The federal government says it is moving forward with an integrated plan to manage human resources and pay for public servants, citing efforts to fix long-standing compensation issues. Officials released a third quarterly progress report on those initiatives today, which include exploring a replacement for the Phoenix pay system and most of the 30 human resources systems in use across federal departments.
In a statement, Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said improving day-to-day operations remains a priority.
“We are committed to improving our operations to better support federal public servants, while exploring new solutions to address HR and pay challenges,” said Duclos. “Resolving pay issues and ensuring timely, accurate compensation is our top priority. We will continue working to develop a system that meets the needs of today and the future.”
President of the Treasury Board Ginette Petitpas Taylor said any new system must be easy to use and consistent across government.
“Working with Public Services and Procurement Canada, we’re moving towards a simplified HR and pay system to better serve public servants,” said Petitpas Taylor. “In the coming months, we’ll continue discussions with stakeholders, including with bargaining agents, as we prepare to streamline the number of individual systems across the Government.”
According to the report, the government is tracking 11 key commitments to modernize HR and pay operations. The current approach includes upgrading existing technology, boosting support for the Pay Centre, and introducing a new maternity and parental leave form. Officials also noted a recent database upgrade and the launch of a Responsible AI and Operations Ethics Board.
Budget 2024 allotted $135 million to explore a new public service HR and pay system. Officials said $112.1 million of that total went to Public Services and Procurement Canada, including $85 million to amend the contract with Dayforce to expand testing and design a system tailored to government needs. Treasury Board Secretariat received $22.7 million. The existing systems handle pay and benefits for more than 430,000 current and former federal workers across 100 departments and agencies.
Government representatives say they will continue engaging employees and stakeholders, while also providing regular updates as they test new solutions and work to improve existing services.
