Moving forward: Building a respectful workplace culture—Standing Committee on Public Accounts: Office of the Auditor General Audit on Respect in the Workplace (January 28, 2021)

Tracking performance

The Auditor General recommended in his audit that the CBSA develop a comprehensive strategy based on risks and be supported by action plans.

Our new Building a Respectful Workplace Strategy will enable us to record our progress and ensure that we remain on-track to meet our targets.

This Strategy will establish a sound baseline and identify targets for action in areas at risk. It will help us retain and recruit talented individuals; increase our productivity; improve overall organizational health, which in turn will increase performance, employee engagement, and reduce absenteeism/turnover; and deliver optimal service to Canadians.

We will achieve this by tracking reported claims of harassment and discrimination, using informal conflict resolution, training, the attainment of service standards, and employee satisfaction surveys.

Our new mechanism will allow us to objectively monitor and assess our progress resulting in improvements to our workplace.

It is expected that through the Strategy and its Execution Plan, the organization will ultimately support an engaged and productive workforce where there is an openness and willingness to have an on-going dialogue by measuring the number of complaints received and assessing qualitative data collected.

If pressed on Governance

We have committees in place to ensure horizontal coordination, reporting and communication and oversight of the Agency's comprehensive plan and its implementation. Members include myself, the Executive Vice-President and our senior management cadre.

We also have a few senior level committees to monitor and report on human resources including, most notably, the Human Resources Executive Committee comprised of Vice-Presidents and chaired by myself. This committee provides timely oversight, proactive management and decision-making as the comprehensive strategy rolls out.

I would also like to underscore that the Minister of Public Safety is keen to see progress on this file. As such, we have committed to providing Minister Blair with bi-annual updates on the Agency's progress. This has been in place since 2018.

CBSA overview of major actions (timeline)

Integrity Strategy (February 2017)

• Aligns with the Clerks' Safe Workspaces Report
• Seeks to improve: CBSA's prevention and guidance, response mechanisms and workplace restoration
• Enables agency to move forward with key initiatives, such as the National Integrity Centre of Expertise (NICE)
• Strategy focuses on: communications and outreach, resolving harassment issues early on, work with other government departments (DND, RCMP, CRA, Statistics Canada)

Privy Council Office (PCO) "Safe Workplaces" Report (2018)

• The Clerk's 14 recommended actions are captured under five themes:
  • Support for Employees, Leadership, Improving Response Capacity, Skills Development and Best Practices, Making Use of our Data
  • As of now, CBSA has implemented 9 out of 14 recommendations
• CBSA's strategy on Building a Respectful Workplace was developed in response to this report
• Our Strategy aligns with Report and will address all recommendations raised in the Report

Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence) (October 2018)

• Came into force on January 1, 2021
• CBSA has new obligations such as:
  • developing a Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Policy and complimentary training
  • conducting assessment of workplace to identify risks of harassment and violence and implement preventive measures
  • reviewing the policy and training every 3 years
• New regulations deal with a full spectrum of reprehensible behaviours, ranging for teasing and bullying to sexual harassment and physical violence
• CBSA is working with CIU, PIPSC, and CAPE (applicable partners)

Comprehensive Leadership Development Strategy (2018)

• This strategy is one piece of our wide-ranging, all-inclusive ONEhr plan that was launched in 2017
• Establishes a methodology and rigor in the selection and development of leaders
• Provides training and guidance for new and existing leaders in the Agency
• 91% of executives and 62% of middle managers have completed character based leadership assessments
• Character based leadership identifies the strengths and weaknesses of our management team

Informal Conflict Management System (April 2019)

• Helps managers and employees address workplace conflict promptly and constructively on a voluntary and confidential basis by using alternative dispute resolution method
• Offers consultation, conflict resolution/effective communication coaching, conflict group intervention, facilitation, and a variety of customized preventative training activities
• Complements existing rights-based processes (grievances, staffing or harassment complaints)
• CBSA has eight advisors in place to support employees

National Integrity Centre of Expertise (April 2019)

• Endorsed in July 2018 and launched in April 2019
• Brings together the new Harassment Prevention and Resolution Office, the Values and Ethics Office, and the Informal Conflict Management Office under one roof
• Offers a safe place to discuss disrespectful behaviours, for employees and managers, to get information about the management, resolution and reporting of harassment
• The NICE has 24 full time equivalents that are available to provide for advice, guidance, support and for help on how to resolve the situation
• Since its launch an increase in the number of complaints has been noted which is a indicator that employee feel safe to bring issues forward and feel that issues will be addressed

CBSA's Culture Strategy (February 2019)

• A central piece to the CBSA Culture Strategy is the Culture Diagnostique that was rolled out in February 2020
• It examined data from:
  • Listening tour (400 employees participated from May 2018 to November 2019)
  • Culture Design Workshops (25 employees to analyse date from Listening Tour)
  • 2018 PSES Results (6,377 respondents, representing a 43.4% response rate falling below the public service response rate of 57.7%)
  • Renewal Volunteers Culture Survey (406 volunteers a survey to support change in the Agency)
  • Executive Forum on Leading CBSA Renewal
  • Character-based Leadership Workshops (focused on assessing and developing leader characteristics)
• Findings in 2019 diagnostique:
  • Positive and negative feedback from employees
  • Employees want more honest two-way communication
• Work underway:
  • Reshaping employee communications approach
  • Building change management capacity of all leaders
  • Creating a robust new Manager Development Program
  • Continuous employee engagement and monitoring of progress