Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In June 2009, in the 16th Legislative Assembly, the Government of the Northwest Territories released a document called "20/20: A Brilliant North - NWT Public Service Strategic Plan." This strategic plan was intended to provide a 10-year framework for the development of the public service. One of its key components was the development of a succession-planning framework designed to ensure that employees were given opportunities for skills development and advancement, to support the long-term sustainability of the public service.
The document noted that employers are facing an aging workforce and that "perhaps the greatest impact is at the level of more experienced workers who have progressed to the leadership levels of the organization and take with them experience and skills when they leave."
Given the importance of succession planning, it is surprising to me to see that the most recent version of the Public Service Annual Report, the 2018-2019 annual report, makes no mention of succession planning. This makes me wonder about the current status of succession planning in the GNWT. Is succession planning a human resources trend that has fallen out of favour? Or has it evolved into a different approach with a different name? Later today, I will have questions for the Minister of Finance about:
- What is being done to ensure that employees have opportunities to grow and improve their job skills;
- What is being done to ensure that the corporate knowledge of our most experienced employees is retained by the organization when the employee retires; and
- What plans does the GNWT have for a future human resources strategy to replace 20/20: A Brilliant North.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
