems review, and other sources of information such as reports, studies, such as an accessibility benchmark or Government of Canada commitments. As you see on the right side of this slide, there are various possible ways to develop specific hiring strategies that support diversity and inclusion program objectives.
As previously mentioned, diversity and inclusion is distinct from employment equity, which means that the staffing options also differ. So, what are the staffing options available to support organizations in achieving their diversity and inclusion objectives? The first is using an organizational need merit criteria. Whereas, with employment equity, current or future organizational needs can be used to address underrepresentation in any of the four designated groups under the Employment Equity Act. The use of an organizational need to support diversity and inclusion beyond the four designated groups is possible, provided that there is a rationale and supporting evidence to justify advancing equality for the targeted group. For example, this could be done to support a diversity program targeting any of the employment equity subgroups, other equity seeking groups or subgroups. More specifically, an organizational need can be used in an appointment process to support an organizational diversity program under your deputy head's authority, or a government-wide diversity program such as in the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service. However, please be aware that while it is possible to apply an organizational need for diversity and inclusion objectives, this may create inconsistencies with the fact that an area of selection may not be for the targeted group. Given this incompatibility, organizations may wish to consider the impact on other groups and expand the intent of the process, for example, by prioritizing the hiring of neurodiverse candidates to support a diversity program, but also leverage the appointment process to hire persons with other types of disabilities for the purposes of employment equity. The risk may also be mitigated by informing candidates of the intent of the appointment process in the job advertisement. Again, as diversity and inclusion hiring differs from using employment equity measures, organizational needs in support of diversity and inclusion initiatives do not need to be linked to an employment equity representation gap.
Often, we're asked to conduct the assessment of merit criteria, or sorry, how to conduct the assessment of merit criteria when using the staffing option. When an organizational need for diversity and inclusion is justified, established, and applied to support the broader goal of diversity, it must be assessed as any other merit criteria. To be satisfied the individual is a member of the group, organizations can consider the following options: They can include a screening question with an explanation linking it to the organizational need to support diversity and inclusion or a special program, they could ask the applicant to include a statement in their cover letter or a resume, it could also ask the applicant to confirm this in writing, for example, by e-mail, or the organization could even create their own form or questionnaire. Note that the provisions of the Privacy Act and Treasury Board policies for the management of Protected B information apply to the information collected for this purpose.
Remember, as this staffing option is not in accordance with the employment equity program, all persons with priority entitlements would need to be considered. Similarly, in the context of an external advertised appointment process, the preference provisions in PSEA's Subsection 39-1 would need to be respected. The second option is to use merit criteria linked to the work to be performed, as this could also lead to increased diversity and inclusion, such as in the examples provided on the slide. However, since these competencies are related to the work to be performed, not to being Indigenous, it is important to note that a non-Indigenous candidate may also meet these merit criteria. Finally, organizations may use non-advertised appointment processes to address diversity hiring goals. For example, deputy heads may include diversity and inclusion considerations, or supporting diversity programs when establishing their direction on the use of advertised and non-advertised appointment processes. So, now that we cover this material in detail, Catherine is ready to present our first scenario.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Thank you, Steven. So, for the first scenario, to participate, you can go to wooclap.com and enter the code," EEDI2," which is not case sensitive, to answer the questions. We'll go over the scenario together. While there is no gap in representation for visible minorities in the organization, there is a diversity and inclusion plan related to a strategy approved by the deputy head that encourages hiring more Black people. A sub-delegated person launches a process and wants to apply the strategy to hire a Black person. There is no gap in representation for this group in the organization, but there is a diversity and inclusion plan related to the strategy approved by the deputy head that stipulates that more Black people must be hired. The assessments are completed and the sub-delegated person chooses the person they wish to appoint out of the three qualified candidates. Their selection decision is made based on the following organizational need: To promote workforce diversity, Black candidates may be considered first. When the sub-delegated person informs the staffing advisor of their thought process and the criterion being used for the selection decision, what advice should the human resource advisor provide? So, we'll go see the possible responses. And note that there may be more than one correct answer.
