Supplementary information—Standing Committee on Public Accounts: Office of the Auditor General Audit on Respect in the Workplace (January 28, 2021)

Management Response Action Plan

CBSA detailed action plan to the recommendations for the Audit of Respect in the Workplace as part of the reports of Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG)

Recommendation 1

The Canada Border Services Agency and the Correctional Services of Canada should develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to address harassment, discrimination and workplace violence. Each strategy should be based on risk and supported by action plans with clear accountabilities and performance monitoring for continual improvement.

CBSA response

Agreed. The CBSA agrees with the recommendation and will develop and implement a comprehensive strategy by March 2020 and monitor the results by December 2021.

The strategy will build on key elements that have already been implemented such as:

1. a zero tolerance policy for workplace harassment, discrimination and violence
2. the approved February 2017 Integrity Strategy which enhances Agency-wide training and awareness activities (for example, Occupational Health and Safety in the Workplace, Violence Prevention in the Workplace, Diversity and Race Relations, Values, Ethics and Disclosure of Wrongdoing at CBSA, Mental Health Awareness and Creating a Respectful Workplace) as well as reinforces management responsibilities, strengthens workplace support and renews its mental health strategy
3. the National Integrity Centre of Expertise, created in spring 2019, which brings together the new Harassment Prevention and Resolution Office, the Values and Ethics Office, and Informal Conflict Management Office. It provides support, guidance, resources and offers a safe place to discuss disrespectful behaviours. The national centre provides services to employees and managers regarding resolution and reporting and will ensure consistent application of the policies and procedures

The new strategy also accounts for the implementation of Bill C-65 to ensure that employees better understand their rights and access the appropriate complaint mechanism.

Description of final expected outcome/result

The CBSA will put in place a comprehensive strategy that addresses harassment, discrimination and workplace violence.

Medium to long term success will result in:

• Reduction in incidents of harassment / discrimination / workplace violence, following an anticipated short term influx as a result of employees feeling increasingly comfortable in reporting without fear of reprisal. This will serve as the new baseline against which future improvements will be assessed
• Increased employee morale and wellness, thereby boosting productivity and business outcomes
• Improved organizational culture, thereby providing the Agency with a competitive advantage through higher employee engagement and decreasing turnover and absenteeism rates
• Improved recruitment and retention seeing as the CBSA will be better positioned to recruit and retain top talent

Together, these outcomes will ultimately allow for the CBSA to more optimally deliver on its mandate to Canadians, thereby moving the Agency further towards its commitment to service excellence, all the while ensuring Canada's safety and security.

Expected final completion date

December 2021

Key interim milestones

The CBSA has developed a comprehensive risk- based strategy to ensure a respectful workplace free of harassment, discrimination and violence. The strategy will help mitigate the risk that CBSA's workplace culture will negatively impact employee recruitment and retention; employee satisfaction; employee productivity; and workplace conflict.

This strategy will build upon action the Agency has already taken to improve employee well-being and workplace culture, such as:

• Improving the way leaders are selected and developed in the organization using a new, more rigorous, character-based methodology
• Completed a Culture Diagnostique to hear directly from employees about their perceptions and concerns and identify root causes of issues involving workplace culture
• Created the National Integrity Center of Expertise to provide a centralized and integrated approach to addressing harassment and discrimination complaints
• Introduced improved performance monitoring for executives to ensure the strategy will be executed effectively at all levels

While 2019 Public Service Employee Survey results show positive early signs of progress, CBSA recognizes that much more needs to be done, which will be undertaken through this strategy.

The strategy is designed to allow flexibility to make surgical interventions in areas requiring immediate attention and will have a 3-pronged approach emphasizing prevention, responsiveness and workplace restoration.

Pillar 1, prevention, will take proactive action to improve workplace culture and prevent unacceptable behaviour with improved employee onboarding, performance discussions, training and regular feedback from employees.

