Exploring the Recruitment and Retention of New …...New Public Servants joined the public service...

1 Facing the Future Institute of Public Administration of Canada (C) Copyright (January, 2016) All Rights Reserved

Exploring the Recruitment and Retention

of New Public Servants in Canada

The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC)

1075 Bay Street, Suite 401, Toronto, ON M5S 2B1 Canada

January, 2016


Contents

The Story of New Public Servants /3 Who Responded to Our Survey /4 Reasons for joining the Public Service /5 Expected Length of Stay /5

The recruitment process /6

Planning a career in the Public Service /7

Comparing perceptions with Senior Executives /8

The Way Forward: Improving recruitment and retention processes /9

New Public Servants at a Glance /10

Endnotes /10

About Us The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC), founded in 1947, is a dynamic association of public servants,

academics, and others interested in public administration. Anchored by our 18 regional groups, we’re a membership-based

organization that creates knowledge networks and leads public administration research in Canada. We harness the ideas

presented in our prestigious publications, conferences and awards to stimulate innovation and the creative exchange of ideas and best practices among public servants, academics and students of public administration.


The Story of New Public Servants There is a growing concern that Canada’s public sector may be falling short of attracting and retaining the best and brightest to its ranks. Some perceive that the newest (and often youngest) recruits to public service are less passionate about their jobs and may be less committed to sticking around. This could hinder succession planning and limit our capacity to bring new and innovative approaches to the work that we do. A recent IPAC survey of new public servants offers fresh insights and helps to dispel some of these perceptions.

We found that new public servants are committed to making a difference in the lives of others and are also attracted to government work because it offers an island of stability and a more attractive work/life balance. Many recent entrants also found that their education was a good fit with their new job. However, many newcomers were not happy with the recruitment process itself and felt there was a lack of support for career development once they were in the job. It also appears that the Canadian public service has trouble with retention, especially for the long term (more than 10 years). New public servants also expressed concern that there were limited opportunities for innovation and working horizontally.

Strengthening in the areas of recruitment, onboarding, recognition, and career planning stand to significantly improve the perceptions of

new public servants about their workplace.

New Public Servants joined the public service because they were looking for a stable job, believed they could make a difference and found a good fit for their education.

85% joined for a stable

job

62% expected to help others

and make a difference

When they joined, almost half expected to have a long career in public service (more than 10 years).

Today that number has shrunk in every jurisdiction with many looking to stay 5-10 years or less.

48% originally expected to stay

more than 10 years

42% now expect to stay more

than 10 years

Why? Very few New Public Servants were satisfied with the support they received when they first joined the public service and many believe there are limited opportunities for recognition and career development.

46% were happy with their

onboarding experience

33% believe that they receive

recognition for their work

37% feel that there are

advancement opportunities

New Professionals also have a different perception than senior managers with respect to government’s willingness to embrace change and innovation, along with opportunities to work with other teams.

29% New Public Servants feel that change is

effectively managed 66% Executives feel that change is

effectively managed

28% New Public Servants agree there are

opportunities to work across portfolios 78% Executives agree there are opportunities

to work across portfolios

56% found it a good fit with

their education


Who Responded to the Survey?

In 2015, IPAC launched its first ever New Public Servants Survey which was intended to measure and assess how this group experienced working in the public service. Although almost 7,000 responses were received, when we take the most common definition of new public servants (those who have been employed in the public service for five or less years), we have a respectable 4,657 answers to draw upon.

The respondents come overwhelmingly from provincial and territorial governments (3,998) and in smaller percentage from the federal one (441) with the balance consisting of local jurisdictions, agencies, crown corporations and so forth. The geographical distribution is rather varied as can be gleaned from the table on this page. It should be noted that in some cases (like with the Northwest Territories and Prince Edward Island) the number of responses reflects the smaller numbers of new public servants employed but still represents a response rate over 25% for that jurisdiction. In sum, while we should be aware of the limitations that exist in the data set, when we look at this data through a ‘Canadian’ lens we can still see a series of interesting trends emerging.

Geographical Distribution of Respondents Location Responses Percentage

AB 1,316 28.3%

BC 41 0.9%

MB 418 9.0%

NB 17 0.4%

NL 29 0.6%

NS 104 2.2%

NWT 241 5.2%

NU - 0.0%

ON 461 9.9%

PEI 104 2.2%

QUE 1,551 33.3%

SASK 365 7.8%

YT 7 0.2%

Total 4,654

Demographic Profile of the Respondents

Respondents to our survey are mostly female, and three

quarters are under forty years of age. However, other

age groups are also evident.