So, within Wooclap, please select the best, or best answers, from the following statements. A. For the purpose of employment equity objectives, if there is no current or anticipated underrepresentation in the visible minority group, using this criterion would not comply with the Employment Equity Act. B. The issue of employment equity subgroups has been studied by central agencies, and their use in the staffing process was deemed discriminatory and is therefore prohibited. C. The sub-delegated person can target a member of an equity subgroup to meet the diversity and inclusion objectives or to support special programs aiming to remedy a known barrier that has been documented and creates a disadvantage. D. An organizational need may not be used to target an equity seeking group other than the four designated groups defined in the EEA. E, all of the above. So, we'll take a…
Steven Davidson: So, Catherine, we're seeing… yeah, we're seeing quite a few answers already.
[00:31:44 An infographic on Wooclap shows the amount of votes for each option, with option C getting the most votes.]
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Let's take a look.
Steven Davidson: Yeah.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: And we do seem to have a favourite as well.
Steven Davidson: I think that answer C is currently ahead by quite a huge margin.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah.
Steven Davidson: But maybe I'll give everyone a bit of a hint that there could be more than one correct answer. So, even those of you who have already answered, you may want just to take this into consideration as we watch the results come in.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: So, we have one person who just added B to the race. So, we'll see which one's the winner.
Steven Davidson: So, we'll see if we can get more participation here, because I think that we have a total of 226 people, and we're waiting for the answers to come in and we're seeing them come in at the bottom. So, I think we're at about 50% of the way there.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Wow, it's going pretty quick now.
Steven Davidson: It's going very quickly.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah (laughs).
Steven Davidson: All of a sudden, the edges come in. So, we are seeing the answers. C is still ahead.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah.
Steven Davidson: Followed by, I guess, answer A, which is maybe only one fifth as popular.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah. So, maybe given that so many people have answered, we can go over the possible answers together. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining in on this scenario. So, answer A. As mentioned previously, there are differences between employment equity, and diversity and inclusion objectives. So, according to the Employment Equity Act, employment equity aims to achieve equality in the workplace and to correct conditions of disadvantage in employment for the four designated groups which are women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. In other words, if there are no current or anticipated gaps, your employment equity objectives have been achieved. Therefore, answer A is correct. Answer B, now. So, it is not true that it is discriminatory, nor prohibited, to target employment equity subgroups. However, only the four EE groups, not the subgroups, can be used in the context of EE. Answer C. As previously discussed, it is possible to target an EE subgroup in support of a diversity and inclusion objective when a disadvantage is supported by statistical evidence. Therefore, C is also a correct answer. Answer D. It is false that organizations can not use organizational need to target members of an equity seeking group if this is being done in support of a diversity and inclusion objective when a disadvantage is supported by statistical evidence. So, answers A and C are both correct. So, let's try this again, Steven, and I'll let you present our second scenario.
Steven Davidson: Great. So, thanks very much, Catherine. So, let's look at our second scenario together. As an organization's mandate involves conducting consultations with Indigenous (First Nations) communities, a sub-delegated person would like to know what options they have to hire more Indigenous employees. Given that the employment equity plan indicates that there is no current gap at an organizational level for Indigenous peoples, what options are available to this sub-delegated person? So, now, let's look at the possible responses, and again, note that there may be more than one correct response. So, again, in wooclap.com, please select the best answer or answers from the following statements. So, A. Examine the EE data in more detail to determine whether a forecasted gap may exist for Indigenous peoples. B. Examine the EE plan in more detail to determine whether there is a current or forecasted gap at the regional, branch, divisional or public service-wide levels. C. Examine the EE plan in more detail to determine whether there is a current or forecasted gap for any of the occupational groups. D. Include qualifications that are required to effectively carry the duties of the position, such as knowledge of an Indigenous culture or language. E. To support the broader goal of diversity and inclusion across the federal public service, organizational needs may be considered to support the organization's mandate, in this case, the requirement to conduct consultations with Indigenous communities. F. Develop an outreach plan to focus on and attract Indigenous candidates. Or, G. All of these answers. So, all of the above.
