Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
We have trust issues. The passport chaos and travel delays will only add to the public’s declining trust in government, a trend that is worrying politicians and public servants. Not to mention the already eroding trust in between public servants and politicians. Not surprisingly, Canadians are much less satisfied with service they received from the federal government over the past six months compared with that of provinces municipalities, Angus Reid Institute recently found. Overall, 45 per cent are unhappy with federal service: Rural Canadians are more dissatisfied than urban, and Conservative Party supporters are more negative about the federal services they received than Liberal and NDP.
Canada’s not alone. In the U.S., the Biden administration has signed an executive order to improve services “for the people,” including for passport applications and renewals and other benefits.
20 minutes, 24 hours, 1 week. There’s a new goal for Americans to be able to apply for services in 20 minutes, enroll in 24 hours and get services in a week.
A call to arms. Public servants are frustrated, too. They want to fix the delivery of services, too – and have ideas on how to do it.
Not a surprise. Government knew relaxing pandemic restrictions on travel would swamp passport offices, but didn’t act.
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TRENDS
The era of the millennials
For the first time, millennials rule. Workers between the ages of 27 and 41 now dominate the public service, making up 41.5 per cent of employees. Gen X – between the ages of 42 and 57 – are close behind with more than 36 per cent of the jobs.
Between 2015 and 2020, in a big hiring push, 45,600 millennials were hired, and their numbers keep rising.
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Source: Government of Canada human resources statistics
Back in 2016, then-Treasury Board president Scott Brison predicted millennials, as digital natives, would drive culture change and usher in a golden age in the public service similar to the post-war heyday of big ideas and policies that brought us medicare and CPP.
Boomers, now between 58 and 76 years old, dominated the public service for decades. They now account for 22 per cent of the public service compared with more than 53 per cent a decade ago. And they seem to be staying longer than previous generations at their age.
Boomers began signing on in droves in the late 1960s and 1970s, when the public service grew rapidly and was attracting the country’s brightest. A generational shift in leadership is happening now, too. The average age of senior bureaucrats – at director-general and assistant deputy minister levels – is now 53.4 years old, according to the public service’s human resources stats.
Canada has had only two boomer prime ministers: Stephen Harper and Kim Campbell. Justin Trudeau, born in 1971, is a Gen-Xer.
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INTERVIEW-READY
I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille
Departments have access to a new pool of 1,400 post-secondary students who have been vetted, tested and are ready for managers looking to fill jobs in business, project management and programs.
The recruits are willing to work anywhere; 46 per cent are interested in bilingual jobs and 47 per cent come from one of three employment equity groups – Indigenous people, visible minorities and people with disabilities, according to the Public Service Commission, the government’s recruitment arm.
Another 2,710 were added to a pool for entry-level foreign service officers and 389 to an inventory for persons with disabilities to work in programs and services for ESDC. The government’s goal is to hire 5,000 persons with disabilities by 2025. This is good news in this tight labour market.
In theory, such inventories should speed up hiring, but the candidates applied at least seven months ago and many have been snapped up by other employers.
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