Sask. Health Authority apologizes to health-care workers for rocky payroll system rollout

The Saskatchewan Health Authority's CEO apologized Friday and thanked health-care workers for their patience with the rollout of a new, and long-awaited, payroll system that has been criticized by workers.

"I just want to say a huge thank you to all of our staff, our physicians for their patience, for their co-operation as we work through implementing this new system in the SHA," CEO Andrew Will said a news conference on Friday.

The Administrative Information Management System, or AIMS, is a human resources software system to handle expense reports, invoices, payroll and more for the health region.

It was supposed to be up and running in May 2021, but was unsuccessfully launched in November 2022. That led the health authority to return to the old payroll system in the meantime. 

Earlier this summer, the software was partially rolled out with its first phase — which included only expense reports, invoices and payroll features.

Health-care workers quickly criticized the system and reported not being paid on time, or not being paid at all in some cases.

"I acknowledge the impacts that this first phase has had on our employees, on our physicians, and I just want to say … I apologize for the experience that our teams have had," said Will.

"I want them to know that we are committed to improving that experience and addressing challenges as they come up."

AIMS was expected to cost $86 million, but the cost skyrocketed to a projected $240 million.

Mark Anderson, the co-chair of the AIMS executive steering committee and the CEO of 3sHealth — which provides services including payroll and scheduling to the Saskatchewan health system — said as of June, the project has cost $203 million.

There are still two more phases to be implemented, addressing employee scheduling and entering time worked. Will said there will be an automated scheduling function in future updates.

When asked if the $203-million price tag was worth it, Will stressed the importance of getting this project done.

"Our payroll system was 50 years old. It was in a programming language that they don't even train people how to program in today's world," he said.

"We were at significant risk of that system coming down and not being able to pay any of our employees."

In July, Anderson said AIMS is expected to be fully operational and staff will be using it in its entirety in 2025.