[00:37:01 An infographic on Wooclap shows the amount of votes for each option, with option G getting the most votes.]
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: So, we have a bit more answers for this one for you to select from and we'll see. We can see a bit of a shared response, maybe a little bit more on answer G, which is all of the above.
Steven Davidson: And if I'm not mistaken, I think we're seeing more people participate in this scenario. Yeah, we have close to 300 people currently.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: So, hopefully we get a little bit more response rate maybe for this one? But I feel like this may be a little bit harder than the other one. So, we'll see if people…
Steven Davidson: There's certainly more for them to consider and to read.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah.
Steven Davidson: And this covers a lot of the concepts we went over all in one scenario. So, this is going to be interesting, to see what the results are. So, so far it looks like, "All of the above," is leading.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah.
Steven Davidson: Let's wait a little bit longer. I think, again, there's a little bit of a delay from when you enter your answers and when we see them up here on the screen. So, we'll just wait a little bit more because I see that there's a huge number coming in right now. There we go.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Maybe we can try to go up to 150 responses. You know what? I think we're always there (laughs).
Steven Davidson: Yeah. So, I'm going to start because I have some information to go over. So, we're going to start going over the information, so continue to enter your answers. So, for this scenario, as you can see, there were a wide variety of options from which to choose. So, we're just going to review them. So, for answers A, B and C, so lumping those three together, although there is no current employment equity gap at the organizational level for the Indigenous peoples group, the EE plan could demonstrate an anticipated gap at the organizational level, or a current or anticipated gap at another level, such as at the regional, branch, divisional or public service-wide levels, or for one or more occupational groups. For these three answers, remember that current or forecasted EE gaps are required to use the measures within the Public Service Employment Act to support EE and appointment processes. Answer D. This would be an example of using merit criteria linked to the work to be performed. However, as we previously mentioned, this may not result in the hiring of an Indigenous candidate. Answer E. Another possible option is that the organization could have needs to hire Indigenous peoples to support a special program, in this case, one that is linked to its mandate aimed at increasing the representation of members of this group. Answer F. The organization could also develop targeted outreach activities to reach Indigenous peoples with the objective of encouraging them to consider employment within the organization. So, therefore, actually, it's actually in the lead, so most of you got this right, Answer G. All of the above is the correct answer. So, congratulations. Actually, that was wonderful, so we actually had people mostly pick the correct answer. So, thank you very much for your participation in the scenarios. And now that we've looked at the staffing options to support employment equity, and diversity and inclusion, Catherine will provide some additional considerations to encourage diversity and inclusion more broadly.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Thank you, Steven. So, moving forward, what are some ways to work towards implementing barrier-free appointment processes? So, just like today's session, awareness sessions could be helpful. The Canada School of Public Service courses could be considered. For example, the PSC's Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument requires that deputy heads establish training prerequisites for sub-delegation, which must include training on unconscious bias. Another way is for all levels of management to lead by example in building a workforce representative of all Canadians. And one way to do this is by having diverse assessment boards for assessing candidates in appointment processes. You could also adapt your job advertisements and other communications, including outreach sessions, to attract diverse candidates. For example, this could mean indicating in your job advertisement that you want a diverse and inclusive workforce and that you're promoting an inclusive work environment. The last point we want to mention is the recent amendments to the Public Service Employment Act, which also supports barrier-free appointment processes. So, as per Section 36-2 of the Public Service Employment Act, before using an assessment method, sub-delegated persons must conduct an evaluation to identify biases or barriers that disadvantage equity seeking group members, and make reasonable efforts to remove or mitigate their impact.
[00:42:16 A slide is shown with a list of additional resource links.]
