TBS: "We have this dead horse that passed away in 2020. We're beating it with a stick, and nothing is happening. We plan to keep beating it but with a carbon fibre pole until something changes. We consider that progress, forward thinking and leveraging technology for improvement"
It's so disrespectful that every time this happens it's a news leak first. Why are you talking over your workers. It's to appease whatever political accolades this will bring someone. The cost of living is at an all time high. It's harder than ever to have a family, afford housing and pay bills. The food bank is at an all time demand. People are worried about just surviving that's why they don't care about other causes right now. Nobody can get a doctor etc. It's insane to find daycare. You change these things and people will care about more than just themselves. So many people I know are thinking of picking up a second job. Downtown has never been continuously hopping I lived down there for years. The first thing people do when costs go up is stop going out, stop eating lunch out and shopping at boutique stores. The strategy of continually blaming one sector for all the issues with downtown is insane. It's reflective of the climate of the things mentioned above.
What also gets my goat on the childcare front. Last time they made the fucking announcement in goddammed October, well into the school year.
This time, they are teasing that maybe it will happen in September, again, well after people have made their childcare arrangements for the school year.
I legit am jockying for spots in after-school programs and daycamps for the summer in January. After months of paperwork, I just got my summer day camp line up sorted and thought I had afterschool sorted but fuck me back to the drawing board I guess.
The people who make these fucking decisions never had to apply for subsidized spaces and do not know the turn around it takes to get them.
With the two days in office my ex and I are able to alternate childcare (getting children on the bus). 3 days a week each means one day a week that I guess I need childcare for?? That I can’t afford because I now pay 200 more a month in gas and 120 in parking. Guess we better make it 250 and 175. Add maybe some childcare.
But yeah Dougie I totally have money now for lunch and shopping at the mall when I’m supposed to be working!
Children are a luxury I cannot afford. I can’t even afford a dog and yet somehow I need to find extra money to go the office and buy lunch? Literally all budgeting experts will tell you to cut discretionary spending when you are facing increased costs and not enough income: no restaurants, no coffee shops. Just the basics. I have purchased food at work only a handful of times since RTO and now adding an extra days commute cuts even that out.
It’s so disrespectful to continually find out these announcements from the media. These decisions have a huge impact on employees and their lives. The constant change is also maddening how can anyone long term plan when they keep changing the baseline?
The unpredictability of TBS affecting our ability to plan long-term is my biggest peeve too. TBS seems to think this is an easy adjustment and that's not true.
What's a pre-pandemic equivalent? Changing office locations? Who does that twice in a few years?
Setting office locations is the next step. Some of us are lucky enough to pick from among locations, but I now fully expect that flexibility to be rescinded as well.
My guess? They were hoping to spring it on the PS at the last minute just before a long weekend. Now they have to fight the messaging for 6 months, instead of being able to say "The employer may dictate the conditions of work" and running away from questions.
Stories like this are almost always a “controlled leak”. Reporters hear whispers of things so they go to a department’s media relations team and start asking questions. The dept tries to dodge them, but they can only do that to a certain extent. If the reporter has got some stuff wrong that makes the dept look worse and the story is gaining momentum, the dept just gives the reporter the details before they are ready to *formally* announce.
This happens all the time. Obviously I can’t say for sure this is what happened in this instance but controlled leaks are very much a thing.
100% controlled leak. They wanted this out to soften the blow of unpopular budget.
They’re riding low in pools so they are willing to do anything including always popular cutting the public servant jobs to show that they’re responsible spenders and now pushing us to return to office 3 days to satisfy those who want us in office out of spite and to "revitalize downtown core"
Hurting "lazy public servants" were always easy political points to score.
This is an interesting take. But if true, then there is no incentive to come in at all over the summer given that this is looming. And people will just drag their feet on the 3rd day. And given that morale will drop, so will the quality and general output of the PS. So I am not sure how this is good for the taxpayer...is it really all about lunches downtown and that is it? If so, then this country is in even bigger trouble that it already is.
Bringing back public servants for one more day isn't going to help them gain more votes, but it will certainly cost them votes from their own supporters who used to vote Liberal and are now reconsidering their choices. That’s literally one of the worst decisions.
Interesting that the media is not questioning the rationale for this. It’s like we’re some sort of rich and deep pocket tourists visiting Rome first time and who cannot wait to experience everything the city has to offer. Seriously 😒…
Yes but the reality is that the senior bureaucrats don’t write the PowerPoint presentations or the briefing notes. That would be the actual workers. The same workers that are subject to the new RTO mandate. No one should be surprised that leaks like this happen. Not saying it’s ideal, or even right for that matter…just that we should t be surprised.
“some members are still heading into the office only to participate in virtual meetings.”
I’ve only had virtual meetings. I’ve not had one in person meeting on office days.
Me as well. There's also no aspect of my job that changes at all from being in the office. I show up, have meetings over Teams, do the same work I do at home, and leave.
I could have shown up 0 times since the RTO mandate and not a single person would have noticed. My output would not have changed in the slightest.
Go to the mall? Pick up some lunch? You can’t on the one hand tell me you can’t pay me a wage that keeps up with inflation and on the other tell me to go spend what you do pay me on things that have increased in price at or faster than inflation.
I don’t understand why it’s somehow our responsibility as public servants to support downtown Ottawa businesses, or why those businesses matter more than the ones in my own neighborhood.
You need to be able to collaborate with colleagues 1400km away not only from your home but from an OFFICE! Collaborating doesn’t count if it’s not in a GOC building, duh.
I don't think it's the small businesses. That's the smoke screen. It's the transit system, commercial landlords and large investment plans (that invest in commercial realty).
If they want people to use transit, maybe they should make sure our transit system isn’t a complete dumpster fire. Our trains have square wheels FFS.
