Ministry Overview and Core Business Areas
The Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services is focused on providing excellent service: Labour provides services to employees,
employers, unions, and businesses in British Columbia to build a modern work environment; and Citizens' Services has a key
role in improving how government services and information are delivered to meet the needs of citizens, business and the public
sector.
Labour sets the framework within which effective, mutually beneficial, healthy and safe labour and employment relationships
can flourish. In this context, Labour has overall responsibility for British Columbia's labour and employment statutes — including
the Labour Relations Code, the Employment Standards Act, and the Workers' Compensation Act — and for the effective administration and enforcement of those statutes.
The total number of British Columbians engaged in paid employment is currently at record levels. It follows that the quality
of these employment relationships — as measured by indicators such as days lost due to strike activity, how safe the Province's
workplaces are, and how well employers and workers understand and meet or exceed the Province's minimum labour standards — is a key determinant of the Province's overall productivity growth and economic well-being. This Service Plan outlines strategies
to promote labour stability and beneficial, healthy and safe working arrangements, while ensuring that all of Labour's interactions
with clients and stakeholders uphold the highest standards of government-wide citizen-centred service commitments.
Citizens' Services is the primary provider of government services. More than 700 services are provided by provincial ministries.
Service BC, a division of Citizens' Services, works with all ministries to design and co-ordinate improved service delivery
through various access points (telephone, Internet, and in person) to make it easy for citizens and businesses to find the
information and services they need.
Shared Services BC, also a part of Citizens' Services, provides services to all ministries and to the broader public sector.
This means that rather than duplicating these functions across government, ministries share a common set of internal management
services (e.g. procurement and supply; financial and business applications; information technology; payroll; accommodation
and real estate; and strategic acquisitions and intellectual property). This approach affords opportunities to streamline
processes, use technology to achieve further efficiencies, aggregate volumes to achieve savings and drive continuous improvement.
This also allows ministries to focus on providing their core services to their clients.
The greatest opportunity and challenge for Citizens' Services is to successfully lead two comprehensive strategies across
government to deliver improved outcomes. The first strategy is to provide and promote an information management and information
technology infrastructure that supports secure information sharing and interoperability across systems. The second strategy
focuses on finding and implementing innovative ways to deliver more responsive services to the citizens of British Columbia.
Bringing the voice of citizens and customers into public sector service improvement efforts is at the heart of citizen-centred
service delivery.
The Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Service 2007/08 – 2009/10 Service Plan includes a ministry overview of the core business
areas and strategic foundation, including the vision, mission and values and the resource summary. The strategic context and
goals, objectives, strategies and measures are provided separately for the Labour component and Citizens' Services component
of the Ministry.
Many of the Ministry's business areas receive a voted appropriation, that is budget allocation, of only $1,000 — requiring
them to operate in a disciplined, business-like manner and recover costs for services provided.
Vision, Mission and Values
Vision
Our vision describes a compelling future state that we believe is both ambitious and attainable:
British Columbia will be a leader in Canada and recognized internationally for excellence in citizen-centred service delivery
and for its progressive labour climate.
Mission
Our mission describes our business purpose:
The mission is two-fold:
- Labour will create an employment environment that meets the needs of workers, employers and unions, and fosters working relationships
in safe and healthy workplaces.
- Citizens' Services will transform, deliver and promote public services which are cost-effective, accessible and responsive
to the needs of citizens and businesses.
Values
These values represent our ministry and individual behaviors and define how we will treat citizens, our customers, stakeholders,
suppliers and each other:
Integrity
- We treat individuals with fairness, dignity and respect.
- We are open and honest.
Service Excellence
- We are dedicated to helping our clients be successful.
- We are flexible, innovative and proactive.
Results-Oriented
- We measure performance to ensure cost-effective business outcomes and value-added results.
- We make and keep our commitments — we get the job done.
Teamwork
- We collaborate with internal and external parties to achieve corporate goals.
- We recognize individuals and teams that achieve results and demonstrate creativity and calculated risk-taking.
Work Life Balance
- We support employees in balancing their personal and work commitments.