Integrated strategy for human resources and pay
Quarterly progress report: Fall 2024
The Government of Canada is changing the way it manages human resources (HR) and pay for public servants.
This report provides an update on our integrated strategy for human resources and pay. It details how we’re improving and addressing challenges with the current pay system and our operations. It also highlights our work to explore a new, modern HR and pay solution for Government of Canada employees.
What’s in it for employees
The employee experience is at the center of our efforts. Over the past 3 months, we continued to make progress to ensure employees can easily consult their HR and pay information and get adequate support when needed.
This report highlights key projects we are leading to support Government of Canada employees. These include a new maternity and parental leave form, an upgrade to the MyGCHR system, improved collaboration among various groups working on pay, and the transition of the pay system to a new database.
Strategy health
To date, the integrated strategy is progressing within the established scope, cost and milestones. This progress report will provide details for each category, as well as featured projects, each quarter.
Cost
Scope
The integrated strategy for HR and pay is divided into 2 components: current operations and transformation. Learn more about our featured projects for each component.
Current operations
Efforts continue to maintain and improve our current pay system.
In 2024, we achieved a government-wide average biweekly payroll accuracy of 98.1%.
Work towards reducing the number of outstanding transactions also continues. Our current goal is to reach steady state, which is defined as processing transactions within service standards 95% of the time and having no outstanding transactions more than 1 year old.
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Featured project: Increased capacity and efficiency to support the Pay Centre
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is working to improve its capacity and efficiency to help the Pay Centre reduce backlogs and avoid delays. By collaborating and simplifying processes, we're making it easier to handle compensation and benefits requests, thereby improving the experience for government employees.
We're working with departments to make policy changes easier to implement, reducing the need for manual work by compensation advisors. For example, Compensation Sector Pay has recently automated benefits enrollment for new hires, allowing the Pay Centre to focus on other tasks.
Additionally, the Client Contact Centre (CCC) has updated its internal procedures for processing benefits, like the Public Service Health and Dental Care Plans, to increase the scope of services.
Status: On track
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Featured project: New maternity and parental leave form
We’ve recently revamped the 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. When accessing the form online, you can also learn more about eligibility for unpaid leave to care for a newborn or adopted child, as well as the maternity and parental allowance, which is a supplement to Employment Insurance (EI) or Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) benefits. The webpage highlights important administrative steps, including notifying your manager, completing required forms, and ensuring accurate documentation for pay, benefits, and insurance coverage during your leave.
In addition, PSPC has developed a video to help employees fill out the new form: How to complete the maternity and parental leave form for federal employees.
For additional support on HR and Pay-related topics, please consult our HR & pay video library.
Status: Completed
Transformation
In parallel to improving our current operations, we continue to explore replacement options for our existing HR and pay systems and experiment with various data management models.
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Featured project: MyGCHR 9.2 upgrade project
On December 2, 2024, we successfully upgraded the MyGCHR application from PeopleSoft HCM version 9.1 to version 9.2. Although most of the core functions and processes within MyGCHR remain the same, employees will notice a new, more user-friendly interface. This redesign was a key part of the upgrade, making it easier for employees to navigate the system and complete their tasks.
This important update was also designed to improve how MyGCHR works with the Phoenix pay system, ensuring the two platforms are more compatible and can function together more smoothly. 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. 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.
This upgrade affected all 58 Government of Canada departments and agencies that use MyGCHR. The improvements benefit employees across these organizations by ensuring smoother operations, reducing the chances of technical issues, and boosting overall efficiency. With these changes, MyGCHR is now better equipped to support government employees with all their human resource and pay needs.
To learn about the updated user interface, please consult the following videos:
- Introduction to Navigation in MyGCHR 9.2 (accessible only on a Government of Canada network)
- Introduction to Employee Self Service in MyGCHR 9.2 (accessible only on a Government of Canada network)
- Introduction to Manager Self Service in MyGCHR 9.2 (accessible only on a Government of Canada network)
Status: Completed
Featured project: Responsible AI and the creation of an advisory board
The Government of Canada is exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve its HR and pay processes. AI can lead to cost savings and more efficient services by helping to automate repetitive tasks, speeding up decision-making, and providing deeper insights into HR and pay data.
Recognizing that the value of AI tools depends on their ethical and effective use, PSPC has launched the AI Operational Ethics Review Board. The Board is composed of interdisciplinary members from organizations across the government. It will provide expertise, guidance, and advice on ethical considerations required to advance the implementation of AI for government pay operations.
Further, the board will leverage outside expertise through an AI Advisory Committee, to be launched in 2025. The committee will include international experts who will guide the development of AI strategies and ethical frameworks. Their recommendations will help guide the board in their decisions.
Coupled with the practical lessons to be learned in pilot projects like the Pay Centre virtual assistant, the Government of Canada is on track to benefit from the promise of AI to improve the way it processes pay. All this, while ensuring that the use of AI is governed by clear values and ethics.
Status: On track
Cost
It’s crucial that we invest in the current HR and pay systems and operations so the 430,000 current and former employees across the public service receive their bi-weekly pay. This includes employees serviced by the Public Service Pay Centres and other pay processing organizations. Investments are also needed to resolve backlog transactions from past years. At the same time, we’re testing a new, modern and integrated HR and pay solution designed to meet the current and future needs of the public service.
