Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results

The Agency's Linkage to the Five Great Goals

The government's Strategic Plan calls for the achievement of Five Great Goals that are intended to achieve a long term vision for British Columbia — a prosperous and just province, whose citizen's achieve their full potential and have confidence in the future.

The achievement of all of these goals will require a strong and nimble public service that strives to be the leader in Canada and recognized internationally for public service excellence.

The drive toward service excellence will require every employee to challenge the status quo, to look for ways to improve performance in the organization and to turn good ideas into action. This will require a workforce that is engaged, able to attract and retain top talent, flexible to adjust to emerging priorities, able to grow and share knowledge freely and create greater opportunities for collaboration across various business units. Public servants are more likely to recommend the public service as a great place to work and be prepared to move beyond the status quo if they feel energized, inspired by their leaders and valued for the contributions that they make.

It is the role of the Public Service Agency to provide leadership in human resource management and HR services to ministries that will facilitate the achievement of public service excellence in order to realize all five of the Five Great Goals.

Service Level Agreements are negotiated each year between the BC Public Service Agency and individual clients. The Agency continuously reviews its services working in partnership with clients in order to refine human resource policies, processes, products and services to be client centric.

Cultivating effective working relationships is a fundamental part of the BC Public Service Agency achieving Goal 1.

Key strategies include:

• implementing a Client Portfolio Management model using cross-functional teams to respond to clients' issues in an integrated and coordinated fashion;
• increasing direct exposure of Agency staff to client program areas; and,
• enhancing and building Agency staff skills in diagnostics and consultation to advance their business knowledge.

Performance Measure:

Percentage of customers and clients satisfied with overall service from the Agency: Satisfaction is the ultimate outcome of effective working relationships between the Agency and our customers and clients. This is a performance measure that the Agency has tracked for the last two service planning years. However, the method of measurement has been changed to reflect best practices. In the past, this result has been obtained from one question regarding overall satisfaction with service quality from the Agency's annual client/customer satisfaction survey and has been expanded to include point of service and other methods resulting in a more comprehensive measurement. Best practices literature considers a satisfaction index that includes multiple drivers of satisfaction as being a more robust measurement tool.

The BC Public Service Agency provides numerous services, products and tools through its core business areas to advance the public service. Accessibility to these human resource products and services is a key element of the Agency achieving Goal 1.

Key strategies include:

• developing and implementing a comprehensive Client/Customer Marketing and Communication Plan for the Agency;
• establishing clear points of contact for all Agency core businesses; and,
• reviewing service channels for relevancy and appropriateness of service delivery methods in meeting customers' needs.

Performance Measure:

Percentage of customers who are satisfied with the accessibility of Agency services and products: This is a new service planning measure; however, this data was collected in the last customer satisfaction survey conducted by the Agency. Measuring customer perception of accessibility will indicate how well the articulation and communication of our products and services support access.

This objective is crucial for the BC Public Service Agency to meet Goal 1 of providing expert, timely advice, guidance, products and services based on agreed expectations between clients and the Agency.

Key strategies include:

• communicating, monitoring and reporting on Agency corporate and program-specific service standards in core human resource service areas;
• initiating and implementing action plans to respond to identified service issues; and,
• researching, designing and implementing a sustainable and practical costing model.

Performance Measure:

Percentage of the time that service standards met: Service standards were developed in the 2004/05 fiscal year through a collaborative process between the Agency and its clients. Specific measurement methods will result from the service standard development process.

The BC Public Service Agency is evolving in a model that adapts and shifts to respond to clients' and corporate needs. These changes are being undertaken through a project management and business case process. Client consultation aligned with Best Practice information ensures that the Agency's products, services and programs assist clients in achieving their business needs.

Optimizing service delivery processes is central to the BC Public Service Agency's goal of a flexible and contemporary management infrastructure.

Key strategies include:

• identifying high cost areas and reducing costs through process improvement, changes in policy, standards or outsourcing;
• ensuring the most effective use of technology; and,
• ensuring the structure, people and resources are in place to deliver on the goals of the organization.

Performance Measures:

Percentage of Agency business transformation/service improvement projects that meet their approved objectives: This is a new measure and it reflects an Agency decision to invest resources in improving business processes. All business transformation projects will be reviewed to determine if their original objectives were met. The aggregate of these reviews will provide this measure's result.

Total cost of HR services/FTE remains competitive: The cost of HR services has been reduced from $1,120 in 2001/02 to $820 and the Agency continues to measure this cost to ensure it remains competitive.