CBSA will monitor performance of efforts by tracking indicators such as number of complaints (with the expectation that number of complaints are likely to increase in the short-term as fear of reprisal decreases), reported claims of harassment and discrimination, qualitative data collected from various sources and usage of training and informal conflict management.

Pillar 2, responsiveness will focus on improving processes to achieve greater effectiveness, consistency, and timeliness in addressing incidents when they occur. Performance will be monitored against established service standards, measuring timeliness of resolution processes, percentage of claims leading to thirty party investigation and client satisfaction.

Pillar 3, workplace restoration, will focus on restoring workplaces following resolution of incidents by helping managers and employees move forward positively with greater support and tools. Performance will be monitored by assessing workplace health following the resolution of incidents.

Key recommendation milestones

• Develop Standard Operating Procedures for the recourse mechanisms (March 2020)
• Develop methodology to identify risk areas concerning a respectful workplace (March 2020)
• Approve an overarching policy framework dealing with employee recourse mechanisms (March 2020)
• Identify risk indicators (Key Performance Indicators – KPI) as required (June 2020)
• Review and update the policy instruments (December 2020)
• Develop training material and training delivery model (NICE) (December 2020)
• Complete the implementation and roll out of the strategy (December 2020)
• Monitor programs' strategy results using the established KPIs after it has been in place for a period of 1 year (December 2021)

CBSA will begin providing regular progress updates on the attainment of key milestones and achievement of results within six months. Performance updates will be reviewed at the ministerial, senior management (Deputy Minister level and Director General level governance committees) and executive levels.

Recommendation 2

The Canada Border Services Agency and the Correctional Services of Canada should consistently inform employees of informal processes available for resolving harassment and workplace violence.

CBSA response

Agreed. The CBSA agrees with the recommendation and modified its approach in April 2019 to inform employees of their options to access informal conflict resolution processes. Specifically for harassment complaints, the CBSA developed a template letter in September 2019 which included a paragraph recommending the use of the Informal Conflict Management Systems (ICMS) as an option to resolve the complaint informally. This letter is provided to all persons who submit a harassment complaint.

The use of alternative dispute resolutions mechanisms are always encouraged when employees makes a workplace violence complaint. In addition, the alternative dispute mechanisms are referenced in many, but not all, complaint acknowledgement letters from the Agency to the employee, based on individual case details and requirements. In most cases, the complainant immediately requests that a competent person be appointed to formally investigate the matter. The Agency also ensures that information related to ICMS is widely accessible to all employees through the Agency's intranet and the delivery of awareness sessions.

Description of final expected outcome/result

All parties contacted by an ICMS practitioner to discuss the possibility of resolving the complaint with an informal mechanism.

Expected final completion date

Completed

Key interim milestones

2.1 The Agency has taken a proactive approach to all harassment complaint files where both the respondent and the complainant are contacted directly by a trained ICMS practitioner who offers both parties the services available to resolve the complaint informally. While the use of ICMS is voluntary for both parties it has been demonstrated that reaching out directly to the parties has positive results. ICMS provides employees and managers with an open an transparent tool to allow issues to be mitigated. The CBSA is now taking a proactive approach to provide awareness and trust in the system. (Completed April 2019)

The acknowledgement letters for violence in the workplace complaints have been amended to ensure complainants are aware that informal resolution remains an option at all times. (Completed September 2019)

Recommendation 3

The Canada Border Services Agency and the Correctional Services of Canada should complete and document their assessment to support decisions when handling harassment, discrimination and workplace violence complaints.

CBSA response

Agreed. The CBSA agrees with the recommendation and as of April 2019, all harassment files are being processed through the National Integrity Centre of Expertise (NICE). The NICE ensures that all complaints are processed in a standard manner. For example, complaints received by the central unit are processed against a checklist to ensure that all of the documents and key steps required are documented, including a detailed analysis of each allegation.

The Canada Labour Code, Part II does not prescribe the process and documentation requirements for workplace violence complaints; however, the Agency is applying a consistent approach for documenting all files.

Description of final expected outcome/result

The processing of complaints is documented in a consistent manner throughout the Agency.