They are well educated, with a clear predominance of

people with degrees (76%); particularly in business and

the social sciences field.

Before joining the public service they worked in the

private sector (75%), in NGOs (29%) and in the non-profit

sector (27%).

5.1%

18.9%

43.8%

32.2%

Secondary school

Diploma

University degree

Graduate or professional degree

0.4%

41.4% 39.5%

11.8%

4.5% 2.3%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

Under 20 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-55 Over 55

4.4%

27.0%

68.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Health Sciences Sciences Social Sciences


Expected Length of Stay

In the near future, public administrations will face a ‘double crunch’ in their human resources. On the one hand there will be an increasing number of retirements and on the other, a growing expectation that turnover rates will increase as employees seek stimulating opportunities elsewhere (especially amongst younger generations). Public service succession and retention strategies have tried to convince new public servants to develop a career within government. Have they succeeded? We know many new public servants join for all of the right reasons, which makes them very good candidates for a long career. The survey asked respondents to compare the length of stay they planned when they first joined against what they expect it to be now. We see that respondents wishing to stay more than ten years drop (significantly) from 48.1% to 41.8%. There is also an increase (4.1%) among those who are uncertain. While it may be difficult to determine the reasons for this change in expectation, our survey suggests it may be related to career development and advancement prospects. It may also be influenced by the work environment (opportunities for innovation and working horizontally).

While there is a core of new public servants who will stay for the long term, more could be done to better understand why others who appear perfectly aligned to the values and ideals of the public service may

decide to leave a very stable job environment.

I expect my public service career to be

When Joined Today Difference

Less than 1 year 4.0% 4.1% -0.1%

1-4 years 17.2% 15.7% 1.5%

5-10 years 14.9% 18.6% -3.7%

More than 10 years 48.1% 41.8% 6.3%

Not sure 15.7% 19.8% +4.1%

56.3% 62.2%

85.1%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

Government workwas a good fit with

my education

I wanted to make adifference in others'

lives

I was looking for along-term, stable job

Reasons for Joining the Public Service New public servants have been at the core of many succession strategies and have increasingly attracted the attention of Human Resources specialists. Because the public service will construct its future upon this group, it is critical to understand the motivations that lead individuals to join. In our survey we explored the reasons that led thousands of Canadians to join the ranks of the public service. As might be anticipated, almost nine in ten (85.1%) saw a stable job environment as a positive attraction for joining public service. In addition, over half of respondents (56.3%) said that public service was a good fit with their education. While there may be a general perception that new public servants are less passionate about their jobs, we found that almost two thirds (62.2%) of new public servants joined because they want to make a difference in the lives of others. This is an important characteristic of this group and can be linked to other aspects to help understand the overall rationale for joining public service. For example, having a passion for public service could lead someone to also highly value a stable job because it would allow them to continue to make a difference for others over the long-term. This trait could have also influenced their choice of education. It makes sense for this group to be attracted to a work environment that would allow them to employ the skills and capacities they have developed. Debunking another myth, we found that very few respondents saw government work as an opportunity to gain experience before moving on to the private sector. We also asked respondents why they believe their friends and colleagues didn’t apply to government competitions. While pay and salary growth were thought to be an important consideration, they also believed that others saw government work as less flexible and too rigid.


The Recruitment Process

The survey inquired about the perceptions that New Public

Servants have about the recruitment process they experienced.

Most expressed concern and identified opportunities for

improvement from the process that they experienced. Almost 87%

of respondents saw good information about the job as important.

The second most important factor for New Public Servants was a

fast hiring process. In our survey we identified ‘fast’ as a two

months period. However, many felt that this timeline was not close

to being reasonably fast.

New public servants want to receive better communication during and after the hiring process:

Feedback: many of the comments we received from the

survey highlight the need for more information being shared with applicants. Respondents noted a strong need for better and more frequent communication from HR personnel on the status of their applications.

Precise information about salary and benefits: this was

highlighted as lacking by some. Unpublished salary ranges and unclear HR benchmarks seem to hurt the confidence of new public servants in the hiring process.

