Myth busting Canada’s Free Agents
Canada’s Free Agents is often misunderstood. That’s not a surprise to me though. As people who know me will tell you, I’m not great at formal communications. On my best days, I just don’t make it a priority. On top of this, our work is often changing as we learn new things and experience successes and challenges, so it’s hard to keep our facts straight.
So I’m writing this piece in an effort to quash some of the more egregious misperceptions about our work. For my content, I asked the Free Agents to tell me what myths they hear most frequently and I’ve added some of my own.
*At the time of writing, this is all true. And it continues to be true until it’s not.
General Program Myths
Myth 1: We’re just doing this for Free Agents
I think a lot of people get the sense that the reason we created CFA was to build some type of army that would move around government changing the world. Or that we’ve created a new class of public servants — the problem solver — that will push forward leaving the rest of our workforce behind.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. For me, if all we build is a program that benefits a hundred or so people, or even a few hundred people, it won’t have been enough. Success for CFA by my measure will be that we will demonstrate the benefits of autonomy, mobility, and holistic talent management so that all public servants will have access to them. CFA is a demonstration project whose benefits need to be evaluated and scaled. If the benefits are real, they should be adopted more broadly by central agencies, HR professionals, and managers so that all public servants can benefit.
Myth 2: We know exactly what we’re doing
This one may be less of a myth and more of a paranoia that I have. As someone who has high expectations of himself, I struggle with imposter syndrome. I’m often worried that people are going to figure out that I’m faking everything, even though I’m probably not in most cases. And so I find it helpful to admit when I don’t know things because it relieves some of the pressure I put on myself.
Similarly, I worry that people will think we’ve obtained some kind of treasure map to employee happiness and we’re just following the map’s instructions until we strike gold. I assure there is no map for what we’re doing. The types of practices and systems we’re imagining and playing with don’t exist — if they did exist, we likely would not exist. The execution of these systems will only really be successful through trial and error. We’re making a lot of mistakes and we’re learning a lot from those. We are trying to make educated guesses based on research and knowledge, but this is art at least as much as science.
Myth 3: We are a mature program or finished product
I think many people who want to be a Free Agent think they’re joining a well-developed, mature program. While I wish this were true, it’s simply not. We struggle with onboarding; the frequency with which Free Agents move creates an incredible administrative burden on everyone; we’ve codified very little; there are inconsistencies in the experiences of Free Agents; and, perhaps most importantly, we haven’t figured out the right systems to support our patented mix of autonomy, mobility, and talent management.
There is certainly a lot for us to celebrate. But there’s an incredible amount of work to do. We’ve created some of the right conditions for success, but we’re far from realizing it. We welcome people who are comfortable with uncertainty because it’s our steady state. Free Agents have been patient and I’m so thankful that they’ve been willing passengers on this journey.
Myth 4: We have hacked HR
I hear a lot of people say things like “HR is broken” and “we need to hack HR”. And looking back, I’m sure I’ve said things similar to that along the way. In reality, I think this is maybe an odd way to think about our work.
Our HR systems are complicated, for sure. But in some ways I actually find our systems of merit, work descriptions, and pay to be kind of beautiful. Maybe I’m too deep in the woods to see the forest for the trees, but I honestly marvel at how much work has gone into trying to assign dollar values to tasks, which at it’s core is what our system is really trying to do — pay you correctly. Sure there’s Phoenix, but, well, that’s something else.
For our purposes, we actually haven’t done much to change HR systems. Our hiring process is rigorous and has been lauded by HR professionals as such. We assess merit for appointments and use performance data when we consider people for promotions. There are a couple of areas where our approach to classification rubs up against the HR system, but overall we are playing within the space the system provides us. We want to influence change in the system, but in speaking to HR professionals, they often lament the same things we do and I think it’s to simplistic to assume HR is to blame for our woes.
Myth 5: Central agencies and HR teams love us
We’ve received some international attention. We were a case study done by the OECD and we’ve been featured in a few online publications. We were featured in the Clerk’s report to the Prime Minister. This is all great and good, but it would be a stretch to say that we’re actually generally accepted across the public service as a good thing.
