Gender-based analysis plus

In 2020–21, the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) will continue delivering on its GBA+ Action Plan (2019–21) to more fully integrate GBA+ across its key activities and business processes. The action plan outlines key goals and planned initiatives with respect to the following pillars:

1. Governance and capacity
2. Awareness and training
3. Integration and impact
4. Data and research
5. Monitoring and reporting

The PSC’s GBA+ Responsibility Centre, located in its Results and Delivery Division, will continue to report internally on progress in implementing GBA+ activities and initiatives listed in the action plan, and to track how GBA+ considerations have informed the development and implementation of key PSC policies, programs and services.

The GBA+ Champion, at the vice-president level, will remain informed and engaged regarding the PSC’s progress in GBA+ implementation, and will create opportunities to raise GBA+ awareness across the PSC. Existing management committees will continue to monitor progress in GBA+ implementation.

In 2020–21, a 0.75 full-time employee will be dedicated to GBA+ implementation across the PSC. This person will act as the GBA+ Focal Point (GBA+ Responsibility Centre). The director of the Results and Delivery Division will oversee GBA+ implementation.

Additional resources from the Results and Delivery Division may be engaged to support specific GBA+ implementation activities. PSC staff across sectors will also be involved in integrating GBA+ considerations into their work.

In 2020–21, the PSC will continue to promote and safeguard a merit-based, representative (including from a gender standpoint) and non-partisan public service that delivers results for all Canadians. This work will remain aligned with key pillars of the Gender Results Framework, such as economic participation and prosperity, as well as leadership and democratic participation.

The PSC will ensure that the potential differential impacts of its policies, programs and services for diverse groups of Canadians are systematically identified and meaningfully addressed. The PSC will continue to integrate GBA+ as it delivers major initiatives, including:

• GC Jobs Transformation: This project aims to replace the current recruitment platform with a flexible, modern, inclusive and user-centric solution that attracts talent to the Government of Canada. By designing for inclusivity from the onset, Canadians will have a more direct and equitable means of searching for and applying to government jobs.
  

  The PSC has held consultations and gathered requirements, and will be conducting further discovery through proofs of concepts, followed by a Treasury Board Submission planned for 2020. The PSC will engage as diverse a group of participants as possible for the proof of concept testing, and will also test the accessibility of the solutions. The GBA+ lens will be applied throughout the project with defined outcomes and performance targets, including inclusiveness and accessibility considerations.

• Public Service Employment Regulations review:  In 2020–21, the PSC will continue its work to review and modernize the Public Service Employment Regulations, ensuring the relevance and capacity of this regulatory framework to meet current and emerging needs of hiring organizations. A GBA+ lens will be applied throughout the process, to ensure that analysis and potential regulatory proposals identify and consider, as appropriate, potential barriers to full participation of different groups of women, men and gender-diverse individuals.
• Employment pillar of the Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada: In 2020–21, the PSC will continue to support the recruitment of persons with disabilities in the federal public service, in keeping with the Government of Canada’s accessibility strategy. This includes continuing to implement the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities. Expected results include the increased economic inclusion of women, men and gender-diverse persons with physical and/or cognitive disabilities.
  

  The PSC’s communications plan focuses on encouraging persons with disabilities to self-declare, and managers to consider hiring a person with a disability in order to build strong and diverse teams. The plan also aims to build awareness of, and encourage hiring managers to use, PSC programs and services that assist in hiring persons with disabilities. The PSC will ensure that it communicates using language that is gender neutral.

Involvement of the GBA+ Responsibility Center in these initiatives will include, but not be limited to:

• advising and supporting sectors on incorporating GBA+ into their work, and developing options to mitigate potential impacts
• identifying and circulating relevant disaggregated data to inform evidence-based considerations of GBA+ factors
• playing a challenge function for key deliverables

In parallel, the GBA+ Responsibility Center will continue to:

• build staff awareness of the PSC’s commitment to integrate GBA+ into its activities
• provide tools and resources to empower PSC employees to effectively integrate GBA+ into their work (for example, through training on mitigating unconscious bias in investigation activities)
• champion the use of disaggregated data to support evidence-based integration of GBA+ considerations in PSC activities

Given the nature and scope of most of these key initiatives, results are expected in the medium term, and will be monitored closely against intended impacts to ensure meaningful integration.

In 2020–21, the PSC will continue gathering microdata on a range of factors related to the application of GBA+ to support the Government of Canada’s strategic recruitment priorities and public service renewal.

Disaggregated data will be collected through the Recruitment and Assessment Services program, which will continue reducing barriers to Canadians in accessing public service jobs, by:

• administering the recruitment platform for the Government of Canada (GC Jobs)
• creating and providing access to time-saving, targeted inventories and specialized recruitment programs and initiatives
• administering personnel assessment and development tests, and monitoring aggregated data on the performance of members of all employment equity groups (women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities) on these tests to ensure that they do not pose non job-related barriers to candidates

Through its Oversight, Monitoring and Non-Partisanship program, the PSC also plans to continue:

• conducting surveys to provide a system-wide view of the staffing environment of the public service, including the 2020 Staffing and Non-Partisanship Survey, which is intended to:
• collect data on key sociodemographic factors (such as including a third gender option, employment equity group membership, level of education, region and first official language)
• allow for detailed analysis of interactions between gender and self-declaration in relation to other employment equity groups
• support a deeper understanding of differences in perceptions of staffing that may exist for various groups, including gender and other identity factors, and their intersectionality
• share data for each participating department and agency on the Open Government portal, allowing them to conduct high-level analysis to uncover opportunities for improvement that are unique to each organization
• conducting research to provide departments and Canadians with an informed view of the dynamics of public service hiring
• monitoring and analyzing information collected through systems such as the Public Service Resourcing System, as well as additional hiring data

Finally, through its Policy Direction and Support program, the PSC will continue managing and overseeing the priority administration system, which aims to help people cope with career transitions due to various life and employment events.

For all of these PSC programs, some of the microdata information (for example, regarding gender, area of residence and educational attainment) will be collected for each applicant or respondent. Other information could be collected based on self-declaration as a member of one or many designated employment equity groups (women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities).