Fifteen percent of Agriculture Canada executives are now eligible to retire and almost 40 percent will be in that position in the next four years.
The department has endured a significant exodus in recent years of managers and policy experts who joined in the expansionary 1970s and have put in their time.
Across a department that is authorized to staff 6,564 full-time equivalent positions this year, 16 percent of employees are 55 years or older – three times the level eight years ago.
In contrast, the percentage of departmental employees 35 years or younger has declined during the past eight years from almost one-in-three to one-in-five.
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Like other government departments, Agriculture Canada is greying and departmental managers face the challenge of recruiting thousands of skilled newcomers over the next five years to replace those about to retire.
It is an increasing challenge in a robust economy where unemployment is low and private sector employers often offer higher wages, better career advancement opportunities and in some cases more attractive benefits.
“Renewal is a very big issue for us,” new deputy agriculture minister Yaprak Baltacioglu said in an interview.
“We feel an acute pressure in our department. When I was given my mandate letter (outlining government expectations for her), topping the list is renewal.”
At 47 and as the first female deputy minister in the agriculture department’s 140 year history, Baltacioglu is part of that renewal. With nine previous years of experience in the department including work on developing the agricultural policy framework as assistant deputy minister for policy from 2000-02, she has some knowledge of where the department has been.
However, Baltacioglu said with the prospect of mass retirements, particularly at senior levels, the department runs a risk of losing much of its “corporate memory” about how policies developed and why they were created.
“The corporate memory issue is absolutely critical,” she said. “Our challenge will be to keep our corporate memory, bring in new people in stages, grow them, teach them, try to transfer some of that corporate memory to them or else there is going to be such a big wave of change that will come at us.”
For five years after 2002 when she was away from Agriculture Canada to work as a senior official in the Privy Council Office, Baltacioglu said she got to see the department in a new light.
With its professional staff, broad responsibility, history, federal-provincial responsibilities and a strong policy focus, she said her respect for the department grew.
“There is always a sense of purpose and commitment in this department,” she said. “It is not a transient department. It has a very proud history. It’s one of the best-kept secrets in government.”
Now that she has overall responsibility to make sure the tradition continues, Baltacioglu said it is time to raise the department’s profile.
“There is a need for re-branding,” she said. “When I said Agriculture Canada is one of the best-kept secrets in government with a professional mandate and a dedicated work force, the fact that it is secret is not a good thing.”
She said her background is policy but at least in the early going, concentration on the future of the department is key.
“I will focus on policy but for now, the heavy emphasis will be on the management side of the department.”
