CANADA
Canada’s Senate is calling for more to be done to support Public Servants who are waiting to have their pay problems resolved following the troubled rollout of the Phoenix pay system.
A report by the Senate’s Finance Committee noted that around 150,000 Federal PS staff had encountered at least one problem with their pay since 2016, when the new system was brought in.
These have typically involved incorrect or late payments, with sometimes “disastrous” consequences for staff, the report said.
“Targets should be set for resolving the almost 600,000 requests for outstanding pay,” the report said.
“The Government should also report to Parliament on options and costs for replacing Phoenix, the expected impact on employees and on whatever measures will be put in place to avoid making the same mistakes.”
The Government has promised to spend C$16 million (A$16.5 million) over the next two years looking for a replacement.
The Committee said it was dismayed that the project initially went ahead with minimal independent oversight, and that no-one had accepted responsibility for the problems with the system or been held to account.
A “fundamental management culture problem” in the Public Service was partly to blame for the debacle, the report said.
“There is an ethos that resists sharing negative information, runs away from risks, and avoids responsibility when mistakes occur,” it said.
This supports an earlier report by the Auditor-General, which branded the pay system an “incomprehensible failure” and blamed it on a “much deeper cultural issue” within the Federal Government.
The Committee stressed that it should have a role in overseeing actions the Government took to fix the problems, since the Government “has had this so wrong for so long”.
Minister for the Public Service, Carla Qualtrough and President of the Treasury Board, Scott Brison said the Government was reviewing the Senate’s report, but blamed the previous Conservative Government for creating the problem.
Ottawa, 7 August 2018
