Sound Management

The Commission is committed to sound management in all aspects of its work, particularly with respect to resource management, whether financial or human resources. During the reporting period, a particular emphasis was placed on deepening our learning culture and expanding learning opportunities. The focus was also on the development of operational measures to ensure timely and effective service to those seeking to address human rights issues in federal and federally regulated workplaces.

A Healthy Workplace

The Commission provides a safe and healthy workplace environment, as well as opportunities for its employees to learn and develop – 87% of Commission employees have chosen to complete individual learning plans. A learning culture is essential for peak performance at all levels. A Learning Advisory Committee guides learning investments within the organization, and assesses their relative benefit. The Commission has begun work on a comprehensive workplace health initiative, of which learning will be a key part.

An informal conflict management system is in place to resolve workplace issues early, before they have a chance to grow. The Labour Management Consultation Committee (LMCC) provides a forum for discussion of human resources issues with the Commission's bargaining agents. Throughout 2006, the Committee continued to hold its quarterly meetings. An LMCC sub-working group was also established to work on more sensitive issues and provide advice on opportunities for improvement.

The Commission continues to foster diversity in its workforce and continuously strives to increase its representation of designated groups beyond basic levels. All designated groups were adequately represented in the Commission’s workforce, either meeting or exceeding the Commission’s employment equity targets overall and in all categories. The Commission’s targets are set by the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada on the basis of 2001 Census data, and reflect the categories of employment in our workforce.

As of December 31, 2006, the Commission had 169 employees, of whom:

• 66.3% were women against a target of 62.1%;
• 14.2% were persons with disabilities against a target of 3.4%;
• 10.1% were members of visible minorities against a target of 8.6%;
• 3.6% were Aboriginal people against a target of 2.5%.

The Commission is committed to providing a fully bilingual workplace where staff may choose to work in their official language of choice.

• 76.3% of positions at the Commission were designated bilingual imperative, 22.5% were English essential, and 1.2% were either English or French.
• 51.5% of employees said their mother tongue was English and 48.5% French.

Staff turnover in 2006 was 22.5%, after four years of being around 10% per year. We are seeking to better understand the shift. It may be part of a natural outflow at the end of a four-year change initiative. The Commission is also experiencing change at the top. A new Secretary General took office in December 2006 and the search for a new Chief Commissioner was still underway at the end of 2006. The Commission is in the process of assessing its workforce requirements as it engages in greater stakeholder outreach, as well as what is needed to attract and maintain a diverse and highly skilled workforce in a high-demand labour market.

Stewardship

The Commission has policies, procedures and guidelines in place to ensure the necessary frameworks in key program and corporate areas, including finance, human resources, procurement, and information management. Horizontal oversight committees at the Director General level ensure a consistent community of practice and recommend future directions to the Secretary General and the Senior Management Committee. During 2006, the Commission also fully and successfully implemented a Record, Document, Information Management System (RDIMS).

Performance Measurement

The Commission has developed a set of reliable reports or "dashboards" of operational performance. At any given time, these allow the Commission to pinpoint issues, gauge the efficiency of its operations, assess the probability of a backlog developing, and take targeted corrective measures if required. An integrated performance report is presented to Commissioners on a monthly basis, and to Parliament and the public at large through the annual tabling of the Commission’ s Annual Report, Report on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Report.