Minister’s Forum with Public Sector Unions Office of Human Resources, Management Board November 29, 2011

Agenda Minister’s opening remarks Update on Government Renewal Update on employee suggestions for operational improvements and cost savings Areas of focus

Government Renewal Update Creation of Management Board within ECO responsible for: Office of Human Resources Budget and Financial Management (formerly with Finance) Corporate Information Management Services (formerly with Supply and Services) Accountability functions will eventually be added Min. Higgs is Minister responsible for Management Board Deputy Minister of Management Board, Doug Holt, will also be Secretary to Board of Management (formerly role of DM of Finance)

Government Renewal Update Purpose for creating Management Board: Better align existing resources, focusing provincial government efforts on core services, accountability and continuous performance improvement Improve performance and lend greater efficiency to the management of provincial government resources

Government Renewal Update, cont’d As part of change management efforts, all employees in Parts I, II and III have attended an information session on Government Renewal All departments provided their submissions for Government Renewal on October 28 All departments, including OHR, have since appeared before the Government Renewal Committee to present their proposals.

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Government Renewal Committee members: Minister Blaine Higgs Minister Marie-Claude Blais Minister Craig Leonard Glen Tait, MLA for Saint John East Danny Soucy, MLA for Grand Falls-Drummond-St-André Sherry Wilson, MLA for Petitcodiac

Government Renewal Update, cont’d OHR presentation to Government Renewal Committee included proposals on: HR Model for Public Service Attendance Management and Sick Leave Workers Compensation Retirement and Severance Allowance Workforce Modeling and Attrition Management (size of Public Service) Compensation Model and Classification Review

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Proposal on HR Model for Public Service: Create Public Service Commission as sole organization responsible for HR management for Parts I, II and III Amend legislation to provide authority to Commission

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Objectives of proposed HR model: Gain control of wage bill and size of government Achieve consistency and standardization Align HR practices with government strategy Achieve savings in corporate HR projects

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Proposal on Attendance Management and Sick Leave: Develop stronger accountability and reporting of sick leave Examine design of sick leave Set targets and measure results Centralize duty to accommodate across GNB Goal: reduce sick leave use

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Proposal on Workers Compensation: Centralize management of claims to reduce number/frequency/duration of claims. Implement safe work practices Apply the workers’ compensation legislation consistently across Parts I, II and III 3-day waiting period 85% of net earnings Reduction of CPP

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Proposal on Retirement and Severance Allowance: Pursue changes to retirement allowance program Reduce or eliminate current liability for Province ($380M total liability and $48M annual expense). Develop new severance allowance for lay-offs

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Proposal on Workforce Modeling and Attrition Management: Centralize approval for establishment/ classification/ funding of positions Develop workforce modeling tool to provide accurate data on: Projected retirements Critical replacement requirements Replacement rate (74% from August 2010 to August 2011)

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Proposal on Compensation Model and Classification Review: Centralize control of wage bill and cost drivers (e.g. wage increases, reclassification, number of employees, overtime) Review compensation model Reduce number of DM and pay band 10-12 positions Review reclassification and merit increases

Government Renewal Update, cont’d Reminder: Final decisions on these proposals have not yet been made

Update on suggestions Between February and October of this year, we met with representatives from all unions in Parts I, II and III and the nursing home sector. At these meetings, we received a total of 219 suggestions for operational improvements and cost savings.

Update on suggestions, cont’d PROGRESS ON SUGGESTIONS RECEIVED AT UNIONS MEETINGS Received Reviewed Completed (implemented or no opportunity) Ongoing Not yet reviewed 219 197 63 134 22

Update on suggestions, cont’d Examples of implemented suggestions Civil Service Mechanism to remove budget amounts added for temporary circumstances SD is implementing agreement with CRA to collect overpayments Education and school districts Number of districts no longer buying bottled water and revised purchasing of blackberries and computers Number of districts have completed disconnection of unnecessary phone lines

Update on suggestions, cont’d Health and RHAs Removal of glove boxes from isolation rooms Reviewed catering of meals to ensure it is only done as most economical option Review determined that health system requires province-wide system for collecting workload measurement information. A return to using Grasp software would hinder this ability Reduced number of blackberries Eliminated unapproved expenses (example: physician’s dog sitting) New policy on appropriate use of locums

Employee Suggestion Program In addition to union meetings, government has been receiving suggestions from other sources: Pre-budget consultations Emails to dave@gnb.ca or Ministers Citizen survey Auditor General and Comptroller reports Approximately 10,000 suggestions have been received from all sources combined

Employee Suggestion Program, cont’d Common themes of suggestions: Asset Management Taxes and Revenue Human Resource Management Economic Development Health Education NB Power General Government Administration

Employee Suggestion Program, cont’d Working group to develop employee suggestion program Objectives: Develop culture of continuous process improvement Encourage employees to submit ideas for operational improvements and cost savings Develop managers’ openness to receiving and implementing ideas Improve how government receives, evaluates and implements these ideas

Employee Suggestion Program, cont’d Program will be developed by early 2012 We will seek your input in its development

Areas of Focus We need your help to reduce absenteeism: Sick leave Reduce use Examine design Pursue concept of joint stewardship of attendance management (i.e. SCIB) Workers’ Compensation reduce number, frequency and duration of workers’ compensation claims Safe worksite practices Pursue standardization and compliance with legislation

Average annual use of sick days by employees Areas of Focus, cont’d Average annual use of sick days by employees (paid and unpaid) Part I Jan to Dec 2010 11.30 Part II July 2009 to June 2010 14.60 Part III 15.51

Areas of Focus, cont’d We need your help to phase out the current retirement allowance program and its $380M liability

Questions and Comments