Statistics Act Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Employee Wellness Survey (EWS)
Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Summary
Introduction
This amendment applies to the Employee Wellness Surveys and Pulse Check Surveys PIA (signed by the Chief Statistician on November 5, 2021), and shall also be considered a supplement to Statistics Canada's Generic Privacy Impact Assessment for statistical survey activities as this ESDC EWS will operate under the authority of the Statistics Act on a cost-recovery basis for the client, ESDC, to be administered on employees of ESDC by Statistics Canada.
Objective
An Amendment to the Employee Wellness Surveys and Pulse Check Surveys PIA & Supplement to Statistics Canada's Generic Privacy Impact Assessment – Statistics Act Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Employee Wellness Survey (EWS) was conducted to determine if there were any privacy, confidentiality or security issues with this activity and, if so, to make recommendations for their resolution or mitigation.
Description
The original EWS survey was collected under the authority of the Financial Administration Act (FAA) from Statistics Canada and Statistical Survey Operations employees and was examined in the Employee Wellness Surveys - PIA, whereas this new collection will be conducted under the authority of the Statistics Act on a cost recovery basis for ESDC on their employees. As such, while Statistics Canada's Generic Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) addresses most of the privacy and security risks related to statistical activities conducted by Statistics Canada, this amendment and supplement is required to describe how the internal HR personal information activity framework that operates under the authority of the FAA (the original EWS) is being modified to collect personal information externally under the authority of the Statistics Act.
- This ESDC EWS will be administered one time, with the potential for future cycles.
- One key change is that, unlike in the original EWS analysis, linking activities involving the following PIBs will not be performed for the ESDC EWS:
- Another change is that for this survey, the sample file will be provided by ESDC, and it will be matched, following collection, to the survey frame that will be built by Statistics Canada from the Incumbent file. The sample file will contain basic personal information for each of their employees (first and last name, email address, first official language and Personal Record Identifier [PRI]). The Incumbent file comes from Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), and is an extract from the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) pay system. The Incumbent file is the most comprehensive administrative file available to federal Government of Canada institutions, by nature of its relation to their pay and staffing. Although it contains a great deal of information on employees, their positions, status and pay, only a small number of variables are required and retained from this file for inclusion on the survey frame – which will only be used internally at Statistics Canada for statistical processing purposes (see Section 4 for more detail on the variables taken from the Incumbent file for employees of ESDC).
- New content has been added to the questionnaire:
- Questions about organizational unit at a level of granularity which describes where within the ESDC portfolio an employee works down to branch or region (level 4) in order to ensure that the diverse yet distinct work environments found across portfolios and regions is represented and identifiable in the data.
- Questions under the TBS Personal Information Bank for Employment Equity and Diversity (PSE 918) which include Indigenous Identity, Gender, and Sociodemographic Characteristics.
- These questions will provide important context allowing to understand unique challenges experienced by unique populations which support the Call to Action on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion "Nothing about us, without us".
- A question which asks "Would you say you are: Heterosexual, Lesbian or gay, Bisexual, Or please specify" which provides important information about the unique experiences which may be had by different based on how a respondent identifies.
- A question which asks "On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is "not at all important" and 10 is "critically important", how important is addressing psychological health and safety within ESDC? " in order to determine how much weight employees give particular services or programs.
- A question which asks "How far along do you think ESDC is in terms of creating and sustaining a psychologically healthy and safe work environment? Use a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is "Just getting started" and 10 is "Sustaining well established policies/programs/supports" in order go gauge employee perception of how mature ESDC is with their Mental Health strategy implementation.
- A question which asks "Below is a list of workplace-based services and supports available to help employees cope with challenging situations and issues related to mental health. Please indicate all the services/supports of which you are aware" in order to understand which programs employees are aware of.
Risk area identification and categorization
The risk area identification has changed from the original Employee Wellness Surveys and Pulse Check Surveys (EWSPCS) PIA in the following sub-sections; privacy risk has decreased.
| b) Type of personal information involved and context | |
|---|---|
| Only personal information, with no contextual sensitivities, collected directly from the individual or provided with the consent of the individual for disclosure under an authorized program. (this was "2" for EWSPCS, is "1" for this ESDC Statistics Act collection) | 1 |
| g) Technology and privacy | |
| No (specific technology category was "yes" for EWSPCS and is "no" for this ESDC Statistics Act collection) | |
Conclusion
This assessment of the Amendment to the Employee Wellness Surveys and Pulse Check Surveys PIA & Supplement to Statistics Canada's Generic Privacy Impact Assessment – Statistics Act Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Employee Wellness Survey (EWS) did not identify any privacy risks that cannot be managed using existing safeguards.