Pay Transformation Initiative: August and September 2013 No. 26

New Employees to start at the Pay Centre!

New compensation employees, including managers and team leads for the 27 Wave 2 departments and agencies, started their training at the Public Service Pay Centre in Miramichi, New Brunswick on July 29th.

These new employees will be joined by more than 160 compensation advisor trainees at the Pay Centre this September.  In addition to formal classroom training, they'll participate in on-the-job training where they'll work alongside experienced team leads and managers.They will start providing pay administration services in October 2013.

New employees at the Pay Centre pose for a group photo on one of their first days of training.

Front Row (left to right): Jacqueline Murdoch, Susan Steeves, Helene Beaulieu, Debra Patterson, Beverly Babin, Christine Delorme, Sylvie Pearson, Jean-Francois Mallette.

Back row: John Lutes, Klay Wang, Marion Coffin, and Mike Mahoney.

Missing from photo: Kristy Hamilton-Stewart, Julie Leblanc and Patti Rose

Wave 3 Hiring

Recruitment activities will start mid-September to hire more than 200 employees who will work at the Pay Centre, starting January 2015. A hiring poster for the Compensation Advisor Trainee positions will be published on the Government of Canada employment site this fall through the Public Service Commission's Post-Secondary Recruitment campaign.

Outreach with educational institutions across Canada will be conducted to raise awareness of these employment opportunities with college graduates.  In addition to the Post-Secondary Recruitment campaign, an external job posting targeting all Canadian citizens across Canada for the Compensation Advisor Trainee position will be released in January 2014.

Employee Profile:  Mike Mahoney stays in Miramichi – at the Pay Centre!

Mike Mahoney had been a loyal federal employee, working at the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) offices in Miramichi for most of his working life. When his department announced last year that it would be downsizing, Mike suddenly found himself on workforce adjustment and having to face the reality that he might have to leave Miramichi – the place where he and his family have lived their entire lives.

Mike had read the announcements about the establishment of the Public Service Pay Centre in Miramichi and the openings available and thought it might be something he could do.  So, he applied as part of the recruitment for Wave 2. He was selected and started work at the Pay Centre on July 29, 2013.

"The Public Service Pay Centre means so much to the local economy, providing good jobs and opportunities for many New Brunswickers," says Mike.  "In my case, it allows me to continue to work and live in the city and province where I have my roots."

"I am also excited to be part of this new team at the Pay Centre and am really looking forward to using the skills I've acquired in the public service to support the delivery of pay administration across the government."

Public Service Pay Centre:  Official opening of the Second Interim Location!

The sign goes up on the newest Public Service Pay Centre location in Miramichi, New Brunswick.

An official opening will be held this September for the second interim location of the Public Service Pay Centre.  Local dignitaries and politicians will be invited.

This additional location for the Public Service Pay Centre was ready for occupancy on July 30, 2013.

The new building, which has a maximum capacity of 312 employees, is located at the re-fitted Mill site in Miramichi. Pay administration services will be provided from both the Mill and Mall site for approximately 40 departments and agencies until the end-state building is ready in 2017.

Responses to the Request for Proposal for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the end-state building will be evaluated this September, with Treasury Board approval of the contract expected in April 2014.

Partnering with colleges

Work continues on the program to partner with colleges to train and recruit compensation advisors through an accredited program. The Consolidation of Pay Services Project has reviewed five responses that it received to its Request for Information (RFI) which closed on June 28, 2013. The Project team will hold a series of meetings with respondents in early Fall to help determine the college partnership strategy moving forward.

Data Cleansing

The Pay Modernization Project is meeting monthly with departments to discuss data cleansing through the newly established Interdepartmental Data Cleansing Working Group.

Jeannette Mulcahy (left) and Kia Goutte (right) from the data cleansing team review departmental data cleansing reports

It is important that departments ensure that the data in their human resources management systems is reconciled with data in the Regional Pay System (RPS) for successful implementation of the new Government of Canada (GC) Pay Solution.

So far, the Project has been meeting with Government of Canada Human Resources Management System (GC HRMS) departments which are not on the Government of Canada Pay Interface (GCPI).

Since May, departments have been reporting monthly on the results of their data cleansing activities. To date, the Project has received an excellent response from departments, with 69% of them reporting in May; 85% in June; and, 88% in July.  From the Project's analysis of the departmental reports, the most common data discrepancies fall under these codes: Exclusion Reason; Geographic Location; and, Employee Type. Several departments have already started to address/correct these discrepancies.

Empowering Change Network

The Empowering Change Network (ECN), composed of departmental change agents from across the public service, is up and running. Through the ECN, the Project is engaging departments on preliminary change impacts and the expected flow of information between the new GC Pay Solution and departments.

Change agents will be responsible for submitting a monthly "Readiness Scorecard" on behalf of their department. The scorecard will be used to track departmental progress in key activities required to prepare them for implementing the new GC Pay Solution. The scorecard template will be shared on September 26, 2013 at the next ECN meeting. The first readiness dashboard with aggregated departmental information will be published in November and will be shared with leaders across the Government of Canada.

Importance of Interfaces

Michel Régimbald(background), Project Director for the Pay Modernization Project and Chris Medaglia (right), Application Team Lead, discuss interface design requirements for the new GC Pay Solution.

Michel Régimbald, Chris Medaglia and Yves St-Pierre, as well as members from the Reports, Interfaces and Extensions team, have been meeting with various organizations to discuss interface design requirements for the new GC Pay Solution.

"The discussions are going well," says Chris. "It's a chance to engage third party stakeholders to begin the process of developing these important interfaces.  We want to minimize any impacts as much as possible and, where we can, find opportunities to streamline and improve."

The team has already met with several union organizations, Canada Revenue Agency, Treasury Board Secretariat and the Bank of Canada.