Actually, it's an extensive process.
When individuals are hired into the federal government, that's an extensive process in and of itself. It's not simply an interview. Usually, there’s a written examination, then an interview, then reference checks. The individual comes in and, depending on the classification and where they're working, they're on probation. There is a probationary period. It may be six months, it may be a year. Throughout that process, the manager must provide written feedback to the individual—they have to provide training and written feedback. If you're on probation for a year, then it's at the first month, at six months, and at the final month, to say whether you're rejected on probation, which means you either leave the federal government or you stay.
If somebody, after many, many years, is perhaps not working to what their expected production is, for example, then you have to look at whether there is retraining, there is an accommodation issue, or that other things need to happen. Quite frankly, it's very difficult to get into the federal government, and many of my members are term employees for many years. Technically, if you're a term for three or four years, in order to stay on, or in order to be rehired, you're under performance evaluation all the time.
I find it really ironic that there are comments from the President of Treasury Board that not enough individuals are fired from the federal government. Quite frankly, in order to work for the federal government, it's quite a process to get in, and then there's a process of performance management, which has been around as long as I have been there, 33 years, where every year my manager tells me whether I'm doing a good job.
I question why we're so worried about what percentage has been released, when in fact it's very vigorous throughout the process.