Expected final completion date

Completed

Key interim milestones

3.1 All harassment files are now being processed through the NICE. The NICE will ensure that all complaints are processed in a standard manner. (Completed April 2019)

Harassment process map

Figure 1 - Text version

Harassment complaint mapping process - Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Complaint process:

• Acknowledgement (Separation of parties explored by Management)
• Analysis
• Decision
• HPR reaches out
  • If it does not meet definition
    • Referral to ICMS
  • If it meets definition (mandatory and formal process)
    • Investigation
    • Preliminary report
    • Final report
    • Delegated authority decision
    • Restoration
    At any stage, referral to ICMS may apply (optional and informal)

Discrimination complaint process

There are potentially three stages for resolving a discrimination complaint through the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC). Complaints may go through only one of the stages, two of them or all three before being resolved.

Stage 1: Before a formal complaint is filed

Inquiry and screening

Every potential discrimination complaint starts with a call or a letter to the CHRC. The potential complainant explains why they want to file a complaint.

Stage 2: After a formal complaint is filed

Notification

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will be notified in writing that the CHRC has received a discrimination complaint. The CBSA then has the opportunity to provide the CHRC with information on why they should not move forward with the complaint.

A report, along with any submissions from the CBSA and the complainant, is provided to CHRC members. The CHRC members will then decide whether or not to move forward with the complaint. At this stage, mediation could be offered.

Mediation

The mediation process is voluntary and confidential. It provides both sides with the opportunity to explain their understanding of the issues and attempt to resolve the concerns that led to the complaint.

If the mediation is successful, both sides must sign a settlement agreement, which would outline what each party has decided to do, to resolve the dispute.

If the mediation is unsuccessful, the CHRC will decide if the discrimination complaint should proceed to investigation.

Investigation

During the investigation process, the investigator may:

• Speak with the CBSA and the complainant
• Interview any witnesses
• Review any supporting documents
• Decide whether there is evidence to support the allegations in the complaint

Once the investigation has taken place, the investigator may prepare a report to either dismiss the complaint, send it to conciliation or refer it to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The investigation report will be shared with the CBSA and the complainant, and both parties will have the opportunity to make written comments on the report.

The CHRC's decision

After analyzing the investigation report, the CHRC members will decide to either dismiss the complaint, send it to conciliation or refer it to the Tribunal. The CHRC's decisions are final.

Stage 3: After the CHRC's decision

Conciliation

If the matter is sent to conciliation, which is similar to the mediation process, the Agency's participation in the process is deemed mandatory. As part of this process, a window of 3 to 4 months may be given to settle the discrimination complaint. If a settlement is not reached, the case could be sent back to the CHRC, and possibly to the Tribunal for a formal hearing.

The Tribunal

If the matter is sent to the Tribunal, the CHRC no longer controls the complaint. The Tribunal will hold a hearing and ask both parties to provide documents and call witnesses for support.

After the hearing takes place, the Tribunal will either dismiss the complaint or find that there has been discrimination. If the Tribunal finds that there has been discrimination, it can order corrective measures, such as a change in policies or practices, paying the complainant lost wages, giving them the job back, awareness training or other compensation.

Judicial review

If the CBSA or the complainant disagrees with the decision made by the CHRC or the Tribunal, the CBSA can ask the Federal Court to review the decision.

Workplace violence process

The Agency's workplace violence complaint process is in line with Canada's Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.

The process consists of identifying whether or not we (the delegated CBSA manager with guidance from Labour Relations) accept the complaint after discussing the matter with all involved parties. This is based on whether the allegation meets the definition of workplace violence.

If screened out, the complainant may refer to the Labour Program at Employment and Social Development Canada, which will independently review and render a decision of compliance or a direction to appoint a competent person (CP), a third party investigator who is qualified (competent) through a formal procurement process, to investigate the allegations.

If we internally move forward with the complaint, we strive to resolve the issue as quickly as possible in all cases. If the matter is not resolved, we bring in an independent/competent person to investigate and provide us with findings and recommendations.