So, on this next slide, we are sharing additional resources where you might find some guidance products, some tools to help you support your employment equity, and diversity and inclusion goals.
The next slide, as well, are additional links such as other PSC tools, but also recruitment programs supporting employment equity, and diversity and inclusion hiring objectives. Steven, I'll hand it over.
Steven Davidson: So, we'd now like to take some time to answer questions. To send us your question, simply click on the raised hand icon at the top right-hand corner of your screen to open a chat window. Feel free to use the official language of your choice. If you need to log back into Wooclap, please go to www.wooclap.com, that's w-o-o-c-l-a-p.com, and enter the code, "EEDI2," which is not case sensitive. This is the same code that was used to access these scenarios. So, as we wait for our first question, I'd just like to point out that the PSC's guidance product listed on slide 15, "Questions and Answers on Staffing options to support Employment Equity, and Diversity and Inclusion, under the Public Service Employment Act," is a great place to start for additional information related to what we have covered today.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah, it is. Steven, I think we have our first question. So, if you don't mind, I think I'll go ahead and answer this one. So, this question is: Should we include the organizational need in the notifications when it's a criterion used for an internal appointment? So, this is actually a good question, and we have received it a few times I think, as well, in our day-to-day work. So, we want to point out that the requirement to communicate names in notifications comes from Section 48 of the PSEA and only applies to internal appointment processes. So, when an employment equity-related organizational need, merit criterion, is used in making an appointment, the inclusion of this merit criterion in notifications is at the discretion of the organization. However, if your area of selection in the internal advertised process was only open to members of one or more of the employment equity groups, then the area of recourse must appear in the notification. So, this information is also consistent with the information provided to candidates on the Self-Declaration Information on canada.ca web page, which we've provided in our link slide as well.
Steven Davidson: So, Catherine, as you were answering that question, we have another one.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yes.
Steven Davidson: So, the question is: How can we use the PSC's student programs to support employment equity hiring? So, in this case, organizations may limit their search to students that have self-declared in one of the employment equity groups or used the tailored PSC student programs such as the Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities, and the Indigenous Student Employment Opportunity. This would be done in accordance with the organizational employment equity plan or diversity and inclusion strategy, or within the scope of governmental strategies such as the accessibility strategy. The PSC programs are in place to provide options for organizations to fill their current or anticipated EE gaps, or to address diversity and inclusion objectives that are based on clear and sufficient documented evidence.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: It's a good question. So, as you were talking, so we actually got more questions, and I'll answer this third one now. So, the question is: How can organizations obtain statistical evidence of underrepresentation for employment equity subgroups to support the broader goals of diversity and inclusion? So, this is also a great question. So, with respect to employment equity, underrepresentation can only be established for the four designated groups which we've mentioned, and workforce availability for EE subgroups are not available. Therefore, organizations can not calculate underrepresentation for any of the subgroups. However, I think Steven mentioned this maybe a bit earlier, but it's a really good thing to point out. So, for diversity and inclusion objectives, organizations may establish and apply an organizational need for these subgroups, for example, these subgroups such as Black peoples. So, as we've mentioned during the presentation, the organization should have a rationale and be able to provide supporting evidence to justify hiring of members of these subgroups. So, these examples can include statistical evidence of underrepresentation, it can be testimonials with demonstrated evidence of underrepresentation through, let's say, an employment systems review or other sources of information like reports, studies, the accessibility benchmark, or any Government of Canada commitment for this matter.
