'We're moving towards a simplified HR and pay system to better serve public servants'
Continuing its efforts to provide a better HR and pay solution for public servants, the federal government has Increased capacity and efficiency of the Pay Centre.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has updated the Compensation Sector Pay, automating benefits enrollment for new hires.
The move allows the Pay Centre to focus on other tasks, according to the government.
PSPC “is working to improve its capacity and efficiency to help the Pay Centre reduce backlogs and avoid delays,” it said.
“By collaborating and simplifying processes, we're making it easier to handle compensation and benefits requests, thereby improving the experience for government employees.”
Ottawa has also updated the internal procedures of the Client Contact Centre (CCC) for processing benefits – like the Public Service Health and Dental Care Plans – to increase the scope of services.
PSPC has also released new maternity and parental leave forms, streamlining four existing forms into one singular form for ease of use. The new Form GC-178 is available online (only on a Government of Canada network) and has been made more accessible.
In addition, PSPC has developed a video to help employees fill out the new form.
On Dec. 2, 2024, PSPC also successfully upgraded the MyGCHR application from PeopleSoft HCM version 9.1 to version 9.2.
“The upgrade guarantees that MyGCHR will continue to receive vendor support until 2035, helping ensure system stability and reliability for years to come and reducing the risk of disruptions or technical issues,” said the government agency. “Another significant benefit of the upgrade is the implementation of enhanced security features, which help protect sensitive employee data and ensure that MyGCHR meets the latest security standards.”
The upgrade affected all 58 federal government departments and agencies that use MyGCHR.
“Working with Public Services and Procurement Canada, we’re moving towards a simplified HR and pay system to better serve public servants,” said Ginette Petitpas Taylor, president of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS).
“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. This change will ensure consistency across departments and make processes more efficient, reliable, and user-friendly.”
In the previous update from the government, Ottawa said it has started Dayforce user sessions to provide workers with an opportunity to try the new payroll system and provide their feedback.
The federal government also anticipates it will be spending the following amounts in fiscal 2024-2025 for further transformation of the HR and pay system:
Budget 2024 allocated $135 million to explore a new public service HR and pay solution. Of this, $112.1 million is allocated to PSPC, including $85 million to amend the contract with Dayforce to continue to expand testing and design the system to our specific needs. The remaining $22.7 million is allocated to TBS.
The current HR and pay systems are used to deliver pay and benefits to over 430,000 current and former public servants from over 100 departments and agencies. In 2023, this represented approximately 13.1 million payments, totalling approximately $36 billion.
The Public Service Pay Centre provides pay services for 49 organizations serving over 250,000 clients.
In 2024, Ottawa achieved a government-wide average biweekly payroll accuracy of 98.1%, according to the government.
In spring 2024, among other accomplishments, Ottawa successfully launched the new GC Employee Pay and Benefits Facebook page to support employees. To date, the page has over 4,600 likes and 7,500 followers.
In February 2024, On the eighth anniversary of the launch of the Phoenix pay system, three unions called on the federal government to provide additional compensation for damages to workers who have been impacted by the system’s troubles.
Ottawa released the first update on the HR and pay system upgrades in July 2024.