OC Transpo
Recruitment, Training and Services in French
Prepared By: Vicky Kyriaco-Wilson
Manager, Transit Marketing and Customer Service
OC Transpo is a department of the City of Ottawa and, as such, does not have an independent Human Resources branch. All human resource activities and services are conducted by the City of Ottawa’s central Human Resources branch. The Human Resources branch recruits and qualifies potential candidates before they are introduced to OC Transpo’s managers and supervisors for interviews. HR’s assessment would include evaluating the candidate’s proficiency in both official languages.
Employee positions are designated bilingual by the Human Resources department in conjunction with OC Transpo’s Management, in accordance with the City’s Bilingualism Policy. Employees whose primary function is to communicate with the public are required to be bilingual from date of hire. Other employee positions have a range of language proficiency requirements. The French Language Services branch submits an annual report to City Council on French language services. This can include OC Transpo.
Of particular interest, Customer Service Clerks in OC Transpo’s Public Information office are all bilingual, as well as at our Customer Service Centres. They are able to supply information about the City’s transit system in person or via telephone in both official languages. Only 25% of bus and train operator positions have been designated bilingual. The balance of operators, whose primary function is to operate a transit vehicle, is not required to be bilingual upon hiring.
OC Transpo strongly encourages the Human Resources branch to advertise bilingual positions within Ontario and Quebec. Language skills are identified during the hiring process for all personnel. Hiring bilingual bus operators has been a particular challenge, as the demographics of the City of Ottawa have changed significantly in the past decade. There is a preponderance of candidates applying for positions as operators who are immigrants to Canada and whose primary language is neither French, nor English. Proficiency in French, as opposed to English, is more difficult to ensure. Despite extending the recruitment search area beyond Ontario and into Quebec, OC Transpo has been unable to fill new operator positions with at least 25% of new hires being bilingual (French/English). Of 193 applicants hired in 2008, 13 applicants (6.7%) rated themselves as Advanced/Fluent in French (communicating orally) and 17 applicants (8.8%) rated themselves as Intermediate in French (communicating orally) for a total of 15.5% of new hires being bilingual.
OC Transpo offers French and English language training to its employees through the City of Ottawa Leadership and Employee Development unit. Bus Operators, in particular, are encouraged to take additional French language training through internal ESL/FSL campaigns. In the past 6-8 months, this training has been intermittent, yet the results, encouraging. This is in due part to the nature of the language training, as well as to the prolonged strike and return to service.
Many operators are willing to take French language training, providing it is related to their job functions. A common complaint was that the training focused much more on academic conversational structures than on transit related topics. Operators tended to drop out of the program before they could achieve proficiency. A special effort was made to tailor French language training with a transit orientation for bus operators to raise their level of commitment to developing the ability to respond to OC Transpo’s French-speaking customers. Group classes and “one-on-one” training has occurred on site. OC Transpo’s training division is working closely with drivers and the City’s instructors to continuously improve the content of the language classes.
Language training has faltered as a result of the strike and return to service. OC Transpo’s activities have very much been focused on working through challenges to provide transit services to the public. OC Transpo’s Transit Support division, responsible for employee training including bus operators, is committed to re-engaging OC Transpo’s operators in French language training in the coming fall.
OC Transpo Management is currently negotiating an agreement with the winning proponent of a recent Request for Tenders for a bilingual automated stop callout system. Installation of the automated callout system has not been determined, as yet. There are a number of opportunities to investigate relating to the new technology platform now available to OC Transpo as a result of the tender, which could lead to further efficiencies and improvements in customer service. The implementation plan for the automated callout system will be made available when OC Transpo concludes negotiations with the vendor in question.
An OC Transpo representative will be available to make a presentation regarding OC Transpo’s bilingual employee recruitment, training and services in French in the Fall 2009.