Bugs in new PS pay system being worked out, staff told
Federal officials say the government’s pay centre was swamped with a record number of calls about payroll problems last week, but they’re confident they’ve worked out most of the bugs plaguing the rollout of the new automated pay system.
Brigitte Fortin, assistant deputy minister at Public Services and Procurement, said Wednesday the second phase of the $300-million Phoenix pay system that rolled out earlier this month processed 293,000 paycheques on May 4, the first payday after 190,000 new files were added to the system.
But the Public Service Alliance of Canada doesn’t think the rollout is going as smoothly.
PSAC president Robyn Benson said Tuesday the union has taken its concerns about the Phoenix rollout, which she called “seriously flawed,” to the department. She said public servants are still not getting paid properly, or not at all, and pay centre employees are swamped.
“The stress continues to mount for employees in Miramichi (N.B.) who are working on the new system . ... We have been sounding the alarm on this for months.”
Phoenix was rolled out in two stages, one in February and another last month, triggering much speculation on how it would handle the onslaught after the first rollout, which included 34 departments, was marred by delays, glitches and untold numbers of public servants being paid improperly.
“We believed we have sorted out most of the issues that have been reported to us since the first rollout of Phoenix in February and hope employees are feeling the impact,” Fortin told reporters in an update on Tuesday. “However, we remain in the midst of a significant transition, and users of Phoenix are adjusting to the new system and its associated processes.”
Debi Daviau, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, said the union fielded twice the number of complaints in the second rollout compared with the first, but that it had been braced for more. The problem, she said, is that it went ahead before the system was ready.
“I do see them do the right things, but when you have one person not being paid that is a problem. But when thousands aren’t paid, it is catastrophic, so no effort would be too much effort in fixing this.”
Fortin said the pay centre in Miramichi logged a record 2,500 calls on the May 4 payday. The government hired extra staff to answer phones because many of the thousands of calls during the first rollout went unanswered or were dropped. Extra advisers and Phoenix staff were also on hand.
She said problems with overtime and acting pay, which plagued employees in the first rollout, have now been fixed. Those transactions are now fully automated and won’t need human intervention.
She said problems with pay for employees returning to work from unpaid leave or going on leave, such as parental leave, were being fixed.
Some public servants who retired during the first rollout have complained that they haven’t received their first pension cheques.
PSAC, which had appealed to the government to delay the Phoenix rollout, reported a backlog of 15,000 separations, including retirements, a month ago. Fortin said public servants who have recently retired or are preparing to retire can contact the pension centre in Shediac, N.B., directly with their requests and necessary documents.
PSAC has raised concerns about the support and morale of the overworked compensation advisers at the Miramichi pay centre.
Fortin was unable to say how long the department expects to be sorting out problems. She said the department has had 527 complaints since February and about 90 are outstanding.
She said the system will be constantly upgraded as legislation is changed or new collective agreements are reached and the department expected about two major upgrades a year.