Alberta Health Services is forcing some of its employees to take two days off before the end of March, since it faces “continuous budget pressures”, according to a memorandum obtained by CBC News.
The memorandum sent to the personnel by Erin O’Neill, senior vice president of Finance and Shared Services of AHS, said that not unionized exempt employees (known as new) will be affected, with the exception of employees in specific salary groups.
“Please, know that we explore many options before taking this step, but that it is necessary to fulfill our financial commitments as we continue facing budgetary pressures,” said the memorandum.
A AHS spokesman confirmed that the “unique measure” is impacting part of his non -unionized staff, but did not say how many employees have the mandate of taking 15.5 hours of unpaid license.
“Ahs continues to seek efficiencies and cost savings to fulfill our financial commitments without affecting patient care, “said spokeswoman Kristi Bland in an email to CBC News.
“This is a unique measure that affects part of our non -unionized workforce. It does not affect first -line personnel, and medical care services will not be affected.”
Bland said some positions are exempt to ensure that those who win below a certain threshold are not affected.
“We recognize that any financial impact is a challenge,” said Bland.
“AHS has already implemented other cost savings measures, such as vacancy and vacation management, and is making efforts to limit the impact to our people whenever possible.”
Ahs did not answer CBC News questions about what kind of positions are included or how much money would save this.
Continuous budget pressures
Dr. Braden Manns, a professor of Medicine and Health Economics at the University of Calgary, told CBC News that he was not surprised by the measure.
“It is possible that many people do not know it, but Alberta Health Services have not been allowed to execute a deficit,” he said.
Manns witnessed first -hand budget pressures when he served as Ahs’s interim vice president before leaving office in 2023.
“When I was in Alberta Health Services, the amount that the budget was uploading was well below what the population growth was,” he said.
Before the reorganization of medical care of the province, the new ones represented about 10 percent of the AHS workforce (around 11,000 employees), according to Manns. The NUE categorization may include superior managers and leaders, he said.
He estimates that obliged free time could save AHS between $ 8 million and $ 15 million.
“They would have sought in each area to identify savings before taking this type of passage,” he said.
“This is a small amount. It would not be a great dent.”
However, Manns expects the impacted personnel to be frustrated, knowing that the Alberta government has paid much more for other controversial efforts, including almost $ 100 million to buy Dynalife After a failed effort to privatize laboratory services.
“It’s probably a bit irritating,” he said.
The restructuring of the health system continues
This comes at a time when Alberta’s government continues to forge with its restructuring of the health system.
Acute Care Alberta tells CBC News that this does not affect the personnel who have already transferred from AHS to the new Alberta provincial health agencies.
Ahs dismantling means that the real number of affected people is probably lower, Manns said.
“In the great scheme of things, this is not a great cost savings … but it will be seen that he spoke with the value that these managers give to the system,” said Manns.
Meanwhile, AHS said the struck staff will have information on how their days are scheduled.