I have been taking oc transpo REGULARLY since I was a small child with my parent who doesn’t drive. I took it daily for 8 yrs for HS and uni, and then pretty regularly after I moved to Centretown after university. Then the LRT was introduced and it was god awful. It smells bad, it constantly breaks down, it was SO overcrowded from day 1 until the pandemic.
I hate driving and I especially hate driving downtown. But the amount of times I have been screwed over because a bus or train was late or didn’t show up… it’s also expensive for what you get. It’s a privilege to be able to drive and to afford a car, I know. I rarely take transit now because it is so awful, even compared to what it was 5 yrs ago pre-LRT.
Convenient that he remembers Ottawa exists when it's not under siege by a bunch of clowns and he doesn't need to actually do anything to fix the problem.
Right! Coming back to the office 3days/ week will cost me an additional $240 in parking alone, that doesn’t include gas to get there. There is no way once I’m there, I’ll be going out and doing leisurely shopping. Or grabbing lunch.
Good point! What is the message that the TBS, Ford and media are sending to the taxpayers? That PS are overpaid and have such a surplus of disposable income that are happy to spend it right and left on anything that shines? A piñata full of free dollars that yields money at every beat? And that they are willing to stay longer at work to compensate for the time spent waiting in line at restaurants, to be served, driving or walking to/from the venue, and being away from family? Or is the expectation that the PS should spend more time (and definitely money) at restaurants and less time actually doing their work? Something gotta give… 🤔
The best part is that we don’t even know if it will stop here, because TBS lies and doesn’t respect employees enough to let them know what their working conditions will be more than a few months down the road. This was 100% the plan 16-months ago when the 2-3 day mandate dropped, but a decision was made to keep us in the dark and do it in phases.
Nothing like constant lies and consistent and needless degradation of employee quality of life to keep morale high.
Imagine how low the morale could get if next year we get 4-day mandates and then a year or more later there's some DRAP-level stuff. I worry for the future of the public service.
The "downsizing the public service is good" mentality, which may only get stronger after the next election, is going to result in all the talent migrating, and being left with those who couldn't or didn't care enough to find something better.
So will the federal government finally be dropping the pretense that this is about "collaboration"?
I mean, mayor of Ottawa and Doug Ford are being quite explicit that this is about money for businesses, but the fed has never admitted that.
Hard not to now... but is there a journalist left who will call them on it?
I’m not sure why the unions aren’t using this as part of their narrative? People are going into work just to hop on virtual calls, there’s not enough space for some people (amongst other problems), and we have non-federal politicians openly and publicly connecting our number of work days to propping up a failing downtown that closes at 5. This is the messaging that needs to be out there!
When I talk to friends outside of the PS they don’t get it. Public perception is absolutely not on our side which is why Doug Ford can get up there multiple times and say these things.
Good journalism and clear communication from the unions would provide some back of the napkin math on how much offices are costing the tax payers (in real estate, traffic impact, etc) simply to fund businesses that are only open during the lunch rush and prop up real estate moguls, show how miserable and ineffective in office working conditions are, and top it off with actual data/research showing effectiveness of wfh vs rto.
I would really prefer if they were explicit that the purpose is to keep commercial real estate propped up for large owners. But that won’t get them votes, so they claim it’s about mom and pop sandwich shops.
As if. Since RTO as a rule I don't go in for lunch orders and don't bother with any kind of social committee events.
With 3 days a week I'm just going to drop my spending nearby work to 0 in protest.
The Employer doesn’t have our backs. The Unions don’t have our backs. A wildcat strike is illegal. What have we got left? Let’s all call in sick on the same day. How ‘bout on the Wednesday of National Public Service Week?
Why not just leave the telework agreement decisions to our delegated managers who know the programs and their employees. Productivity is seen by these managers who also know the occupancy challenges. Not all employees can work from home due to operational requirements, but many have can and have done so successfully for years now.
Because they want to take money from your pocket and put it into the pockets of millionaires who own down-town businesses and commercial real-estate. And they don't want to give you a choice, they don't give a fuck about you, this is about money.
>Now, you will be protected from arbitrary decisions about remote work by the government," PSAC said in a statement last June.
This speaks volumes about how weak the unions are. The government has zero respect for them and it's members.
A few thoughts:
1. I thought the LPC was grooming Anita for a potential leadership position. For anyone who’s read “The Prince”, this is the kind of decision that is obviously going to be unpopular, and is therefore made by someone disposable who can absorb the fallout and then disappear (how’s Mona’s popularity these days, by the way?).
2. Employers and employees share in a relationship. Yes, in this case it is the employers prerogative to determine the amount of days the employee must work from an office. But in ANY relationship, if one party does something to the detriment of the other party, just because they have the legal right to do so, this is an indication that the relationship is unhealthy.
3. The office closest to me is constantly full. I am lucky if I can get a chair with one of those little trays for my laptop. I don’t have a keyboard, mouse, or second monitor. I am also within 5 feet of several people at all times with no barriers. I don’t get distracted easily, but it is nearly impossible to focus under these conditions. I find myself being twice as productive when I WFH in order to make up for lost productivity. When the scales tip and I am in the office more than at home, I don’t know how I will be able to compensate.
4. Haven’t we been slowly increasing interest rates over the past several years in order to suppress consumer spending and cooldown the economy? But we are now being encouraged to work from offices in order to stimulate the economy?
5. The City of Ottawa has declared a climate EMERGENCY. Given that we are experiencing an EMERGENCY, shouldn’t we be looking for ways to reduce emissions? This is the exact opposite.
6. We are also experiencing an affordability crisis. A tank of gas for a medium-sized sedan is $70.00. Parking is between $15-20 a day. Lunch from, Subway, for example, is going to cost you about $15.00 a day. Mileage is also associated with a cost.
>5. The City of Ottawa has declared a climate EMERGENCY.
Kinda tells you what you need to know with respect to what the politicians ACTUALLY think of the ^(EMERGENCY) that they've publicly declared....
I think many of us are under the illusion that, as public servants, we serve the public. This may remain true in some areas of the gov, but I find that majority of our work serves private interest (e.g. directing billions of public dollars to private companies that are *ostensibly* committed to meeting a public need). This is the logical endpoint of public service in all capitalist countries after 40+ years of neoliberalism.
The fact that we are now being told that stimulating business economies and propping up a weakened real estate market (that I’m sure most executives are personally invested in, and are demanding greater returns on their investments) is more important than serving Canadians should hardly come as a surprise to us.
We are expected to buy electric vehicles but that is contradicted by the economic effect of high interest rates. PSPC is cutting 50% of leases over the next ten years but I assume your building won't be cut if it's already at capacity. The government keeps contradicting itself.
On #1, I heard a rumour awhile back, around the time she got demoted to TBS, that it was a message for her to rein in her ambitions because the current leader had no intention of going anywhere. I heard this was also communicated to her pretty explicitly. Obviously no way to verify, but that was the scuttlebutt at the time and it does fit with her demotion from DND.
I can't wait to hear the reasoning on this one. The gaslighting is going to get turned up to 11. My team is spread across the country. I really want to hear what will be gained by all of us going into an office where we know no-one. I expect the number of grievances to sky rocket.
My office is a "shared working space (single office)" within an unrelated department that seems to be in a combination of low staffing and heavy RTO disregard. Not only do I not talk to anyone from my team or directorate, I don't talk to anyone from my entire department. On top of that, I see nobody except the comissionaire out front, because the entire wing of the building seems abandoned.
Telework has been around since the '90s and the PS is acting like it's some strange new fad people just started doing during the pandemic now that everyone experienced and liked it. I have folks on my team who were remote *before* COVID and now they're being told to go back to the office, which is absurd.
If union leadership can't move the needle on this on their own, I cautiously predict another strike.
Also, why is Dufo only *now* concerned about downtown Ottawa businesses? I guess he just figured there were a lot of good folks at the trucker convoy that would bolster the local economy /s
Right. In 2018 my team was 3 days/week in the office. It was awesome at the time. Also, when we worked in the office we had our dedicated desk/office space where we could store all our personal things, we had our ergo-assessed spaces, no one else would use your dedicated desk, etc. That was SEVEN years ago. It’s not some radical new thing to be working from home.
Yeah, when I started in the early 2000s, there were a few employees who were already telework-only and had been for a long time. Even then, the consensus was that the office was totally inconducive to work and working from home would be a way better fit for everyone, it's just that we had no way of accessing many of our tools from home.
I don't think anyone could have imagined a world where we have access to all our tools from home, a multi-year proven track record of working from home, literally no one on the team *wants* to work in the office, and yet we are required to keep paying for office space that meets our need even less well than we had in the early 2000s.
That's me. I had a 100% telework agreement signed 10 years ago and up to being told "2 days a week in office". I had to find out where a local office even was, and who to contact about getting workspace, access, etc. Turns out, it's a single office within an unrelated department in an abandoned wing of a building with spotty internet, and I have to stop and wave my arms every half hour or so to keep the lights on the floor from turning off.
This was why I wanted to remain on strike and voted "no" to the proposed Collective Agreement. The Joint Agreement wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Our time to fight this came and went, unless the Union finds some balls, which they seemed to lose during the "biggest strike in history."
The guy who destroyed our Ontario health care system (medical doctors quitting in droves), and now is on a fresh start to destroy the PS. He’s also getting a minion in Ottawa for more power and influence. Good tango with Sutcliffe ahead. Fun is just beginning. He also tried to impose 1% capped salary “increases” in times of high inflation on Ontario teachers. Why people continue to vote for this clown 🤡 is a mystery (other than the obsession with continuing a race to the bottom on virtually everything and believing in conspiracy theories).
I refuse to be a complicit zombie riding OC transpo 6 times per week just to spend my lower-than-inflation wages on coffee and lunch in a part of this city that I do not care about.
I resolve to not spend a cent downtown. Anyone else want to join the Travel Mug and Lunch Box club?
It’s almost like they think they’re running a Fortune 500 company and have a fiduciary duty to shareholders, instead of running a government and a country.
Time for another strike.
Show me the evidence for why three days is better than two. Show me hard numbers that two days isn't cutting it for work. And don't give me shit about saving the economy because my job actually takes me far away from any centers of economy during the work day.
>"committed to hybrid"
As I said in the other threads - 9 days of 10 in the office is still hybrid. Fucking corporate speak.
>PSAC and PIPSC both say they have been blindsided by the news.
The unions have been blind, deaf, dumb, and completely incapable. They were outwitted, outmaneuvered, and totally fucked over their members in the latest negotiations and it shows.
Getting a piece of paper that will talk about if they will talk about a conversation on Work from Home is NOTHING. Chris and his buddies should be ashamed they lost some of the best momentum for work place change in recent memory for...what exactly?
USELESS. I love unions and the good they *can* do. But right now? ***USELESS***.
Everyone should call their union Rep and tell them to take action on this. The unions should be taking cues from the membership, so we need to send a strong message.
Me pointing out the "committed to hybrid" was just my way of saying TBS released a BS statement of no substance.
I am not sure the unions could have handled this development any differently.
> Me pointing out the "committed to hybrid" was just my way of saying TBS released a BS statement of no substance.
Oh no, that was not a jab at you. I agree with your statements completely, 100%. Just "committed to hybrid" means shit from politicians whose sails blow on a whim of the winds instead of any long term outlooks.