People within the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer at our Treasury Board Secretariat still have many concerns about our model. Ditto for the Public Service Commission. I don’t blame them — I have some concerns too! To their credit, they’ve engage with us in good faith and we’ve done our best to understand and try to respond to their concerns. As far as relationships go though, we are in the awkward first dates phase still. Again, there’s lots of potential and lots of work left to be done before we’re accepted and embraced by the system we’re trying to influence. We shouldn’t expect otherwise.
Myths about the Free Agents
Myth 6: Free Agents are innovation superheroes
I wrote about this in other place. We definitely made some mistakes early on when talking about who the Free Agents were. We advertised them as “top talent” and “innovators” and “change agents”. And while I think many Free Agents represent the sorts of attributes and ideals that you might find within those concepts of people, it’s not actually how we see them or how they see themselves.
We hire Free Agents for a set of attributes that have been internationally recognized as being useful for problem-solving in the public sector. From there, Free Agents bring a myriad of skills, knowledge, and lived experiences to their work, just like all people. Where Free Agents might differ is in that they are empowered with autonomy to take risks that others might not for fear of reprisal. Autonomy and a mechanism for more fluid mobility seem to increase people’s confidence and willingness to push back against outdated or unproductive practices. I believe this to be true for all people to a certain extent. Free Agents aren’t superheroes, they’ve just been giving the right conditions to be “super” humans.
Myth 7: Free Agents are all ECs or policy analysts
This one might make less sense to anyone who doesn’t work in the Canadian federal public service. In our classification system, the EC classification is where you’ll normally find people who work in policy. One of my pet peeves about our organization is that we seem to revere policy as a discipline of the gods. Maybe that’s over stating it slightly, but I’m not sure it is. Policy people are very highly paid, highly educated, and seem to be most often groomed for leadership positions. (As an aside, I have a hunch that this might be one of the most important and least understood root causes of our leadership challenges. But that’s a whole other blog right there.)
Free Agents are not all ECs and are definitely not all policy analysts. At last count, about 35–40% of the Free Agents are working in the EC category (the numbers are always changing and I don’t have the stats at my finger tips, but this is roughly accurate). This is by far our largest classification group. Still, Free Agents work within many different classifications including IS, PM, AS, CS, CO, PE, and EDS. And even within the Free Agents who work as ECs, few are actually working on the policy development process. I would say it’s best not to paint the Free Agents with any sort of single brush. The program is full of individuals who each bring their own human classification. Maybe someday our classification system will figure out how to create that category.
Myth 7: All public servants should become Free Agents
The truth is, our particular brand of Free Agency may not be for everyone. That doesn’t mean autonomy, mobility, and talent management are not important drivers for everyone’s success. But our model is actually more complicated than it might seem. Our cost-recovery model puts pressure on the program and subsequently on Free Agents to reduce financial risk. Home departments where Free Agent positions are located expect the program to run without direct costs (there are some indirect costs such as corporate support). This means that Free Agents are expected to be on assignment constantly and to move uninterrupted between projects. These conditions are not for everyone. Anyone considering whether to become a Free Agent should think about whether the expectations placed on Free Agents would be the right conditions for success. Talk to Free Agents about their experience to make sure the program is right for you.
Myth 8: It’s hard to find projects to work on as a Free Agent
As much as there is pressure on Free Agents to find work, there is an incredible amount of work in our system right now. We do very little marketing for the program and receive multiple new project proposals every week. This has been true almost since the beginning. Word of mouth has been sufficient to stimulate an incredible level of demand. We spend more time managing expectations of managers who are proposing projects than we do advertising the program. This may not always be the case and so we won’t get comfortable, but for now there are always many more projects available to work on than there are Free Agents to do the work.
Myth 9: Being a Free Agent is a fast-track for a promotion
As a program, we do have an approach to development that includes acting opportunities and promotional opportunities. That said, our policy for promotions is based on performance and uses a rigorous assessment process to establish merit. We have promoted people based on extended periods of time working and demonstrating high performance above their substantive levels. We do this because we believe that if our system purports to be based on equal work for equal pay, then we should make sure our employees can be confident they’ll be paid for their level of work. This is simply good talent management. That said, CFA is not a development program. Unlike other programs within our organization, we do not exist simply to promote people to higher levels and joining CFA is not a guarantee of a promotion.
