[GPA Podcast] Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster

The British Post Office scandal began with faulty software and evolved into a living nightmare for the postmasters impacted by its spectacular failings. Its shocking details were finally shared on a wider stage when the television series Mr Bates vs The Post Office hit ITV and streaming services and captured the public’s imagination, prompting long-overdue consequences. Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster is a podcast recounting a government pay system scandal that has reverberated just as dramatically across the payroll industry and beyond and we hope it will be even more widely heard.

The difference between Phoenixed and the UK postmasters’ tale is that every payroll professional in every global region has just as dramatic a story to tell of a payroll transformation failure that has unfortunately had the same distressing and sometimes life-altering effects on employees. Pay errors leave an immediate and lasting imprint on every aspect of life. The GPA partnered with Storythings to bring you this brand new six-part investigative podcast taking a deep dive into the Phoenixed story because its universality can help us identify how to get payroll transformations right every time so they stop causing harm.

Delivering accurate and timely pay is the core mission of Payroll. When paycheques are late or employees are underpaid, rent and mortgage payments fail, debits for key bills bounce, bank charges accrue, essential purchases cannot be made and life gets much harder, fast. When system failures hit the headlines, frontline workers may seem to be the most affected group but the truth is that payroll errors are indiscriminate; harming everyone from the C-suite down. People lose their homes as a result of payroll errors, they are not an administrative blip.

Attempts to modernise payroll systems have fallen apart worldwide and our global payroll peers have witnessed the ripple effect for themselves. In 2021, US State Department employees including diplomats in prestigious postings overseas complained of a year of disrupted pay due to a new payroll processing system. In 2018 and 2019 Police officers and teachers in Uganda saw fluctuations ranging from 3 months' arrears to halved or doubled salaries after payroll transformations let them down. A state of emergency was declared in Papua New Guinea earlier this year after a failed attempt to reconfigure the federal payroll system led to riots.

Similar stories of failing or error-plagued pay systems have come from UK councils, retailers and supermarkets, new teachers and existing staff at New Zealand schools. In Australia, the Queensland Health payroll ‘fiasco’ began with a new payroll system in 2010 and snowballed into infamous chaos down the years. And in Canada, tens of thousands of civil servants were plagued by problems from the Phoenix pay system. Now, as it passes its 8th anniversary, Phoenix continues to make news and, thanks to an unprecedented amount of material about the project being part of the public record, it was possible to take a forensic look at what went wrong.

GPA CEO Melanie Pizzey ensured that the Phoenixed podcast came to be because she believed Phoenixed was a compelling tale deserving of a global audience. The things that went wrong with the Phoenix pay system implementation are textbook examples of how challenging transforming payroll can be and the sobering impact of payroll errors on people’s real lives. Host Glen McGregor - an award-winning investigative journalist - takes us on the Phoenixed journey together with payroll specialists, union leaders, Senate testimony and firsthand accounts to build a colourful picture of events and a thoughtful analysis of where we can go from here.

Episode one is available now, you can find Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster on the Phoenixed website or all your favourite podcast platforms and subscribe here to ensure you don’t miss a single episode. We hope you will support Phoenixed by listening, posting links, sharing your experiences and lending your voice to the conversation. We have described Phoenixed as a catalyst for real and meaningful change because we hope that hearing this universal story will ignite a spark in all our payroll peers to ensure that one day these scandals will be firmly consigned to the past.

Storythings is a content marketing agency specialising in audience research, content strategy and production. For more than 12 years Storythings has made podcasts, videos, and editorial content that keeps its audience engaged.

Resources, show notes and further details on Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster are on the Phoenixed site now and will be available with each episode as they are released. You can find all the information on episode one here. Episode two will be available from April 17. Don’t forget to spread the word!