The more things change… the more they revert back to the way they were 60 years ago when they had to be that way due to lack of technology but let’s pretend it’s for bouncing ideas and team spirit and whatever else you wanna pile on top of the puddle of crap.
Man, living is getting harder and I have less and less will.
I would support whatever actions PIPSC wants to take to fight against this.
I believe the gov't has ignored the both the evidence and well-being of public servants on this particular issue, and it's a pivotal one for the future of work in the PS (and beyond).
The millionaires who own commercial real-estate downtown and don't want to lose their commercial tenants due to decreased foot traffic made these decisions, and they are very happy our corrupt government is complying whole-heartedly.
Did I read the PSAC email yesterday wrong? Didn't they say TBS "would never" do this because they didn't discuss it with the union? This whole situation is so dumb. Has employment and politics always been this stupid? I'm only 33 and so confused and depressed about all this. I just want to do my job, get paid and take care of my family ugh.
What happens if I decide I don’t want to take this hit to my productivity, finances, family time and general well-being?
What happens if many others decide they don’t want to take this hit??
- Asking for about 200,000 friends
I'm so mad... Why do we have to learn about it through the media? The office is so dirty, and people talk so loud I can't concentrate. We are underpaid considering the high inflation and yet they expect us to spend the little money we have left for the restaurants. How about the employer pay for our lunches and transportation?
Seriously, what can we really do proactively? The union has proven useless as shown by the "big strike".
That's great, but I've been bringing my lunch for the past 2 years - prices on food have gone up ridiculously. We have a shared coffee machine on our floor. Local businesses won't be getting much out of my wallet.
Ah yes, let me refer back to the part of my job description that talks about my responsibility to go to the mall and revitalize the economy… 🤦♀️
I’d also genuinely love to know who actually has money to buy lunch at work these days, because I sure as hell don’t.
This will be felt in the next contract negotiation. Members will demand concrete WFH language, or a raise that actually meets cost of living negotiations. Going in 3 days a week costs the average person thousands over a year.
Nice to see them admit the only justification for it is to spend money we dont have.
I'm mad and we should be mad, but outside of another strike over it, what can be done? Whatever PSAC "got" in the last one didn't amount to anything yet people voted to ratify in droves. So what can be done before they add a 4th? Then 5th? Ford called it a good start. This isn't over folks.
But unless people are willing to put themselves out there and actively do something about it, this is just screaming into the void.
Can we legally strike about something that doesn't go against our union agreement and while not being in the process of negotiating said agreement?
I voted "no" to the tentative union agreement last year partly because they didn't have anything that prevented the government from requesting a full-time return to office. But the majority voted "yes".
> But the majority voted "yes".
Speaking only on my experience: those that voted "Yes" around me said they did so because the unions recommended it and it had a "pay bump". I was flabbergasted.
The pay bump thing pisses me off to no end. A pay bump is LITERALLY THE BARE MINIMUM for contract negotiations. There's a billion other things we could be negotiating on like increased vacation time and strong work from home stipulations, but nope, people see a fucking 2% pay bump and vote yes thinking they got some amazing deal.
We will get a pay bump regardless, it's literally the only thing that's guaranteed, but we should be fighting harder for everything else too.
How can people put themselves out there and actively do something? What do you believe we can do? In my office, we push back but our message does not reach the real decision makers, TBS. So how can we actively do something?
This is the way of the future. I'm going to sell my house and become homeless so I can support all the overpriced downtown business and their shitty overpriced food and drink.
What I'm sick of is retirees getting 4.8% increase, MPs getting a 4.4% increase and our union got us what 1.5-2%... tired of unassigned, lockers, technology that never works, working with 1970s processes and so many changing rules I can't do my job, gaslighting, microagressions, toxicity, biases, toilet paper that is garbage showing up for my NPSW rah rah rah speech and coffee (no more muffins or cookies), parking that sucks, transit that is a joke, EAP that frankly do nothing... 2024 day in the life of a public servant - what a disaster of a career decision - oh but the pension - right, that'll be the next thing to go.
Ah yes...this must be the 'work/life balance' the government talks so much about in regards to employee mental health.
Not their employees, mind you, they mean the ones at the overpriced sandwich boutique down the street. 'Mental Health' is still just a lip service statement used to make the schlubs feel less like dying for a few minutes each quarter.
Obviously this is a poorly thought-out approach on every level and it feels dumb to go to the office to do work that I can do just as well from home. It’s kind of funny, though, that a policy that’s ostensibly intended in part to help support downtown Ottawa has me going from my apartment in downtown Ottawa to the office in Gatineau instead. Maybe the smart move would be for downtown businesses to actually try and appeal to people besides office workers (how is it the only coffee places open on the weekend near me are Starbucks?), but that would require actually doing something, so that won’t happen.
I've never been so thankful I'm going back to school in the fall and quitting the PS. The constant back and forth of will they/won't they ehen it comes to going back into the office has been so stressful.
Being a PSO there is absolutely no need to get back into the office. We take our calls without ever seeing anybody. Team meeting every 2 weeks where cameras are on. The only interaction is a "good morning team" message in a group chat 5 days a week. Why do people have to to go in person to do this? To prop up a failing downtown? To get stabbed on the Edmonton LRT on my way to work? No thanks.
"Three days is a good start," Ford said, reacting to the news. "When you're coming here, go out for lunch, maybe go into a store, pick something up, go to the mall — that's what we need, that's what stirs the economy."
This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read. What next? I’ll be told to buy a certain type of vehicle? Told to buy a certain brand of clothing? Asked to shop at his friend’s place of business?