Better communication about job expectations: applicants

considered lacking or general information a hindrance when preparing for an interview.

They also would like to see changes occurring in the hiring process itself:

Less formulaic process: often we heard that interview and

online questions were stock/unoriginal and sometimes appeared to be unrelated to the actual position applied for.

Equivalencies and previous experience: some of the

respondents felt their previous work experience wasn’t properly assessed or that the system did not adequately take it into consideration.

Revise and update the tools: many comments suggested

that the tools used for hiring were antiquated and highlighted the need to update, better target, and make less cumbersome the system used for hiring. This includes online questionnaires, logic tests, interviews and us

e of social media.

Lengthy Hiring not Unusual

Hiring is taking longer across the world and most of this seems to be

dependent on changes in the hiring process itself, regardless of the

candidates or positions that are being filled .1

Comparatively, we find that the on average the interview process for

governments in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the

Unites States lasts between 50 and 60 days. This is at least twice as

long as any other sector. Legal and institutional constraints strongly

influence the duration of the interview, as do labour market

regulations.

That said, slow hiring processes tend to damage the brand image of the hiring organization and may result in the best candidates not

applying or being hired by faster organizations.

Making a Good First Impression

The need for talent in government is a constant and the need to

make government an attractive choice in a highly competitive job

market has always been crtical.2

The challenges that we have highlighted here are well understood.

The ability of the HR function in public administrations to become

more flexible as the public service moves further away from a

Weberian model and towards an innovative and dynamic one is likely

to be a critical step in improving its brand and in increasing its appeal

to a new generation of public servants.

New public servants are attracted to government because of deep-

seated preferences. If they find their first contact with it slow,

unresponsive, conventional and unduly complex, it is likely to leave a

lasting impression.


Needing More Support

New public servants seem to have a dynamic understanding of how their career planning should develop. There is a focus on meaningful and innovative work that is closely flanked by a desire for appropriate support for career development - from the more formal performance management tools to the availability of mentors. 66% of new public servants feel that there is more of a priority for cost efficiencies than for effective management of HR. Although driven, new public servants feel more could be done to enable them to reach their full potential.

Planning a Career in the Public Service

In our survey we asked new public servants to rate both the importance and the level of satisfaction of various elements of their career and workplace.The chart below shows those results measured as a 1 to 5 index. While the public service is doing well in terms of showing general support from management and in giving new public servants the opportunity to do meaningful work, the area of performance management and career development seems to fall short. In particular, there appears to be a great deal of concern about the availability of learning and development plans or associated budgets. In between fall a variety of indicators such as the ability to be innovative and support for learning and development.3

While the public service succeeds on a key indicator (meaningful work), which was one of the main motivators for new public servants to join, it has a bit of work to do in other areas particularly in support of career development.

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00Importance Satisfaction


Comparing Perceptions with Senior Executives

An interesting question about new public servants is whether they – as the potential future leaders of the public service – hold different

opinions on priority areas from current leaders. To assess this aspect, we asked new public servants some of the same questions that were

included a recent survey of public sector executives (IPAC Deputy Ministers’ Survey, 2014). In a comparison of the respective results we found

that the two groups often have dissimilar views especially on government’s ability to lead and manage change (innovation) and how well the

organization is able to offer opportunities to work horizontally (collaboration).

Overseeing and driving change is well managed

29.1%

65.5%

New Public Servants Executives

There is adequate flexibility to allow staff to work across portfolios within the organization

27.8%

77.7%

New Public Servants Executives

These two groups disagree on the state of the public service. Some of these differences may indicate the direction of future strategic choices once this generation begins to enter leadership positions and to change what they see as improvable. In particular, only 26.5% of new public servants believe that their organizations are doing a good job of managing the balance between innovation and risk (a third believes we are failing), as opposed to 45.2% of senior executives. This is a critical aspect given that the opportunity to do innovative work is one of the most important drivers for new public servants according to our survey. Of course this also holds out a degree of promise as it is most likely that these individuals will accelerate and expand the scope and reach of innovativeness when they enter into leadership roles themselves. The same is likely to be true for an organization’s ability to support and promote collaboration. New public servants feel that there is a lot less ability to work horizontally, whether it is within their organization, across the public service or with external stakeholders than senior executives believe. Finally we are likely to see changes in the way succession planning and leadership development are structured: 37.3% of Canadian top executives do not think that we have in place adequate systems to train the next generation of leaders. The number rises to 54.3% for new public servants.


