Government Operations Committee on Sept. 19th, 2016

[Marie Lemay]

Thank you for the question.

One thing that, to my mind, is really important, which we cannot lose sight of, is that we really believe that steady state will be better than what we had before. The steady state will be an environment in which it will be easier for employees to self-serve, and they will be able to do their transactions much faster. The objective of steady state is to have fewer errors and be more timely. It will be a much better place. We're not there yet, but that's what it will be.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

The stress will be considerably lower.

[Marie Lemay]

Yes.

Maybe I'll let Brigitte talk briefly about the overpayments before Phoenix, because you were asking for that number and she does have it.

[Brigitte Fortin]

Thank you.

At the time we went live with the new pay system, from the old pay system there were 18,000 cases of employees who had overpayments, for a value of $21.7 million. That was the state of affairs from an overpayment perspective before Phoenix. That was not necessarily an annual amount; it was a portrait of the amount at that particular point of time.

[Marie Lemay]

So the goal of steady state will be to be in a much better place.

Do you want me to follow up on the question in terms of Miramichi?

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Yes, please.

[Marie Lemay]

In terms of the number of cases in Miramichi, for example, that's one of the things we don't know yet. How many cases the compensation advisers will be able to process when they are fully used to the system, when the system is optimized, is actually a very important factor. We had a plan and that's what led to having 550 compensation advisers. Will that be the end result? Maybe it won't be. If it is, then we will have to let go of all the satellite units and we will keep our Miramichi office open and fully functional. If we happen to need more compensation advisers, then we'll have to assess at that time. Steady state will not be calculated in the number of compensation advisers; it will be calculated in timeliness with regard to the service aspect. We're looking at timeliness, accuracy of payment, and...I'm missing one.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

You have those metrics in place and you know what you're going for as far as steady state is concerned.

[Marie Lemay]

We have a pre-Phoenix metric. The one we are working with now with colleagues is actually an, I'll say end-to-end metric. It's not just about the pay centre. It's about from the moment when somebody works to the moment they get paid. There are a number of HR transactions or steps that have to be taken. We believe if we're looking from a service point of view and if we're thinking of the employees, that's what matters to them. We're looking now at the entire thing end to end.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Very good.

How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

You have about 30 seconds.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Okay, I'll share it with Nick then.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

I'm just getting some feedback regarding a question I asked earlier on the number of complaints that you guys have received with respect to overtime pay since June 30. How many PAR, pay action request, forms or Phoenix feedback forms have you guys received since July 1 with respect to priority three?

[Marie Lemay]

I think there were two elements. Did you say overtime? Overtime is automatic.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

No, we'll just go with the priority three category of complaints since July 1.

[Marie Lemay]

Our priority three is a fixed number. It started with 82,000 and it's now at 67,500.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

I don't think you understand my question. That category of problems since July 1, how many have there been?

[Marie Lemay]

Well, there's a whole bunch of things in the backlog, right? So it's the normal transactions coming in. I'm not sure I do understand your question.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Exactly. How many new ones which you do not consider part of the backlog that are the same category of errors?

[Marie Lemay]

It's the normal flow of business.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

You mean another 40,000?

[Marie Lemay]

Well, it would be more than that. The flow of business transactions come in—

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

No, that are not processed.

[Marie Lemay]

That are not processed? Well, they're processed but some are processed in a timely fashion and others are processed a little late.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

I think I know what Nick's getting at. Perhaps offline, when we suspend to go in camera, we'll have a couple of minutes. Perhaps you and Nick can get together and you can get the answer to Nick's question back to our committee.