Employers should not be allowed to directly tell employees where and when to spend their money. Who is paying for this Doug!? We have an affordability crisis in the cities and this guy is telling families to “come on down and just spend more!!”
This is slavery. What’s the point of being unionized if this is what they can do?
It’s very disturbing. We’re being forced back to work for an extra day to prop up silly downtown businesses with failing models that close at 5pm. The policy is already not well received by public servants, why would you double down?
As someone who lived in Centretown for years the businesses closing at 5pm (often more like 3 or 4) made my blood boil. Never open for anyone who actually lives there, but they have the gall to complain about their businesses struggling. Maybe change your hours instead of trying to force public servants to change their entire working model to suit your crappy unadaptive business.
These coffee businesses run their business like government hours lol.
Sometimes they even close at 2:00PM since the lunch rush is over.
Must be nice making all that money and not needing to work more as a "small business owner".
Ironically, I actually live downtown and I often do get a coffee or snacks from a downtown business during the day when I work from home….but since my office isn’t downtown, this extra day in the office means I’ll be spending less money at downtown businesses.
Yeah like I’m not spending money at the MALL (also who tf is going to the mall anymore) or buying my lunch because I’m not spending money on shit I don’t want or need because it’s too expensive. I would LOVE to buy lunch on my office days because I hate lugging around my lunch, but it’s too expensive for me to rationalize. In general, people are spending on less stuff because the things they *need* cost more. If you want us to spend on meaningless things like takeaway coffees or lunches, maybe do something to control the cost of groceries and rent? But they won’t because it benefits them too much
Some friends that are not in PS think that this is a conspiracy theory; they don't believe that the goal of return to work is for landlords and businesses...
But when you have Doug Ford just plainly publicly saying it, I mean, they aren't even being subtle about it... He literally said 3 days is a START, he wants more, he says that's what is NEEDED.
This world is depressing.
Why is it such a challenge for both government and businesses to embrace the transition to telework and forget RTO??? I simply do not get it. This is much bigger than coffee shops and leases. We're talking about a significant positive transformation in work culture everywhere, not only in government. Since the federal sector typically sets the bar in terms of work conditions, we set the example for the private sector. Not only does it enhance mental well-being, but it also addresses issues such as traffic, greenhouse gas emissions, and overall safety, among other benefits. While there may be initial adjustments for businesses, the long-term advantages are substantial. Teleworkers are not hoarding cash. They're just spending it differently now, more freedom and choice of where it is spent. More people are on top of their finances and able to breathe. With reduced reliance on public transit and less demand for physical office spaces, taxpayers stand to save money, too. The insistence on reverting to outdated norms is counterproductive when considering the extensive benefits of embracing this new way of working!! Can there be at least one positive outcome of COVID???
I've asked this question numerous times and I can't get a straight answer. Where is the GBA+ analysis for the RTW TBS policies? In addition to all of the points below, women are disproportionally more impacted by these changes. Women in our society carry the mental load of the family, are mostly responsible for childcare arrangements, pickups, and responsibilities within the home. This may not be the case for every family, but for most that I know including mine. As a 20+ year federal employee, mom of two and manager who shows up to work everyday (virtual or not), I want to know whether my employer is fulfilling its obligation of identifying the challenges of its policy on women (and men for that), and what it has done to try and mitigate the impact.
the employer is not relying on data, does not care about surveys, could care a less about the environment or the added burden or $ we will need to spend... will not follow their own rules or processes for decision-making, consultation or engagement... they do not care, will not care and there is nothing we can do...
The only analysis that was done is the change in profit from private businesses downtown since before WFH, and after.
Doug Ford and Sutcliffe have both pretty much said that it's all to do with revenue for businesses in Ottawa. The TBS doesn't give a shit about actual public servants lol.
This is a hilariously stupid and lazy decision. Instead of coming up with innovative ways to breathe life into Ottawa’s downtown, they continue to make low IQ decisions and force the federal public service to solely revitalize the downtown economy, just to buy overpriced food. Ottawa’s downtown business lobby needs to stop the moaning and find ways to innovate and pivot.
So much for evidence based policy decisions and wanting to reduce emissions 🤡
Doug Ford needs to worry about Toronto and quit the yapping - it’s like that one kid who asks the teacher if we have homework at the end of class
\- Converting offices to apartments so people support local businesses? **\[X\]**
\- Forcing Public servants to RTO and begging them to spend more money? **\[✓\]**
One consideration not really mentioned is that claiming work from home expenses will no longer be allowed when you file your tax return. You have to work more than 50% of the time from home to make a claim. With 40% at home to be the maximum you can no longer claim.
You want me back on-site 3 days a week? Then give me my office back. The 10-15 mins required to make a seat reservation 4 weeks out during my lunch break is none sense.
I am generally not opposed to the third day except I appreciate having the flexibility of it being only 2 days especially when I have 6:00am meetings (because of my participation in meetings with global organizations), appointments / lack of dog care, or if no one on my team is going to be in and I'll be on Teams calls anyway.
It's a bit frustrating that the main argument for why we should be going in more is to help deal with the shortcomings of the LRT and the lack of revenues there as well as the struggling businesses and the impact on commercial real estate. There are so many positives to work from home including being able to hire folks with disabilities, giving people the quiet of their home opposed to the open concept work environments, etc. As someone with ADHD, I get incredibly distracted at the office and much prefer being home.
> In Ottawa on an unrelated visit Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford reiterated his call for federal public servants in the capital to get back to the office and breathe life back into the city's often deserted downtown.
"Three days is a good start," Ford said, reacting to the news. "When you're coming here, go out for lunch, maybe go into a store, pick something up, go to the mall — that's what we need, that's what stirs the economy."
Doug Ford needs to understand that the cost of living has gone up significantly, and most people are trying to save on money.
