Questions and Answers
- What is the Survey of Staffing - Candidates?
The Survey of Staffing - Candidates is an employee survey that provides the opportunity for employees to give feedback on their experiences with staffing processes within the federal public service. - What are the main objectives of the survey?
The information gathered by the survey will contribute to a government-wide perspective on the staffing process and will help to identify areas where improvement is needed to the staffing system. It will also be useful in providing information to identify if any changes to the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), and/or related policies are needed when the legislation is revisited in 2011. - Who will conduct the survey?
Statistics Canada will contact employees in collaboration with the Public Service Commission. Because the survey is conducted under the authority of the Statistics Act, the confidentiality provisions apply to all information provided by survey respondents. - What kind of questions will I be asked?
The survey collects data on the appointment process, staffing strategies, the area of competition and the experiences of public servants who have participated in a staffing process. The survey will also collect information on political activities. - Why are you asking me questions about political activities - this is a staffing survey?
Part of the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) mandates the Public Service Commission to oversee the political impartiality of the Public Service (see questionnaire cover letter).
You may not have participated in a staffing process but we are taking this opportunity to ask you a few questions concerning political activities. They provide an indication of the participation in political activities by public servants, the information sources that are typically consulted regarding political activities, and the knowledge of their rights and responsibilities.
The major objective of the survey is to collect data on staffing experiences. Due to the questionnaire flow, if you did not participate in a staffing process that concluded from July 1st, 2010 to June 30th, 2011, you will be skipped to the portion of the questionnaire where the questions on your general experiences in staffing processes are found.
We want to reinforce that all information provided to Statistics Canada through this survey is protected by law under the Statistics Act.
For more information about the mandate of the Public Service Commission regarding political activities, please visit the Internet site at Political Activities. - Who is surveyed?
The survey targets public service employees working in federal departments and agencies that fall under the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) with at least 350 employees. A similar survey is being sent out in November by the Public Service Commission to a sample of managers involved in staffing processes during the same time period to explore their views and practices with staffing. - How was I selected to participate in the survey?
For departments or agencies with 3,000 and more employees, you were randomly selected from a list of employees provided by your organizations. The employees working for a department or agency with between 350 and 3000 employees will all receive a survey questionnaire. - When will the survey take place?
The collection of the survey will take place from October 24th- November 18th. Completed questionnaires must be sent to Statistics Canada by November 18th, 2011. - Am I required to participate in the survey?
Your participation in this survey is voluntary. However, the more employees that participate, the more accurate and representative the results will be across the public service. - Is the information I provide confidential?
Yes, Statistics Canada guarantees the confidentiality of the survey under the Statistics Act. To protect confidentiality, the following precautions will be followed:- Names of respondents will not be included on the analysis file that will be created and made available to the Public Service Commission.
- Data will be produced in tabular and graphical form at aggregate levels only (e.g., department or program levels).
- All outputs will be screened to ensure that they do not reveal the identity of individual respondents.
- The survey asks a question about sharing my information with the Public Service Commission. What does this mean?
There will be an agreement in place between Statistics Canada and the Public Service Commission that will limit the use of your information for statistical purposes only and will prohibit the disclosure of survey information that could identify you. The protected information will be used for statistical purposes only and analyses at the departmental or agency and public-service-wide levels only. Your information will not be shared if you do not give permission to do so. - I am on an assignment in another department. Should I go back to my department to fill out the survey?
For the purpose of the survey, you are included in the department in which you are presently working. - How will the confidentiality of my answers be protected for the electronic questionnaire?
Your responses are anonymous, provided directly to Statistics Canada, and they are protected under the Statistics Act.
The Statistics Canada Electronic Collection Portal at Privacy notice provides detailed information about the security features in place to maintain confidentiality, as required by the Statistics Act. - When will the survey results be available?
The public service-wide results of Cycle 3 (2009-2010) survey will be reported in the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Public Service Commission and the departmental data will be released in the fall 2011. More details and updates of the survey can be found by visiting Annual Reports. - What if an employee does not want to complete the Internet-based survey and requests a paper questionnaire?
Due to the very low request rate from the previous cycles of this survey, there will not be a paper version of the questionnaire available to complete. - What if a respondent encounters technical difficulties with the Internet-based survey?
If a respondent has any technical questions or requires assistance, they should access the on-line help pages or contact Statistics Canada at the following email address sos@statcan.gc.ca or call the assistance line at 1-877-949-9492. - Where can I find more information about the survey?
You could find more information about the survey at webpage Survey of Staffing - Candidates