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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