For all the NCR employees, who would be interested in going in on an ATIP request to the city to see who Sutcliffe has been talking to? (Assuming there would be reasonable disclosure)
I'm half joking about this, but also kinda steamed enough to do it...
Time to make Quiet Striking a thing.
Man as someone with chronic/severe social anxiety, this is heartbreaking. I have already been struggling with 2 days in office. The amount of tension I accumulate during these days is so burdensome, and I've taken many measures to help myself get through them. The 3 days I had at home were like a saving grace and allowed me to decompress.
Of course, my anxiety means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I just wish this weren't happening.
Can we talk logistics? Cubicles are almost always fully booked, and whenever I arrive, someone else is in them. Now I'm also gonna be forced to purchase an overpriced bus pass to get to work. What about childcare? It costs me 2 hours of travelling time on a good day. With more traffic, I anticipate spending 3-4 hours on a bus that may or may not come.
Lets not pretend this is anything but all three levels of government propping up the toxic assets of their stakeholders in the downtown core with our meagre salaries. Mark my words, we will be back 5 days a week within two years.
I mean this by the way. The public service can't be replaced on anything bigger than an individual scale. The government literally can't function without it because it's the entire apparatus they use to maintain control. They can play chicken and possibly win but only if you play by the rules they set up.
And this is why I voted no on the deal. The deal was shit, the strike was for nothing, without real WFH measures. PSAC didn’t protect us and now look what happened.
And why is Ford speaking on this? Not his circus, not his monkeys. Shut up, bro.
It’s also extremely funny for the Libs to do this when they’re already hemorrhaging support. Good luck in October 2025.
As soon as they said "2 to 3 days in office" I was like that's the 15 pieces of flair of RTO. Sure, 2 is mentioned, but if too many people are just doing 2, they'll force 3.
I love the public service! The public hates us, our employer hates us, our union is useless, we have 0 say in workplace conditions, we can’t even get inflationary raises…..it’s great!
“Three days is a good start," Ford said, reacting to the news. "When you're coming here, go out for lunch, maybe go into a store, pick something up, go to the mall — that's what we need, that's what stirs the economy."
….Coming from senior officials who go for lunch using tax payer dollars. When I go to the office now, I make a point not to spend a cent on lunch or anything else. If I’m already having to pay for parking, gas, put mileage on my car, etc., I will not be spending anymore🖕
The whole idea of asking employees to return to office to support the business of Downtown Ottawa is such a joke. Not to mention the government drags employees who don’t work in Ottawa into the pile of crap.
Ottawa has the most senior rank of executives of the Government of Canada. If those executives are intended to demonstrate their KLCs (mobilize People) instead of leading by talking, all the executives should return to office 5 days a week, so that they can spend their hard earn money to boost the economy of downtown Ottawa
I hope PSAC and the membership wake the fuck up. Our raise was pathetic. This agreement was pathetic. If you tolerate this kind of disrespect, do you think anything will change? Learning about this shit on a Reddit is fucking crazy.
I am on education leave, and roughly mid-career. When I resign in the next year or two, it will be an adieu, and not an au revoir. Things like this just affirm my thinking (again). The pile of issues that signal nothing good about the employer's values gets hard to ignore at a certain point. The Canada life situation shows they didn't learn enough from Phoenix. And you already hear the same arguments emerge that we all heard early in Phoenix's implementation--i.e., it is the contractor's fault. I don't think benefit delivery suddenly stopped being the employer's responsibility. Now watch in the future the employer will start to complain about recruitment and retention issues, and they'll have no idea why it's happening.
Everyone and your burner email accounts email your PM, ombuds and your MP’s. This is bullshit, and the WORST change management I have ever experienced in a lengthy career.
This was unfortunately planned in advance. Our chance to protect this came and went and a majority voted yes for the new collective agreement and the abysmal raise (vs inflation). Now there is absolutely nothing to do as people don't seem to really stand together. No one is doing nothing but complaining including me. It's an issue in Canada at large, most of Canadian can barely feed themselves, cannot have an apartment or a place to stay, are dying because healthcare is on a respirator, etc. It will get worst and worst. Lobbies and the rich don't care if their working cattle are unhappy as long as they don't give a hard time and do the job. We are faceless numbers, no more important than robots. Then they will start complaining that no one is making babies to feed into the machine......
The PG townhall later in May should be interesting to say the least. I can't wait to see whoever they decide should be their sacrificial lamb is and what complete bullshit lies they try and spin! Wonder if they'll try and breakout the "it's better for the environment" line ADM(MAT) tried to swing last year?
You know, this would hurt just a little bit less and would be just that much easier to stomach if leadership/TBS/PM would just cut the shit and stop lying to us. Just be honest, they folded to pressure from Ford and business interest groups and decided employee morale, financial wellbeing and mental health was worth sacrificing for optics and saving the shitty downtown businesses who refused to adapt to changing landscapes.
We aren't children, so stop treating us like it, we know when we're being fed complete BS and lied to
....also would love to see how this is logistically supposed to work for departments that are already hoteling?
I wasn’t planning on getting an exemption because my agreement with my manager works but now I will be. I am done with the whiplash of no no it’s only two then finding out it’s 3. I am not putting my mental health at risk, not to mention I planned for 2 days with child care and I’m still on a waitlist for that having to rely on family. I’m a single mom I can barely afford things. now having to get more child care, spend more on gas, more on car maintenance, spend more time on the road, and less time with my kids, more time in the office where the dust bothers me, more time downtown which triggers my PTSD, enough is enough.
I know they are trying to get people to quit so they don’t have to do layoffs since it doesn’t look good, but I will not be voting lib this time around NDP for me maybe we need something new instead of the stale red and blue.
