Strategic Human Resources Plan
2008/2011

Strategy 1 - Attract and Retain a Skilled Workforce

Where We Are

The Coast Guard's workforce is mainly comprised (approximately 80%) of a relatively stable indeterminate pool of employees; the other 20% is made up of term and seasonal employees, casual workers and students.

The biggest single influence on our workforce over the next three years will be demographic shifts. These will have a profound effect on every occupational group, in every region, at the CCG College and in the NCR.

Organization-wide recruitment and retention efforts must be the focus for CCG over this period, and will build on recent regional successes, including updated recruitment materials, participation in career fairs, etc. Specific and targeted staffing measures are required to mitigate anticipated losses among the five occupational groups presenting the biggest human resources risk - SC, SO, RO, EN and EL. These occupations are essential to operations. Coast Guard is at risk of losing 20.3% of its population in these groups by 2011.

What We Will Do

Over time, more emphasis will be placed on development and use of pools of qualified personnel to staff positions. Traditionally pools have been used for some occupational groups such as SOs and SCs. They have been managed on a regional basis and have been reasonably effective in satisfying regular turnover needs. Looking forward, we will have to assess whether the use of pools would be effective for other areas and, if so, how best to organize and manage them so that they are fair, accessible to all interested staff, efficient and effective. Bargaining agents will be consulted before we move to a more widespread use of pools. In addition, we will rely more heavily on collective staffing, already in place for sea-going personnel, as an efficient means to recruit non-seagoing personnel.

As we move away from vacancy-by-vacancy staffing, it will become more important for employees to assess their mobility options if they wish to take full advantage of the range of opportunities that will be available. Mobility will be encouraged as a means to help ensure efficient response to regional and seasonal demand.

Temporary Employment

Coast Guard will continue to strategically use temporary employment measures as an effective means to support operations. Our emphasis on fairness, access, representativeness and transparency, as well as sound human resources planning will continue.

Term and casual positions will continue to be important and legitimate staffing options for CCG to meet its needs. The number of term and seasonal employees, as well as casual workers, is a reflection of the operational nature of the Coast Guard and the need to have ships with a full complement of crew members and officers before a vessel can leave port. Casual employment will continue to be a necessary tool that allows us to fill short-term gaps as required. The use of terms and casuals has remained fairly stable over the past few years and will continue to do so into the future.

Along with other temporary staffing measures, acting assignments will continue to be used. As well as addressing key vacancies, acting assignments provide important developmental opportunities. Through regular monitoring, Coast Guard has determined that acting appointments are generally used pending completion of staffing and classification processes, or when positions are encumbered due to long-term employee leave, assignments or secondments. However, the number of acting assignments that exceed one year is too high. We will continue to focus on decreasing the use of acting appointments that exceed one year in duration.

Note: Casuals and students are not included in these numbers, as they are not eligible for acting assignments.

Graph H shows acting appointments of one to three years, three to five years, and more than five years duration.

Student employment will also facilitate access to varying skill sets on a short-term basis. Coast Guard employs students through the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP), as well as the Co-operative Education (CO-OP) and Internship Programs. CCG also hires summer students through a departmental FSWEP program, the Inshore Rescue Boat Program. Moving forward, student bridging will be an effective way to offer positions to students who have gained knowledge of the organization.

Coast Guard will continue to contribute to public service renewal targets by focusing on leadership development. Over the next five years, CCG will recruit candidates who are interested in the Executive stream through the Career Assignment and Management Trainee Programs.

At-Risk Groups

The Coast Guard will focus on at-risk groups in recruitment and retention efforts. It will also put in place measures for specific groups, as described here.

Ships' Officers and Ships' Crew

Our need for SOs and SCs over the next five years has been estimated in the context of CCG's fleet renewal efforts. From now until 2012, we expect to require approximately 318 SCs and 233 SOs. Among other recruitment strategies, opportunities to work cooperatively with industry to promote the maritime profession will be pursued.

In 2008, in response to CCG's need for Ships' Officers, the Coast Guard College increased intake of officer cadets to 48 from the 15 to 25 typical of previous years. The Canadian Coast Guard Officer Training Program is a four-year program that provides graduates with either an engineering or a navigation degree. The program includes at-sea training. Out of each new group of inductees to the College, we forecast that approximately 77% will graduate. This success rate needs to be taken into account when establishing the intake rate necessary to replace the SOs who will be eligible to retire in coming years.

CCG is undertaking a variety of complementary initiatives to foster learning and development, and to ensure continuity of knowledge from seagoing to and from on-shore operations, and from regional management to and from headquarters. Fleet is developing the Seagoing Personnel Career Development Initiative which will be launched in 2008/2009. It will capitalize on our diverse operations and offer opportunities for rich and varied career paths within the Coast Guard.

Ships' Officers (Navigation and Engine Room) in the lower and middle levels will be encouraged to take shore positions of up to four months in the regions or in Headquarters. These shore-based positions will require professional seagoing expertise and will provide these officers with pertinent experience in marine management. These assignments will be a pre-requisite for consideration for advancement to senior SO positions. There are also situations in which SOs at all levels are required to fill term or acting assignments ashore. Where appropriate, positions are staffed in accordance with regular selection processes.