Fiscal year 2024 to 2025
Current operations
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Current operations (2024 to 2025)
These are projections for this fiscal year. It's expected that amounts may move depending on requirements and priorities through the year.
- $354.5 million (44%) for the Pay Centre and its compensation advisors to handle pay and benefits transactions for over 250,000 employees, as well as to reduce outstanding transactions
- this includes processing transactions like actings, new hires, transfers and promotions
- $250.3 million (31%) for pay applications and information technology (IT) support, which includes programming, and improving the pay and HR systems, as well as 24/7 IT operations to ensure systems work correctly
- this amount includes the contract with IBM Canada, valued at $120.2 million (taxes included) for critical 24/7/365 technical and payroll processing support, software updates, and more
- this amount includes the contract with Oracle, valued at $8 million (taxes included) for a new pay system database, licenses, and support
- $89.1 million (11%) for pay administration, which is responsible for managing pay and benefits for over 430,000 current and former employees, ensuring data is accurate, implementing collective agreements, issuing tax slips, conducting audits, and more
- this amount includes the contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers, valued at $20 million (taxes included), for the provision on an as-needed basis, of experts to provide project and program advisory services with a focus on pay stabilization efforts
- $69.0 million (9%) for business support and internal services, including program oversight, training, reporting to management and other departments, and more
- $47.8 million (6%) for the Client Contact Centre, which answers questions from all public servants and retirees and handles simple issues
- this funding also supports the MyGCPay application, which helps employees understand their pay and benefits
- $354.5 million (44%) for the Pay Centre and its compensation advisors to handle pay and benefits transactions for over 250,000 employees, as well as to reduce outstanding transactions
Transformation
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Transformation (2024 to 2025)
These are projections for this fiscal year. It's expected that amounts will fluctuate depending on requirements and priorities through the year.
- $77.3 million (53%) for Dayforce to continue supporting us in the expanded testing of more complex scenarios and configuring the system to our specific needs while we continue to asses if this is a viable system
- this total includes $2 million of unspent funding from 2023-24
- $45.2 million (31%) for PSPC to continue exploring a new modern HR and pay solution
- this includes expenses such as salaries for public servants, internal services, training, and more
- $22.7 million (16%) for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to pursue simplifying HR processes and procedures, as well as to support initiatives such as the new central data hub
- $77.3 million (53%) for Dayforce to continue supporting us in the expanded testing of more complex scenarios and configuring the system to our specific needs while we continue to asses if this is a viable system
Milestones
Project milestones allow us to track and publicly report on our progress.
Checkmark = Completed; Circle = In progress
2024
Spring
- Completed: Launch of the new GC Employee Pay and Benefits Facebook page to support employees
- Completed: Budget 2024 provided funding for the exploration of a new HR and pay system
- Completed: Launch of the Data hub initiative Request for information
Summer
- Completed: Publish the first quarterly progress report
- Completed: Deployment of 4 new HR and pay best practices across departments, through the Unified actions for pay
- Completed: Begin using an AI virtual assistant to support compensation advisors
- Completed: Launch of the Case Client Relationship Management tool initiative request for information and request for proposals for advisory services
- Completed: Launch of the new phone menu option at the Client Contact Centre to better help employees
- Completed: Start of the Dayforce user awareness sessions available to Human Capital Management employees, to continue testing this new potential HR and pay solution
Fall
- Completed: Upgrade the pay system database to a supported platform offered by Oracle
- Completed: Publish the second quarterly progress report and hold engagement sessions with employees, unions, and media, as part of the Transparency by Design initiative
- Completed: Engage Government of Canada employees with the Dayforce user awareness sessions, to maximize the number of participants testing this potential HR and pay solution
- Completed: Release 50 internal documents on October 2 and 49 more documents on December 2 relating to HR and pay initiatives on the Open Government Portal
- Completed: Launch improvements and expansion of MyGCPay to include additional HR information
- Completed: Publish 4 new how-to videos to support employees
2025
Winter
- Completed: Publish the third quarterly progress report and continue engagement sessions as part of the Transparency by Design initiative
- Completed: Release 53 new internal documents on January 22 relating to HR and pay initiatives on the Open Government Portal
- Completed: Launch MyGCPay external for all government employees
- In progress: Develop and test new features for the AI Virtual Assistant to help compensation advisors process leave without pay transactions and actings for executives
- In progress: Process all priority backlog transactions
- In progress: Deploy 3 new HR and pay best practices across departments, through the Unified actions for pay
Project spotlight
Each quarter, we put the spotlight on an element of work being done to improve HR and pay to better service employees.
Upgrade the pay system database to a supported platform offered by Oracle
The Pay System Database and PeopleTools (PSDPT) Project involved moving the Phoenix pay system database which hosts employees pay information to a new database and development platform. The goal was to move to a new Oracle database before vendor support of the current IBM database ends in April 2025. This migration, along with an upgrade to PeopleTools, ensured that the system continues to function smoothly with minimal changes for employees.
The migration to Oracle was necessary to maintain technical support. Extensive testing was carried out in collaboration with departments to minimize any impact on employees. All functionality of the pay system has remained the same.
This project required significant planning and collaboration with stakeholders across the Government of Canada to ensure a smooth transition for all departments and agencies. We’re pleased to report that this major IT project was carried out successfully in October, with very limited disruption for employees.
Status: Completed
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