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According to a Public Services and Procurement Canada press release, MyGCPay was “created by employees for employees” and “designed with the user in mind.” It’s “an example of innovation in action.” With fewer buzzwords, some public servants said much the same on social media.

“It doesn’t fix Phoenix, but it’s a relatively clean and intuitive system to be able to get information,” wrote one Reddit user.

“Yep,” wrote another. “A friend showed it to me and all I can think of was, “Someone in government managed to design that?”

Some features appear particularly popular – dark mode, its user-friendly interface, and the ability to identify and report precise pay problems, ideally allowing for faster resolution.

“I’m counting the days until it rolls out at my department!” said one eager public servant in a Reddit post, now several months old.

“I gotta say, I’ve seen a lot of garbage apps rolled out over the years that were supposed to be cutting-edge awesomeness and all that jazz,” said another. “But this one actually surprised me. It’s very modern, (user experience) is excellent and information is useful. Good job whoever was responsible.”

In a video, PSPC identifies IT project director Josée Lavergne as the employee who dreamed up MyGCPay when she was dealing with her own pay issues.