Survey ranks best government departments to work for

IRB and Service Canada near bottom of list

The Ottawa publication, The Hill Times, recently published a list of federal government departments and agencies that ranked them as places to work. Out of 54, the Immigration and Refugee Board stood at number 50 while Service Canada came in one notch lower at 51. CIC was pegged at number 31.

The rankings were first developed by a group civil servants that included the author, Jack Cole, using a selection of questions from the 2002 Public Service Employment Survey. The questions measured what the group called the level of “employee engagement” to both the individual’s work and their workplace. When the group completed their analysis, they could find no one in the public service willing to publish it.

The same methodology used in 2002 was applied to the 2006 version of the Public Service Employment Survey to yield the most recent rankings. The rankings of Service Canada and the IRB speak for themselves and may come as no surprise to CEIU members employed there. Keeping company with Service Canada and the IRB at the bottom of the list were the Department of National Defence, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Correctional Service of Canada.

Although CIC ranked higher (at number 31) than either Service Canada or the IRB, it remained far behind the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (16) and Statistics Canada (6). Topping the list was the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Here is the ranking of all federal agencies by employee engagement. A score was assigned to each agency, with the top-ranked rated at a 68.6% for employee engagement and the bottom-ranked at 46.0%. CIC rated 58.8%, the IRB 53.2% and Service Canada 52.3%. However the author, Jack Cole, noted that “…due to the methodology used, the scores themselves, are not as meaningful as are the relative rankings.”

1. Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
2. Infrastructure Canada
3. Canadian Human Rights Commission
4. Canadian Transportation Agency
5. Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
6. Statistics Canada
7. Small organizations
8. Transportation Safety Board
9. Privy Council Office
10. Department of Canadian Heritage
11. Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners
of Canada
12. Department of Finance Canada
13. Economic Development Agency of Canada for the regions of Québec
14. Western Economic Diversification Canada
15. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
16. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
17. Public Service Commission of Canada
18. Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada
19. National Parole Board
20. Health Canada
21. Canada School of Public Service
22. Elections Canada
23. Environment Canada
24. Canadian Space Agency
25. Department of Veterans Affairs Canada
26. Natural Resources Canada
27. Transport Canada
28. Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
29. Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
30. Justice Canada
31. Citizenship and Immigration Canada
32. Royal Canadian Mounted Police
33. Industry Canada
34. Human Resources and Social Development
35. Public Health Agency of Canada
36. Canadian International Development Agency
37. Canadian Firearms Centre (CFC)
38. Public Works and Government Services Canada
39. Public Service
40. Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada
41. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
42. Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
43. Fisheries and Oceans Canada
44. Courts Administration Service
45. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
46. Status of Women Canada
47. Canadian Grain Commission
48. Library and Archives Canada
49. Passport Canada
50. Immigration and Refugee Board
51. Service Canada
52. Department of National Defence
53. Canadian Border Service Agency
54. Correctional Service of Canada