Steven Davidson: So, as I was listening to your response, I have another question. This one's interesting. So, the question is: Can organizations limit or expand the area of selection to support the broader goal of diversity and inclusion? Now, I like the way this is phrased because we did touch on this on a couple of occasions, but I think it's important to take a deeper look at this because this is actually representative of many of the questions that the staffing support division receives from organizations on this topic. So, the answer here is no, and this is because Section 34 of the PSEA only allows the area of selection to be established using geographic, organizational or occupational criteria, or by establishing as a criteria belonging to any of the designated groups within the meaning of Section 3 of the Employment Equity Act.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah, and as we've talked about as well, the diversity and inclusion definition is not stated in the EE act, so it wouldn't fall under the PSEA Section 34. So, that's a really good thing that we pointed out again. And it looks like we have another question, and I'll take this one, Steven, so: If an organization decides to establish an organizational need for employment equity, or diversity and inclusion purposes, at what stage of the appointment process could it be applied? So, we've touched a bit on this as well. And this is fun because there's the flexibility with this component. So, it depends on the strategy you have established for your process as a hiring manager in collaboration with your HR advisor, and many elements could factor into your decision, such as the number of applicants, how many positions do you need to fill, whether you plan on establishing a qualified pool. So, these are relevant considerations that can be discussed with the sub-delegated manager because there is a lot of flexibility in the order of assessment for this.
Steven Davidson: And what is important, especially in our current context, where we're talking a lot about the preference provisions of the Public Service Employment Act with this question, and we did mention it in this presentation, but just so that we really do have an opportunity to communicate this very clearly, that in the context of an external advertised appointment process, we really need to be careful because Subsection 39-1 mandates that if we have qualified veterans, for example, that they need to be appointed first regardless whether or not they meet the, whether or not they are a part of the employment equity group or meet that specific organizational need. So, just to remind everyone of that point. So, I'll be happy to answer the next question, Catherine.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: I think maybe, I'm just looking at the time, maybe we have time for one more or two? Do you think we have time for two, Steven, or just one more?
Steven Davidson: I think we have time for at least one more question.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Yeah? Okay.
Steven Davidson: Perhaps two. So, we'll see how this one goes. So: How does an organizational need at the subgroup level impact the, sorry, the area of selection? So, as previously mentioned, while it is possible to open the area of selection to designated, the designated group, in accordance with the Employment Equity Act and apply an organizational need at the subgroup level for diversity and inclusion objectives, organizations should be cautious as this may create inconsistencies. So, what we mean by this is if an organization restricts the area of selection to members of visible minorities and applies an organizational need to increase the representation of the Black community, for example, there is a potential issue for members of visible minorities who may have qualified in the process, but who were not chosen because they did not belong to the Black community. So, given this incompatibility, you may wish to consider the impact this could have on others who were excluded, for example, by prioritizing the hiring of Black candidates but also using this process to hire other visible minorities, for example.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: That's a really good question. So, do you want to take the last one, Steven, or should I go?
Steven Davidson: That's fine, Catherine. I could take this one.
Catherine Fortin-Dorego: Okay.
Steven Davidson: So, I see when it came in, and it's about employment equity subgroups, so: Is it possible to use employment equity subgroups as a diversity and inclusion organizational need? So, the answer to this is relatively short. The answer is yes, but it needs a rationale to be established for diversity and inclusion purposes, and the deputy head in your organization has this authority and the authority to set merit criteria, which may target subgroups to address those diversity goals. So, just to close up here, for all of your other questions that we didn't get to, because they're very important questions and we want to answer them, so for all your other questions or to discuss any specific situations, please contact your corporate staffing unit or your organization's PSC Staffing Support Advisor. So, that would be Catherine or I, or someone else on our team. And on behalf of both of us, we'd just like to thank you very much for your participation in this session and we hope that you will leave with a deeper understanding of the subject matter that we discussed today, as well as ideas for how you could implement staffing options to support employment equity, and diversity, inclusion, under the Public Service Employment Act in your work. So, it is now my pleasure to turn the presentation back over to Sabrina.
Sabrina Pepe: Thank you very much, Steven and Catherine. That was great. Very dynamic. So, many thanks to all of you for joining us today. We hope you found this event quite useful. Please note that the session was recorded and will be available temporarily on the Canada School of Public Service YouTube site in the next few days for your viewing. We also invite you to fill out the short evaluation questionnaire that you will receive by e-mail in the next few minutes. And once again, thank you for your participation and we look forward to seeing you again.
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