THE WAY FORWARD: Improving Recruitment and Retention Processes Our survey helps to develop a clearer image of new public servants across the country and of how they feel about their role within the public administration. The results also help to dispel some of the perceptions that are often held about this group’s attitudes and interests. In this report we explored a variety of dimensions affecting new public servants: from their reasons for joining the public service, to their work experience, to how they see their organization responding to critical priorities. An important focus for all jurisdictions has been ensuring that appropriate retention and succession strategies exist to face the future. In that area, a critical message that comes from our survey results is that we need to improve the recruitment and retention processes for the public service. From rethinking our on-boarding processes, to the development of better targeted recognition programs, to refocusing our career development frameworks, we need to do better if we wish to retain the best and the brightest in public service. Government has a very large advantage over other employment options: it offers new public servants with the opportunity to engage in truly meaningful work that can change lives and affect the world in which we live, something they value very highly. That is an advantage not to be squandered through traditional employment practices.

To attract and retain the next generation of public servants it will be important to:

Enhance our hiring processes to make them more streamlined and engaging through better communications, greater interaction, less standardization and the use of modern tools.

Provide a more welcoming environment by improving our onboarding programs and materials.

Focus on career development by placing a priority on training and developmental opportunities including mentoring, temporary assignments and working horizontally.

More actively engage our newest recruits in change initiatives and other innovation efforts.

Target and communicate more regularly to new public servants on their value and role within the public service.

New Challenges and New Responses

In a more competitive and uncertain world, which is dealing with

increasingly pervasive interconnectedness, rapidly shifting

demographic and economic trends, and where change will be a

constant companion the old models and approaches will fare

poorly. The public service of the future will need to be innovative

and agile to transform those challenges into opportunities.4 It will

need more than ever to attract critical skills and capacities from

across the spectrum. It will require bolder thinking grounded in

effective and excellent analysis and supported by strong

horizontal implementation. It will depend on leaders fostering

cooperation, co-design and co-production with a broad set of

stakeholders.

New Public Servants will be the critical enablers and drivers of

the public service of the future. They can be the vehicles through

which innovation, agility, and boldness become second nature to

our public service.

Canadian governments have the opportunity to ride a rising tide

of innovation and engagement by fostering and enabling their

most critical resource: their personnel.

In the 21st Century, truly successful organizations will shift from

talent mobilization to capacity realization for their members. The

20th Century paradigm of organizational success being the driver

of personal success will increasingly be changed in one where

innovative individuals drive organizational success.

As human resources become more than an input, empowering

those working in our organizations to grow, succeed and change

the world for the better will be the surest way to make our public

service one of which Canadians can be proud.


Endnotes

1. Chamberlain, Andrew. 2015. Why is Hiring Taking Longer? New Insights from Glassdoor Data. Glassdoor. https://research-

content.glassdoor.com/app/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/GD_Report_3.pdf

2. Belcourt, Monica and Simon Taggar. 2002. Making Government the Best Place to Work: Building Commitment. IPAC. New Directions Series.

3. Interestingly enough, younger public servants are those with the highest level of positive responses about career development opportunities in

public service engagement surveys. This is well represented in the Public Service Engagement Survey conducted among Federal employees in

2014. While this is not a perfect overlap for NPS, it a good partial one.

4. This trend is already clear to all jurisdictions and many have begun to address the need for a new framework to drive these changes. For

example the Blueprint 2020 initiative by the Federal Government and the Reaching Our Full Potential by the Government of Alberta are

examples of how this has been done.

NEW PUBLIC SERVANTS AT A GLANCE

This survey of new public servants has highlighted that they:

Are innovative, well-educated and dynamic. Are motivated by a desire to make a difference and

use their talents. They see financial drivers as less important than their friends who chose to not work in government.

Feel slowed down by weak onboarding and orientation processes and by a lack of recognition efforts.

Believe their career could benefit from better career development frameworks and more advancement opportunities.

Feel strongly supported by management and given the chance to engage in meaningful work. They feel they can apply their talents and expertise in the public service.

See some critical priorities of their organizations differently from top executives.

https://research-content.glassdoor.com/app/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/GD_Report_3.pdf

https://research-content.glassdoor.com/app/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/GD_Report_3.pdf

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