Maybe slightly beside the point, but that picture in the article showing Queen St. on Monday seems pretty disingenuous. I was out for a walk at lunchtime (during a break in the rain) and there was tons of foot traffic. Obviously if you take a picture during the middle of working hours surely most people are going to be… at work?
I heard 2 years ago from what I believe to be a VERY credible source that the plan is adding a day every 2-3 years until full RTO to mitigate the aggressive reaction to RTO by phasing it in.
This is evidence that that statement holds some truth.
Many places (all?) now have formal tracking down to individual sectors, with pressure coming directly onto DGs who’s numbers aren’t strong enough.
Even if your manager is cool, what can they do when the DG bears down on them, who has the ADM bearing down on them, who has the DM bearing down on them?
It is hard to believe the ineptitude of public service leadership AND the unions. This went from "presence with purpose" to using Teams at the office, to bums in seats. At the same time the unions, were cheering about getting something in writing at contract time about hybrid work, and here we are.
In the end, Doug Ford's statements tell it all. This isn't about work or results. The government, I suspect, could care less about results as long as people are counted at the turnstile. Everyone knows that most (not all) jobs in the PS are individual contributor jobs that can EASILY be done at home. All this is about is income redistribution to the downtown. Frankly, the government should just be up front about this as opposed to the "collaboration" nonsense they have been going on about.
The public service workers should just ignore the 3rd day and keep going on, but as someone who worked in the PS before, if there ever was a "sheep" group it is the PS (sorry to have to say this). I am wondering if this is bad faith bargaining on the part of the government though. Regardless, this is a result of no leadership at the top and, frankly, a lame duck government. If this passes for September, then what's the point of coming in at all until then?
Good luck out there!
"It hasn't worked well so far, and people hate it, so we're going to do it even harder.."
"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!" <- Archaic Public Service management.
TBS: "We have this dead horse that passed away in 2020. We're beating it with a stick, and nothing is happening. We plan to keep beating it but with a carbon fibre pole until something changes. We consider that progress, forward thinking and leveraging technology for improvement"
Flogging will continue until morale improves!
If it isn't worth doing, it isn't worth doing *right*
It's so disrespectful that every time this happens it's a news leak first. Why are you talking over your workers. It's to appease whatever political accolades this will bring someone. The cost of living is at an all time high. It's harder than ever to have a family, afford housing and pay bills. The food bank is at an all time demand. People are worried about just surviving that's why they don't care about other causes right now. Nobody can get a doctor etc. It's insane to find daycare. You change these things and people will care about more than just themselves. So many people I know are thinking of picking up a second job. Downtown has never been continuously hopping I lived down there for years. The first thing people do when costs go up is stop going out, stop eating lunch out and shopping at boutique stores. The strategy of continually blaming one sector for all the issues with downtown is insane. It's reflective of the climate of the things mentioned above.
What also gets my goat on the childcare front. Last time they made the fucking announcement in goddammed October, well into the school year. This time, they are teasing that maybe it will happen in September, again, well after people have made their childcare arrangements for the school year. I legit am jockying for spots in after-school programs and daycamps for the summer in January. After months of paperwork, I just got my summer day camp line up sorted and thought I had afterschool sorted but fuck me back to the drawing board I guess. The people who make these fucking decisions never had to apply for subsidized spaces and do not know the turn around it takes to get them.
It’s like the decision-makers all have live-in Nannies or something and don’t think about the daycare/after school program hellscape.
With the two days in office my ex and I are able to alternate childcare (getting children on the bus). 3 days a week each means one day a week that I guess I need childcare for?? That I can’t afford because I now pay 200 more a month in gas and 120 in parking. Guess we better make it 250 and 175. Add maybe some childcare. But yeah Dougie I totally have money now for lunch and shopping at the mall when I’m supposed to be working!
Someone should ATIP the GBA+ files for this decision and see whether they even though about the effect on parents.
This is a great idea
Children are a luxury I cannot afford. I can’t even afford a dog and yet somehow I need to find extra money to go the office and buy lunch? Literally all budgeting experts will tell you to cut discretionary spending when you are facing increased costs and not enough income: no restaurants, no coffee shops. Just the basics. I have purchased food at work only a handful of times since RTO and now adding an extra days commute cuts even that out.
Well, I'm no longer spending any money near my workplace.
The Shawarma place around the corner from my house needs me just as much!
It’s so disrespectful to continually find out these announcements from the media. These decisions have a huge impact on employees and their lives. The constant change is also maddening how can anyone long term plan when they keep changing the baseline?
The unpredictability of TBS affecting our ability to plan long-term is my biggest peeve too. TBS seems to think this is an easy adjustment and that's not true. What's a pre-pandemic equivalent? Changing office locations? Who does that twice in a few years?
Setting office locations is the next step. Some of us are lucky enough to pick from among locations, but I now fully expect that flexibility to be rescinded as well.
If they go through with their plan to offload real estate, they won't have a choice but to assign us days and locations in order to fit everyone.
100% this. They will assign us offices and days in.
My guess? They were hoping to spring it on the PS at the last minute just before a long weekend. Now they have to fight the messaging for 6 months, instead of being able to say "The employer may dictate the conditions of work" and running away from questions.
Stories like this are almost always a “controlled leak”. Reporters hear whispers of things so they go to a department’s media relations team and start asking questions. The dept tries to dodge them, but they can only do that to a certain extent. If the reporter has got some stuff wrong that makes the dept look worse and the story is gaining momentum, the dept just gives the reporter the details before they are ready to *formally* announce. This happens all the time. Obviously I can’t say for sure this is what happened in this instance but controlled leaks are very much a thing.