Through effective management of the BC Public Service Agency's people and resources, and allocating resources to high priority areas, the Agency is responding to clients' needs and improving client satisfaction. Ensuring the Agency Service Plan and Service Level Agreements are aligned to achieve the highest priorities as set by government and clients is crucial to the BC Public Service Agency achieving Goal 2.

Key strategies include:

• implementing the BC Public Service Agency Human Resource Plan; and,
• developing and implementing cost/benefit and risk management standards and tools for priority programs and services.

Performance Measure:

Employee Engagement rating for Agency staff: This measure focuses specifically on Agency staff. High employee engagement has been shown to result in increased customer satisfaction.

Increasing the BC Public Service Agency staff's understanding of the vision, direction and philosophy will create a flexible, responsive and innovative infrastructure capable of focusing efforts in supporting clients.

Key strategies include:

• implementing staff forums to communicate and promote ongoing discussion of the Agency's vision, direction and philosophy; and,
• creating and implementing an Agency orientation program aligned with the newly designed government-wide orientation program.

Performance Measure:

Percentage of Agency staff who understand the vision, direction and philosophy of the Agency: The management structure of an organization is much more efficient when staff are working in alignment with the overall goals of the organization. How well our staff understand the vision, direction and philosophy of the Agency is important since front line staff are the major point of contact for our customers and the most powerful voice for the Agency. This is a new measure in this Service Plan.

The BC Public Service Agency Deputy Minister and Executive actively support government's longer-term strategic initiatives to improve the overall effectiveness of the public service by providing a variety of strategies, initiatives and activities across government to achieve public service renewal. All Deputy Ministers are responsible to achieve the Corporate Human Resource Plan. Another component of the Agency's role is to provide the governance framework for human resource activities to support government's initiatives and mandates.

The BC Public Service Agency supports Goal 3 through effective human resource support to clients to deliver government's initiatives and mandates.

Key strategies include:

• preparing and negotiating agreements within government mandates;
• researching and providing expert advice to government on current human resource trends and the impacts of corporate initiatives on the current and future workforce;
• streamlining the hiring process to achieve improved and quicker results;
• developing a strategy to ensure better management of leave liability across the public service;
• developing and recommending a contemporary management compensation system; and,
• targeting training to high priority areas.

Performance Measure:

Percentage of clients who believe that the Agency's HR initiatives support government's ability to meet its business goals and objectives: Ultimately, the Agency's goal as an internal service organization is to assist clients in meeting government's business objectives. The Agency will be including this in its client satisfaction strategies.

Performance Measure	2004/05 Actual/Base	2005/06 Target	2006/07 Target	2007/08 Target
Percentage of clients who believe that the Agency's HR initiatives support government's ability to meet its business goals and objectives.		Baseline Year	10 percentage point increase over baseline	20 percentage point increase over baseline

In achieving Goal 3, this objective raises management awareness and increases a common understanding of human resource management responsibilities and accountabilities across the public service.

Key strategies include:

• developing and implementing a plan to increase understanding among senior executives and managers of their role as employer; and,
• initiating policy reviews of identified high priority areas.

Performance Measure:

Percentage of managers attending human resource training who demonstrate an understanding of their human resource roles and responsibilities: In focus groups conducted in the summer of 2004, customers identified that they needed additional clarification about their roles and responsibilities as they pertain to HR. If the Agency adequately conveys this information in the HR-related training courses, managers should have an improved understanding of their human resource roles and responsibilities. This data will be obtained from managers attending HR-related training as part of the course evaluation process.

Furthering public service renewal and supporting clients' efforts to implement Corporate HR Plan goals and objectives is key to the BC Public Service Agency's goal of contributing to public service excellence.

Key strategies include:

• partnering with clients to build and enhance leadership capacity;
• reviewing and improving the performance management program for public servants;
• delivering award programs (Premier's Awards) which celebrate and encourage innovation in the public service;
• supporting clients' efforts to implement Corporate HR Plan objectives in their organizations;
• working with Deputy Ministers to identify strategies and address recommendations of the Auditor General; and,
• measuring the quality of the public service work environment annually and reporting the results in the Public Service Agency's Annual Service Plan Report.

Performance Measures:

Number of individuals identified as ready or near-ready for future leadership roles: This is a measure that the Agency has tracked and reported in previous years. Leadership succession is an identified need across government for which the Agency plays a corporate role.

Percentage of clients who believe that the Agency supports them to implement the Corporate HR Plan: The Corporate Human Resource Plan was endorsed and supported corporately through the Deputy Ministers' Council. The Agency has a unique role in supporting ministries/agencies to achieve the accountabilities identified in the Plan.