MIRAMICHI, NB, May 4, 2018 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is committed to resolving public service pay issues as quickly as possible and supporting affected employees.
Today, the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, announced the introduction of a new, more effective approach to addressing pay issues while visiting the new Public Service Pay Centre in Miramichi, alongside Pat Finnigan, Member of Parliament for Miramichi–Grand Lake.
Following a successful pilot project, Pay Pods are being introduced at the Miramichi Pay Centre to better support employees by processing pay transactions. Pay Pods, a concept developed by Pay Centre employees, group together compensation advisors assigned to a specific department or agency. These groups will work with client departments to address all outstanding transactions in an employee's pay file, in contrast to the current approach of addressing pay issues by transaction type. This new approach will result in more efficient and comprehensive resolutions of pay issues, and a reduction in backlogged cases.
Pay Pods will be rolled out to all departments and agencies serviced by the Pay Centre in phases starting this month and will be fully implemented by mid-2019. The partnership between the Pay Centre and participating departments and agencies is the hallmark of this initiative. Ongoing communication and collaboration is not only improving human resources and pay processes, it reflects the whole-of-government approach needed to resolve pay issues and ultimately ensures that public servants are paid accurately and on time.
The Government of Canada is working on multiple fronts to address pay issues. In addition to the Pay Pods, an outreach campaign was recently launched to encourage timely and accurate entry of information: key factors in preventing pay issues.
Quotes
"Through innovation and continual improvement, we are working to stabilize the pay system and ensure that employees are paid accurately. We feel confident that the Pod approach will provide more tailored support to departments and agencies and help address employee pay issues as quickly as possible. I'm happy to welcome our Pay Centre employees to this beautiful new facility in Miramichi."
The Honourable Carla Qualtrough
Minister of Public Services and Procurement
"We are honoured to be the permanent home of the Public Service Pay Centre. We recognize that public servants are still experiencing discrepancies with their pay; however, the solutions being developed by the dedicated staff here in Miramichi are helping to solve these pay issues for public servants, and we are very proud of that. The construction of the new Pay Centre has created enormous economic opportunities for our community and is providing good quality middle-class jobs here in New Brunswick."
Pat Finnigan
Member of Parliament for Miramichi–Grand Lake
Quick facts
- The Pay Pod pilot project was conducted with three departments: Veterans Affairs Canada; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
- Since December 2017, when the pilot began, the overall backlog for the three pilot departments was reduced by 24%, the number of employees with pay issues decreased by 11% and service standards for new incoming transactions were met in 88% of the time using this new approach.
- The pilot project is part of the suite of measures introduced in November 2017 to stabilize the pay system and better support employees.
- Construction of the new long-term leased facility began in May 2015 and created jobs for an estimated 200 tradespeople.
- The Pay Centre, which is home to the current Pay Pod pilot project, houses more than 530 employees. This state-of-the-art building is designed with employee well-being in mind, offering a healthy and pleasant workplace.
- The building is targeting a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification and is one of the largest projects in New Brunswick.
Associated links
Backgrounder: Pay Pod project
Backgrounder: New Public Service Pay Centre building
Pay for the public service
Pay Bulletin
Phoenix pay system issues
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
SOURCE Public Services and Procurement Canada
Ashley Michnowski, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, 819-997-5421; Media Relations, Public Services and Procurement Canada, 819-420-5501, [email protected]
Share this article