Myth 10: There’s only one way to be a Free Agent
This misconception relates to the previous one about ECs and policy analysts I think. My sense is that some people believe there is a single Free Agent archetype and that we have a roadmap for Free Agents to show them how to progress through our program. In fact, the truth is likely much closer to the opposite.
Some Free Agents focus simply on their work while others find strength in the community. Some Free Agents want to develop a network within the program while others want to be part of similar movements like One Team Gov. Some Free Agents browse projects proposed by managers while other Free Agents pitch their passion projects to managers. The thing about autonomy is that it allows you to choose your own adventure. This, I think, is part of the “special sauce” of Free Agents — there is not single way to be a Free Agent.
Myth 11: Free Agents only work at NRCan, Transport, and TBS
This is a fairy simple one to tackle. We have three departments where Free Agent positions reside — Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada, and Treasury Board Secretariat. Our model, however, allows Free Agents to work across any federal public service organization and even anywhere outside the federal public service (currently, using the Interchange Canada mechanism).
Myth 12: You have to be at NRCan, Transport or TBS to apply
Another simple one. Our current eligibility is as follows: All indeterminate federal public servants in the federal public service below the EX level who can be deployed are eligible to apply to become Free Agents. This includes public servants living in the regions and abroad. Check out our FAQ (internal) for more information about eligibility.
Myths about hiring a Free Agent
Myth 13: You can hire a Free Agent to do whatever you want
There’s a common misconception that Free Agents are like consultants — you can write up a project for them and then pay them to come and do it for you and it’s as simple as that. Managers often assume that Free Agents are simply driven by deliverables and associated pay and so are an easy way to get work done. As with most things, it’s more complicated than that.
The basis of CFA is autonomy, enabled by a mechanism for mobility. This means you can get a person who a) really wants to work for you, and b) can work for your fairly easily. As I’ve written, this mix helps us help people find their purpose. This is one key difference between Free Agents and consultants, among many others. As a result of this intentional design, Free Agents are more likely to be engaged in their work, more productive, and deliver better results. This requires some time up front to establish work objectives, but also gives everyone the ability to agree on the work environment, culture, and expectations — things that are often not discussed in other employment relationships, but which we think lead to a higher likelihood of success.
Myth 14: A project intake form guarantees you’ll get a Free Agent
As I mentioned above, demand for Free Agents is incredibly high and we spend a lot of time managing the expectations of managers. We simply don’t have enough people in our program to meet the high level of demand for talent in our system. As Free Agents are almost always on assignment, this adds an additional level of complexity because even if you find the perfect person for your project, they may be committed elsewhere for months.
As a result, we try to make our project intake form simple so that you don’t waste too much time trying to find an interested Free Agent. We still think it’s worthwhile to take a moment to “pitch” your project to the Free Agents, but there’s never a guarantee that someone will pick it up. As always, we’re happy to also help you craft your project in ways that might increase your success. For example, we have many Free Agents working across the country from Comox, BC to Charlottetown, PE. If you’re willing to consider hiring someone to work remotely, you will greatly increase your chances of success.
Myth 15: The 15% fee to hire a Free Agent isn’t worth it
This might be less of a myth and more a matter of perspective. Hiring a Free Agent might not be for everyone for various reasons. That said, the feedback we have received from managers points resoundingly to the value that our model brings for them in terms of speed and simplicity. Managers almost unanimously indicate in their feedback that hiring a Free Agent is faster and easier than other options. We also have exceptionally high results in terms of managers’ interest in re-hiring a Free Agent after hiring their first one. To date, we have received very few comments about the additional cost, suggesting that our model easily offers sufficient value to justify the additional cost.
Myth 16: I need to have a “box” to hire a Free Agent
This is another fairly simple myth to bust. You do not need to have a classified position to hire a Free Agent. The positions for all of the Free Agents reside within the three home departments and our Letters of Agreement are simply financial arrangements that include HR-related provisions. This allows for a more simple and rapid movement of talent across organizations.
So that’s what we came up with for myths about Canada’s Free Agents. If you have any questions after reading this, please consider checking out our FAQ for Free Agents and our FAQ for Managers. Also, please reach out to us at freeagents-agentslibres@canada.ca.
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