Government of Canada Moves Forward with HR and Pay Transformation Through Dayforce
News release
June 11, 2025 - Gatineau, Quebec
The Government of Canada is taking the next step toward replacing the Phoenix pay system to drive efficiency and effectiveness across government.
Today, the Honourable Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, announced that the Government of Canada is moving forward to the final build and testing phase of the Dayforce HR and pay solution. This decision follows the completion of a rigorous feasibility study and marks a significant step toward modernizing the government’s HR and pay systems.
The Dayforce solution will replace a significant number of HR systems in use across the Government of Canada. It reflects the government’s continued commitment to business and digital transformation built on transparency, efficiency, and employee experience.
The Government of Canada will finalize the configuration and testing of Dayforce and work with departments to confirm their readiness to onboard. This phased approach builds on lessons learned and will help reduce risks associated with large-scale transformation and ensure a smooth transition for employees.
Employee engagement will continue to be a key focus throughout the transformation process. By involving employees in readiness activities and ensuring continuous feedback mechanisms, the government is implementing an HR and pay solution that offers an efficient people-centric platform aligned with workforce needs.
Quotes
"The Government of Canada remains committed to modernizing its HR and pay systems in a responsible and transparent manner. By investing in the future of HR and pay, we are taking an important step forward in ensuring an efficient, secure, and sustainable solution for public service employees."
The Honourable Joël Lightbound
Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement
"We are excited to strengthen our partnership with the Government of Canada. Dayforce brings together advanced technologies into a single, AI-powered people platform designed to simplify processes and deliver real value. We are committed to supporting this transformative HR and pay initiative, ensuring it enhances work-life and drives meaningful improvements for government employees across the country."
David Ossip
Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Dayforce, Inc.
Quick facts
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The current pay system is used to deliver pay to an average of 431,000 current and former employees bi-weekly. In 2024, this represented approximately 13.4 million payments, totalling approximately $40.1 billion.
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The complexity of the Government of Canada HR and pay environment includes the challenge of applying almost 150 different collective agreements representing employees from over 100 departments and agencies.
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The initiative is incorporating lessons learned from the previous pay system implementation and recommendations intended to guide future projects of similar size and scope. In particular, recommendations around stakeholder engagement and governance were guided by Lessons Learned from the Transformation of Pay Administration Initiative (Goss Gilroy report).
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Over 3,000 public servants participated in user awareness sessions during the feasibility project, with the majority of participants reporting that they found Dayforce simple and easy to use. Feedback from participants is being used to improve the system further.
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Dayforce is a global human capital management technology company with deep Canadian roots. Its single AI-powered people platform for HR, pay, time, talent and analytics is trusted by thousands of customers and serves millions of employees worldwide.
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Over the next 2 years, the deployment of the Dayforce solution will begin to progressively onboard starting with two departments and a separate agency, where the Government of Canada will focus on departmental readiness as it prepares to deploy the system.
Associated links
Contacts
Piper McWilliams
Senior Communications Advisor
Office of the Honourable Joël Lightbound
819-955-1813
piper.mcwilliams@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
Media Relations
Public Services and Procurement Canada
819-420-5501
media@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca
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