The first episode of Phoenixed: Inside Canada’s payroll disaster, from the Global Payroll Association (GPA) and Storythings, is out now on all podcast platforms!
This is the true story of how the Canadian government rushed to launch a new payroll system called Phoenix Pay in 2016, against the advice of consultants and experts. The software was not ready to launch, and in the aftermath, tens of thousands of public servants have been underpaid, some for months at a time. Civil servants who “got phoenixed” have lost job opportunities and lost houses, and eight years later, the system has still not been fixed. This investigative podcast gets to the heart of exactly what went wrong in this payroll transformation project and shows how every organization needs to take payroll seriously.
I first became aware of the Phoenix pay issues while immersing myself in the world of payroll, as Storythings was launching a payroll magazine for a corporate client. But it became clear this was a much bigger story than one article could contain.
When I met GPA CEO Melanie Pizzey at a global payroll event at the start of 2023, I told her about the situation in Canada and how so many years later, it still hadn’t been resolved. In addition to running the leading global association for payroll professionals, Melanie is a big fan of true-crime podcasts, and as we discussed the pay disaster, we realized it would be incredible to tell the story of Phoenix in a narrative audio format.
In creating Phoenixed, we had to constantly consider how to serve two audiences: both the civil servants and everyday Canadians directly affected by the Phoenix pay system, and the global payroll and business audience, some of whom might be learning about this fiasco for the first time. The events we’re discussing are Canadian, but the lessons to be learned are universal. The six-part Phoenixed podcast is the result of eight months of reporting, fact-finding and production. You can listen to Phoenixed wherever you get your podcasts.
grace dobush 