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THE OTTAWA CITIZEN SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2000 PAGE A1
HRDC on brink of chaos: '98 audit
Internal report questioned embattled
department's ability to do its job
BY
KATHRYN MAY
■ The capacity of the embattled Human Resources Department to deliver Canada's $60 billion in social programs is being compromised by years of downsizing and upheaval, says a newly released internal audit. The audit, conducted in the fall of 1998, paints a grim picture of a department, gutted of 7,000 jobs, stretched to the limit and on the brink of administrative chaos unless action is taken to resolve the growing number of "workplace pressures."
■ Many have said HRDC's problems stem from downsizing and management's drive to cut red tape and give Canadians better, faster service. HRDC is now paying the price of focusing too much on frontline workers getting projects approved quickly and money out the door at the expense 'of rules and paperwork. The audit identified some key pressures, from tight budgets, staffing shortages, insufficient training and development, changing lines of business with no extra money or training and "slipping" quality of service. Both managers and employees complained quality was being sacrificed to "speed" and similar "measurements of performance. "We don't have the time to manage the best quality service possible," said one manager. As a result, workers said they focused on the work that "gets measured" rather than quality of the job. This slippage is evident by rising El appeals, repeat calls from clients not getting enough information and a growing volume of revised claims.
FULL STORY :-
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2000 PAGE A1
HRDC on brink of chaos: '98 audit
Internal report questioned embattled
department's ability to do its job
BY
KATHRYN MAY
The capacity of the embattled Human Resources Department to deliver Canada's $60 billion in social programs is being compromised by years of downsizing and upheaval, says a newly released internal audit.
The audit, conducted in the fall of 1998, paints a grim picture of a department, gutted of 7,000 jobs, stretched to the limit and on the brink of administrative chaos unless action is taken to resolve the growing number of "workplace pressures."
As a result, the department runs day-to-day, resorting to "quick fixes" and "Band-Aids" to problems as they crop up rather than "trying to identify longer-term patterns that lie behind individual events.
"That report was a warning call saying, 'Fix this or you'll have big problems in one or two years,' and sure enough, look what happened," said Linda Duxbury, a business professor at Carleton University in Ottawa who has closely tracked the federal workforce since the downsizing.
"This is what happens when you downsize for the short term to save money ... We're looking at a huge mis- management of people, and when you have that, the capacity to deliver services decreases. What did they expect? "I don't know why anyone is surprised by this."
Officials from Human Resources Development Canada were unavailable yesterday to explain what triggered the review and what followup was done.
See HRDC on page A2
HRDC: Programs at heart of safety net
Continued from page A1
The department is at the centre of a political storm over another damning audit that uncovered slipshod record keeping of the $1 billion in grants and contributions it dishes out to Canadians. This review, done about the same time, shows many of the same workload pressures that fed the HRDC record-keeping fiasco are percolating throughout the department, potentially undermining the delivery of all social programs. And Ms. Duxbury argues many of these working conditions are "worse today than when that report was done:'
'The programs handled by HRDC are the heart of Canada's social safety net, from employment insurance and Canada pension plan to old age security.
The audit concludes "the magnitude and complexity of organizational changes" at *HRDC have created a "moderate risk" that is affecting the department's ability to serve Canadians. It argues there is no single cause, but rather a "layering" of' of interrelated work pressures.
"The present working environment is set up to resort to shorter, reactive approaches to managing programs and services," said the report. "This sets up the potential to lose sight of client needs; create an increasing number of financial risks and create more work in the long term because of the inability to thoroughly address issues at the earlier stages."
The audit, based on interviews with about 195 employees and managers, examined the key workplace pressures affecting the delivery of programs. These employees were drawn from six regions in offices across the country.
The audit measured risk on a scale from zero to five, with five representing the most severe. The department, scored a national average of 2.3, which the audit considered reasonable in the face of such upheaval, and which it attributed solely to the "dedication" of its workers.
"It is important to recognize that HRDC has made substantive achievements in the delivery of programs and services despite the enormous organizational changes. The dedication and commitment of employees to quality service is a reason for these achievements, said the report.
Many have said HRDC's problems stem from downsizing and management's drive to cut red tape and give Canadians better, faster service. HRDC is now paying the price of focusing too much on frontline workers getting projects approved quickly and money out the door at the expense 'of rules and paperwork.
The audit identified some key pressures, from tight budgets, staffing shortages, insufficient training and development, changing lines of business with no extra money or training and "slipping" quality of service.
Both managers and employees complained quality was being sacrificed to "speed" and similar "measurements of performance:'
"We don't have the time to manage the best quality service possible," said one manager.
As a result, workers said they focused on the work that "gets measured" rather than quality of the job. This slippage is evident by rising El appeals, repeat calls from clients not getting enough information and a growing volume of revised claims.
The report noted that some regional offices did little or no financial monitoring on projects funded by grants and contributions, while others voiced concerns that "the department and clients were not getting the best value from third-party contractors." This echoes the findings of the audit released in January that is bedeviling Human Resources Minister Jane Stewart.
Another big problem was the unexpected workload created by devolving labour market programs to the provinces. With the programs went the budget and 2,000 workers. The government is also pressing for more programs to be delivered with partners, such as the provinces, which the report argues makes management more complex and drives up costs. As one manager said: "It's like having two captains driving the same ship."
The mounting workload is compounded by the loss of the most experienced workers - "the corporate memory" - who took the buyouts, leaving an aging workforce and a shortage of critical skills needed to the do the job. Facing staff shortages, managers can't afford the time to retrain and "develop" their workers for new jobs. The workers complain of "stress, exhaustion 'and falling morale.
Managers also complained of so little give in budgets that they couldn't cope with rising or unexpected costs and handle new priorities. The growing reliance on computer technology, which requires constant maintenance and upgrades, also eats into budgets.
The report said managers' efforts to cut costs and save money can only "stretch so far" and the government must adjust budgets to "reflect new departmental needs."