Phoenix "disaster" because of the government's culture of avoiding liability: Senate

OTTAWA – The federal government wage fiasco stems in large part from a bureaucratic culture of avoidance of responsibility that will require closer political oversight before launching such complex projects at the federal level. future, according to a study of the Phoenix Compensation System

The system, put online more than two years ago with the aim of rationalizing the salaries of the 300,000 or so government workers and saving 70 million dollars a year, cost nearly $ 1 billion in unforeseen expenses. According to a report from the Senate National Finance Committee, the report could be $ 2.2 billion by 2023. The report released on Tuesday urged Parliament to be more involved in the oversight of the planned solutions. Phoenix and what the government is doing to replace it. 19659005] "The Phoenix disaster revealed a cultural problem in the management of the federal bureaucracy, a problem that we must solve if the government is to succeed in undertaking complex projects like this in the future," he said. said the co-author of the report and vice-chair of the committee, Senator André Pratte

But rather than pointing the finger at senior officials for failures in the pay system, the committee attributed largely a "problem Fundamental Cultural Management in the Public Service "at the Phoenix Fiasco.

" The government must move away from a culture that minimizes bad news and shirks responsibility, to a culture that encourages the culture of the world. " employee engagement, feedback and collaboration, "report said.

Senate Service Committee report that took a hit on his handling of Phoenix, including a word war s between the Federal Auditor General and the Clerk of the Privy Council.

A Much Greater Issue 1945

In May, Michael Ferguson qualified Phoenix as "the first time". "incomprehensible failure" resulting from an "obedient culture" in the civil service. A few weeks later, Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick fired back, accusing Ferguson of "hasty generalizations" about the officials and calling Phoenix "repairable." Since its launch in early 2016, the Phoenix system has earned more than half paychecks. All federal employees working in dozens of government departments and agencies

Problems, including overpayments, underpayments and sometimes no payments, have affected more than others some employees and created a backlog of year. By the end of June, the backlog has been reduced to about 577,000 unresolved cases.

Among its five main recommendations, the committee asked the Trudeau government to set targets for the processing of pay requests and to better train pay advisers.

He also urged the government to do more to help employees in financial difficulty.

For employees affected by Phoenix, and their unions, the Senate report was not a surprise.

Workers criticized the results Tuesday for failing to reprimand individuals for their role in launching the system despite the fact that Phoenix had not been tested properly.

Pratte defended the committee's decision not to call bureaucrats to testify to their role in Phoenix. arguing that the failures of the system go beyond a handful of people.

"If we had these three people before the committee, it would have meant that He was the one responsible for the problem, and that is not the case," he said.

"This is obviously a much bigger problem than three individuals."

Unions representing federal workers have asked the government to pay damages for the emotional and mental stress caused by Phoenix. Earlier this year, compensation talks quickly became bogged down when government negotiators said they did not have the mandate to proceed.

"The government must accept responsibility, compensate employees in the form of damages and put in place a solid process. Chris Aylward, National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said in an email:

The PSAC has also asked that a national public inquiry be conducted more thoroughly. thoroughly examine what's wrong with Phoenix.