Government looks to enhance recruitment, retention of advisors
On August 29, the federal government announced it will be providing an incentive package to enhance the recruitment and retention of compensation advisors to address pay administration system issues related to the implementation of Phoenix.
“Compensation advisors continue to work diligently to address pay requests, but more expertise and support is needed to help eliminate the backlog and implement recently signed collective agreements,” said Treasury Board President Scott Brison. “This incentive package will help with the recruitment and retention of specialized employees to address and resolve employees' pay issues."
The incentive package will apply to compensation advisors at the AS 01, AS 02 and AS 03 group and levels who work at the Public Service Pay Centre (including the satellite offices) and within departments and agencies who are currently eligible for the Compensation Advisor Retention Allowance, the government said.
In addition, an expedited, independent review process will be established at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) for compensation advisor job descriptions and classification grievances.
The funds for this incentive package will be allocated from the $142 million announced by PSPC in May to stabilize the pay administration system.
This incentive package is a result of an agreement reached with the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
"We hope that these measures will bring in additional compensation staff so that Phoenix-related problems are addressed more efficiently,” said Robyn Benson, national president of the alliance.
Since the implementation of Phoenix in February 2016, one key challenge the government has faced is the capacity to deal with volume challenges.
Central to this was the loss of knowledge and expertise when compensation advisors were workforce-adjusted in the lead-up to 2015, as a result of the centralization of the pay administration functions, according to the government.
The incentive package includes three elements:
• a $4,000 one-time payment
• a temporary increase in the overtime rate from time-and-a-half to double time
• a temporary removal of the restrictions on how much unused compensatory and vacation leave can be carried over before being automatically paid out.
This story has been updated.