A phased approach will see positions ashore offered on a rotational basis. It is estimated that by the end of 2012, 60 to 70 work terms will have taken place. Upon the conclusion of the pilot, an evaluation will be conducted and consideration will be given to making the Seagoing Personnel Career Development Initiative a permanent CCG program.

In the past, the Ships' Crew Officer Training (SCOT) Program has been offered at the Coast Guard College to SCs who possess appropriate certification. The goal is to create opportunities to supplement officer recruitment by fast-tracking SCs to SOs. CCG is investigating opportunities to re-establish the SCOT Program.

Marine Communications and Traffic Officers

The MCTS ab initio program is a development program for new recruits who have no previous experience as MCTS Officers. The program consists of three phases of training: Phase I is an introduction to the MCTS environment. The ab initio spends two weeks at an assigned centre. Phase II consists of a 25-week course at the Canadian Coast Guard College. The course consists of theory, practical applications and simulations. The trainee learns the basics necessary to complete the third phase. Upon graduation, a trainee is assigned to a MCTS centre to complete on-the-job training (Phase III) which takes three to seven months depending on the MCTS centre.

In a typical year, the training program accepts 23 candidates. The graduation rate from the ab initio program is approximately 83%, which is very encouraging given the fact that the MCTS Officers have been identified as an at-risk group. Still, this success rate needs to be taken into account when establishing the intake rate necessary to replace MCTS officers.

A national MCTS ab initio recruitment process began in January 2008. The objective is to establish a national pool of partially assessed candidates for the next two years. To be considered for the national pool, a candidate must receive a successful score on the MCTS aptitude test, a keyboarding test and the selection interview. Coast Guard is the sole employer and trainer of MCTS Officers in Canada. Recruitment is critical in ensuring the continuity of service delivery.

A MCTS National Refresher Course is being developed to support professional development of the MCTS workforce. A pilot refresher course is planned along with the development of an implementation strategy. A competency profile will also be required to ensure the recruitment of MCTS Officers who meet program technical training requirements for the 21^st century. A MCTS Officer learning profile has been developed through a joint MCTS Management and Union Joint Learning and Study Group.

Electronics

The EL community has remained steady over the past five years, owing largely to CCG's Marine Electronics Development (MELDEV) Program. MELDEV is a development program for new members of the Electronics Group hired below the EL-05 level. The program provides guidelines on acquiring experience, knowledge and skills through training assignments and work situations. ELs enter the program on hiring, and stay until they reach CCG's working level, EL-05. Program trainees must be graduates of an accredited community college or institute of technology.

The program will be reviewed in 2008/2009 to ensure its ongoing success and to maintain staff numbers from this important community.

Engineers

CCG employs federally certified marine engineers and university trained engineers, both of whom are eligible for membership in a provincial association of professional engineers. Recruitment and retention of these engineers is expected to pose increasing and significant challenges. The severity of these challenges will vary from region to region.

In respect to shore-based engineering capacity needed to fulfill CCG's maintenance and refit requirements, an additional 32 to 49 engineering positions above the current approved staff levels are estimated to be required nationally (15 to 23 certified marine engineers and 17 to 26 university trained engineers).

University Graduate Engineers

In light of this, a study was commissioned in early 2007 to identify key challenges and opportunities associated with CCG's engineering requirements in the context of current and future engineering labour markets and to develop a framework for an Engineering Development Program to address these challenges and opportunities. Among other identified challenges, the study noted impending retirements, increasing need for engineers to manage new major projects, decreasing numbers of engineering graduates in Canada, and increasing competition in the engineering labour market, most notably within the naval architecture community.

CCG will begin development of an Engineering Development Program in fiscal year 2009/2010, for implementation in fiscal year 2010/2011, focused on:

• Increasing the numbers of qualified engineers;
• Recruiting today for current and future shortfalls of engineering personnel;
• Preparing engineering personnel for increased effort required over a 5 to 10 year forecast; and
• Aiding in the transfer of technical knowledge and skills from existing to new staff.

The Engineering Development Program will also help increase the profile of the Coast Guard among university graduates who may be potential employees.

Marine Engineers and Engineering Technologists/Technicians

These communities include SOs (seagoing marine engineers) and GTs (shore-based marine engineers), both certified by Transport Canada Engineers, and EGs (engineering technologists/technicians, including certified engineering technologists and technicians), accredited by one of several recognized Canadian technical associations. There have been significant decreases in the GT (approximately 10%) and EG (45%) groups in the past five years.

These reductions are the result of various factors, including:

• A decision within CCG to staff more GT and EG positions with persons eligible for membership in a provincial association.
• Insufficient compensation, in comparison with other government departments and the private sector, to attract and retain shore-based marine engineers. In particular, those who wish to transfer from seagoing positions (SO) to shore-based positions (GT) must accept significant pay cuts if they decide to remain with CCG. Other shore-based positions offer higher pay for like work.
• The increasing challenge of recruiting technically competent candidates who are both representative of the diverse Canadian population and meet official language requirements.

These challenges will be reviewed in an effort to reverse this trend in the short- and long-term.