A new survey from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) shows 40 per cent of Canada’s federal government workers are already expressing concerns about Dayforce, the system expected to replace the current Phoenix pay system for the public service.
PSAC said Dayforce is being introduced to workers and tested across the country through road shows and virtual sessions. Since the union launched its survey in December, more than 2,500 members have responded, but many members were not given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with this system. PSAC said about 60 per cent of respondents were not even aware of the road show and virtual sessions happening.
Of those who were able to get to an event, 40 per cent said they were not very confident or not confident at all that Dayforce will be a good replacement for the public service’s current pay system, Phoenix.
Testing session attendees said in the survey that many glaring problems remained. They said the demonstrations on dayforce were too basic and therefore did not address the concerns members often face. As well, members said the system was not intuitive and trainers avoided answering tough questions. Workers who process pay for federal workers said they couldn’t test pay calculations.
The union said many members were worried Dayforce would just repeat the problems from Phoenix, PSAC said.
February 28 will mark nine years since the start of the Phoenix pay system disaster. Since Phoenix pay was implemented, pay periods have been riddled with issues like missing payments. To this day, there is a backlog of thousands of payments. The union said 25 days for processing pay transactions is the service standard but, through Phoenix, the median for the resolution of pay issues is 182 days. Of these cases, almost half are more than a year old.
Earlier this month, PSAC called out the federal government for not meeting its targets for resolving Phoenix pay issues. Over the last quarter, 24,970 backlog cases were resolved but 17,345 new cases were added. That means the net backlog reduction of 7,625.
Despite PSAC’s concerns, the federal government seems optimistic about implementing Dayforce. In their final report on human resources and pay system changes, the Government of Canada said Dayforce is a viable option for a human resources and pay system. However, more testing is needed before implementation. The government said they tested Dayforce’s functionality, complexity and accuracy.
While Dayforce may provide solutions to the ongoing pay problems, there is still more work and testing needed. Until then thousands of workers still remain in limbo.
“We’re keeping a close eye on the government’s testing of Dayforce. But let’s be clear: any new system must work from day one,” said PSAC National President Sharon DeSousa. “Being paid on time and properly is the most basic employment right. Federal workers deserve a pay system that works, not more broken promises.”
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