Question Period Note: Phoenix Pay System

• The Phoenix pay issues that continue to impact public servants are unacceptable.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard are among the most negatively affected by pay irregularities due to our unique workforce. Our backlog of open cases at the Pay Centre has diminished; however, there are still more than 34,000 open Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Coast Guard cases.
• We have assembled a dedicated multi-disciplinary team of more than 130 resources.
• My department remains committed to supporting employees until all pay issues are resolved.

• PSPC has developed a “Pay Pod” initiative in which compensation advisors are trained for and dedicated to serving individual departments and examining pay issues holistically. This initiative has been very well-received across Government and within the Department. DFO has onboarded to the Pod on February 21, 2019. Since we onboarded, the POD queue has decreased from 40,784 cases to 31,576 (data estimated internally as of December 25, 2019; no new data has been received from PSPC since October 31, 2019).
• DFO currently has 34,951 pending cases at the Pay Centre (as of October 31, 2019). Approximately 78% of DFO’s total active population has at least one open case. The total pending cases also accounts for 4,202 DFO inactive employees (i.e. employees no longer working in DFO) who have at least one open case. No new data has been received from PSPC since October 31, 2019.
• Since the launch of Phoenix, so far, we have provided more than $9.25M to alleviate hardship for our employees.
• DFO’s operational workforce and the Coast Guard have been disproportionately impacted by pay issues and have been regularly featured in the national media. DFO and the Coast Guard have dedicated a project team (130+ full and part-time resources) who continue to provide overall support to impacted employees. Helping employees experiencing pay issues is a top priority for the Department. A dedicated team of HR experts is working tirelessly to resolve issues quickly to ensure our employees can continue to focus on serving Canadians.
• To address the timeliness of human resources transactions and the accuracy of pay data, my Department has implemented the following initiatives:
• We have centralized our Trusted Source function, which reviews all Pay Action Requests (PARs) to ensure they are complete and error-free before they are sent to the Pay Centre. Our departmental rejection rate, which includes PARs sent directly to the Pay Centre, was 2.3% in December, a marked increase from the 0.8% rate in November 2019. The average rejection rate of all departments served by the Pay Centre is 4.2%.
• Centralization of data entry into the HR system for improved accuracy and timely entry to prevent pay issues.
• Department-specific guides were created to help employees and managers use Phoenix more efficiently. These products drive home the importance of accuracy and timeliness. They feature prominently on a Pay Support Launchpad that opens automatically on all networked desktops and links to the most current PAR, a pay calendar with important dates and deadlines, to our Centralized Trusted Source and to a Staffing Timeliness chart.
• We have held well-received training and engagement sessions in regional offices across Canada. These sessions underscore to managers and employees the vital importance of timeliness in HR transactions.
• We continue to maintain a proactive communications approach that keeps employees and managers informed on key pay-related issues through multiple channels such as In the Loop messages, employee email broadcasts, GCPedia and emails to Section 34 managers.
• Creation of a Life Events Team to provide information and support to employees and managers on specific life events, such as maternity/parental leave, retirement, death in service, marriage and divorce, leave without pay and disability. By providing this one-on-one service early on, we can reduce potential pay issues by ensuring that forms are completed accurately and submitted in a timely manner. Since its launch in May, we have assisted employees on over 2,000 Life Event cases.
• Creation of an e-timesheet pilot to achieve faster processing of timesheets, and a reduced need for manual data entry into our leave management system, subsequently reducing the risk of errors.
• Taking advantage of PSPC’s business intelligence tools and direct access to data, we have implemented an internal business intelligence program for tracking and guiding progress on pay, track
trends and identify areas of concern and areas in which the Department needs to strengthen its training.
• DFO proactively continues to work closely with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), along with other departments and agencies, to develop solutions to pay problems.
• Our Department is prepared to support employees through current stabilization efforts and in any efforts to identify a replacement pay system. We are committed to working with TBS and PSPC on addressing issues that are unique to our department to ensure the Next Generation pay system meets the needs of operational employees.
• A Next Generation HR and Pay team has been established at Treasury Board to explore a future HR and pay system for the Government of Canada. This system will be “a digital solution that is mobile, accessible and available 24/7, and will be built on the foundation of user’s needs and modern people management processes.”
• DFO has been actively involved in the process of user-testing prototypes of a Next Generation pay system, including asking selected employees and members of the pay stabilization team to take part in the testing.
• Regular updates on Pay to various senior management tables and bargaining agents continue to be provided at meetings where Phoenix is kept as a standing item. Bargaining agents have consistently praised the Department’s pay response efforts.
• It is expected that pay issues of varying degrees will persist through at least 2021. As such, we have committed to maintaining Phoenix support teams until all pay issues have been resolved.
• PSPC and other departments consider DFO to be an engaged and innovative partner that is making progress on pay issues. DFO is active at the DM, ADM and DG governance groups, maintains weekly operational project meetings with PSPC and takes part in at least four interdepartmental working groups.
• In February 2016, DFO onboarded to the Government of Canada’s new pay system (Phoenix) and simultaneously completed the transfer of all pay files to the Public Service Pay Centre in Miramichi. Since this transition, pay issues have affected thousands of employees across all departments and agencies as a result of system issues and delays at the Pay Centre.

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