News sources: PBS News Hour, Monitor, Monitor, Global Payroll Association, Global Payroll Association, The Guardian, Global Payroll Association, The New Zealand Herald, The New Zealand Herald, Beyond Software Blog, Global Payroll Association

The British Post Office scandal began with faulty software and evolved into a living nightmare for the postmasters impacted by its spectacular failings. Its shocking details were finally shared on a wider stage when the television series Mr Bates vs The Post Office hit ITV and streaming services and captured the public’s imagination, prompting long-overdue consequences. Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster is a podcast recounting a government pay system scandal that has reverberated just as dramatically across the payroll industry and beyond and we hope it will be even more widely heard.

The difference between Phoenixed and the UK postmasters’ tale is that every payroll professional in every global region has just as dramatic a story to tell of a payroll transformation failure that has unfortunately had the same distressing and sometimes life-altering effects on employees. Pay errors leave an immediate and lasting imprint on every aspect of life. The GPA partnered with Storythings to bring you this brand new six-part investigative podcast taking a deep dive into the Phoenixed story because its universality can help us identify how to get payroll transformations right every time so they stop causing harm.

Delivering accurate and timely pay is the core mission of Payroll. When paycheques are late or employees are underpaid, rent and mortgage payments fail, debits for key bills bounce, bank charges accrue, essential purchases cannot be made and life gets much harder, fast. When system failures hit the headlines, frontline workers may seem to be the most affected group but the truth is that payroll errors are indiscriminate; harming everyone from the C-suite down. People lose their homes as a result of payroll errors, they are not an administrative blip.

Attempts to modernise payroll systems have fallen apart worldwide and our global payroll peers have witnessed the ripple effect for themselves. In 2021, US State Department employees including diplomats in prestigious postings overseas complained of a year of disrupted pay due to a new payroll processing system. In 2018 and 2019 Police officers and teachers in Uganda saw fluctuations ranging from 3 months' arrears to halved or doubled salaries after payroll transformations let them down. A state of emergency was declared in Papua New Guinea earlier this year after a failed attempt to reconfigure the federal payroll system led to riots.

Similar stories of failing or error-plagued pay systems have come from UK councils, retailers and supermarkets, new teachers and existing staff at New Zealand schools. In Australia, the Queensland Health payroll ‘fiasco’ began with a new payroll system in 2010 and snowballed into infamous chaos down the years. And in Canada, tens of thousands of civil servants were plagued by problems from the Phoenix pay system. Now, as it passes its 8th anniversary, Phoenix continues to make news and, thanks to an unprecedented amount of material about the project being part of the public record, it was possible to take a forensic look at what went wrong.

GPA CEO Melanie Pizzey ensured that the Phoenixed podcast came to be because she believed Phoenixed was a compelling tale deserving of a global audience. The things that went wrong with the Phoenix pay system implementation are textbook examples of how challenging transforming payroll can be and the sobering impact of payroll errors on people’s real lives. Host Glen McGregor - an award-winning investigative journalist - takes us on the Phoenixed journey together with payroll specialists, union leaders, Senate testimony and firsthand accounts to build a colourful picture of events and a thoughtful analysis of where we can go from here.

Episode one is available now, you can find Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster on the Phoenixed website or all your favourite podcast platforms and subscribe here to ensure you don’t miss a single episode. We hope you will support Phoenixed by listening, posting links, sharing your experiences and lending your voice to the conversation. We have described Phoenixed as a catalyst for real and meaningful change because we hope that hearing this universal story will ignite a spark in all our payroll peers to ensure that one day these scandals will be firmly consigned to the past.

Storythings is a content marketing agency specialising in audience research, content strategy and production. For more than 12 years Storythings has made podcasts, videos, and editorial content that keeps its audience engaged.

Resources, show notes and further details on Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster are on the Phoenixed site now and will be available with each episode as they are released. You can find all the information on episode one here. Episode two will be available from April 17. Don’t forget to spread the word!

News sources: PBS News Hour, Monitor, Monitor, Global Payroll Association, Global Payroll Association, The Guardian, Global Payroll Association, The New Zealand Herald, The New Zealand Herald, Beyond Software Blog, Global Payroll Association