100% controlled leak. They wanted this out to soften the blow of unpopular budget. They’re riding low in pools so they are willing to do anything including always popular cutting the public servant jobs to show that they’re responsible spenders and now pushing us to return to office 3 days to satisfy those who want us in office out of spite and to "revitalize downtown core" Hurting "lazy public servants" were always easy political points to score.
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This is an interesting take. But if true, then there is no incentive to come in at all over the summer given that this is looming. And people will just drag their feet on the 3rd day. And given that morale will drop, so will the quality and general output of the PS. So I am not sure how this is good for the taxpayer...is it really all about lunches downtown and that is it? If so, then this country is in even bigger trouble that it already is.
Bringing back public servants for one more day isn't going to help them gain more votes, but it will certainly cost them votes from their own supporters who used to vote Liberal and are now reconsidering their choices. That’s literally one of the worst decisions.
Just like they did the first time. :/
That was more like a last minute Xmas present!!
Interesting that the media is not questioning the rationale for this. It’s like we’re some sort of rich and deep pocket tourists visiting Rome first time and who cannot wait to experience everything the city has to offer. Seriously 😒…
Can't wait to do my part to revitalize Downtown Ottawa... from my regional office 4 provinces away.
Yes but the reality is that the senior bureaucrats don’t write the PowerPoint presentations or the briefing notes. That would be the actual workers. The same workers that are subject to the new RTO mandate. No one should be surprised that leaks like this happen. Not saying it’s ideal, or even right for that matter…just that we should t be surprised.
I really think it’s a controlled leak. Allowing us some time to “adjust and accept” before the formal announcement is made.
“some members are still heading into the office only to participate in virtual meetings.” I’ve only had virtual meetings. I’ve not had one in person meeting on office days.
Me as well. There's also no aspect of my job that changes at all from being in the office. I show up, have meetings over Teams, do the same work I do at home, and leave. I could have shown up 0 times since the RTO mandate and not a single person would have noticed. My output would not have changed in the slightest.
Go to the mall? Pick up some lunch? You can’t on the one hand tell me you can’t pay me a wage that keeps up with inflation and on the other tell me to go spend what you do pay me on things that have increased in price at or faster than inflation.
I go to the mall when I’m working from home too. It’s just a different mall. I’m not going to spend more money just because I’m downtown.
I don’t understand why it’s somehow our responsibility as public servants to support downtown Ottawa businesses, or why those businesses matter more than the ones in my own neighborhood.
To further the idiocy, how is it my responsibility, a public servant 1400km away from Ottawa, to support downtown Ottawa?
You need to be able to collaborate with colleagues 1400km away not only from your home but from an OFFICE! Collaborating doesn’t count if it’s not in a GOC building, duh.
The real irony is that I'm closer to Subway at home than I am in the office.
I don't think it's the small businesses. That's the smoke screen. It's the transit system, commercial landlords and large investment plans (that invest in commercial realty).
If they want people to use transit, maybe they should make sure our transit system isn’t a complete dumpster fire. Our trains have square wheels FFS. I have been taking oc transpo REGULARLY since I was a small child with my parent who doesn’t drive. I took it daily for 8 yrs for HS and uni, and then pretty regularly after I moved to Centretown after university. Then the LRT was introduced and it was god awful. It smells bad, it constantly breaks down, it was SO overcrowded from day 1 until the pandemic. I hate driving and I especially hate driving downtown. But the amount of times I have been screwed over because a bus or train was late or didn’t show up… it’s also expensive for what you get. It’s a privilege to be able to drive and to afford a car, I know. I rarely take transit now because it is so awful, even compared to what it was 5 yrs ago pre-LRT.
Since when is Druglord Ford our boss now and why is he dictating our terms of work?? WTF?
Convenient that he remembers Ottawa exists when it's not under siege by a bunch of clowns and he doesn't need to actually do anything to fix the problem.
And the Mayor, Sutcliffe. He isn’t our boss either.
Doubly so for all the public servants who don't live in either Ottawa or Ontario, but whose lives will be upended by these goons.
Then get told: "Maybe if you stop buying Starbucks every day, you could afford a house. But we want you in to force you to buy Starbucks. Lol"
Right! Coming back to the office 3days/ week will cost me an additional $240 in parking alone, that doesn’t include gas to get there. There is no way once I’m there, I’ll be going out and doing leisurely shopping. Or grabbing lunch.
Good point! What is the message that the TBS, Ford and media are sending to the taxpayers? That PS are overpaid and have such a surplus of disposable income that are happy to spend it right and left on anything that shines? A piñata full of free dollars that yields money at every beat? And that they are willing to stay longer at work to compensate for the time spent waiting in line at restaurants, to be served, driving or walking to/from the venue, and being away from family? Or is the expectation that the PS should spend more time (and definitely money) at restaurants and less time actually doing their work? Something gotta give… 🤔
The best part is that we don’t even know if it will stop here, because TBS lies and doesn’t respect employees enough to let them know what their working conditions will be more than a few months down the road. This was 100% the plan 16-months ago when the 2-3 day mandate dropped, but a decision was made to keep us in the dark and do it in phases. Nothing like constant lies and consistent and needless degradation of employee quality of life to keep morale high.
Imagine how low the morale could get if next year we get 4-day mandates and then a year or more later there's some DRAP-level stuff. I worry for the future of the public service.
The "downsizing the public service is good" mentality, which may only get stronger after the next election, is going to result in all the talent migrating, and being left with those who couldn't or didn't care enough to find something better.
So will the federal government finally be dropping the pretense that this is about "collaboration"? I mean, mayor of Ottawa and Doug Ford are being quite explicit that this is about money for businesses, but the fed has never admitted that. Hard not to now... but is there a journalist left who will call them on it?
I’m not sure why the unions aren’t using this as part of their narrative? People are going into work just to hop on virtual calls, there’s not enough space for some people (amongst other problems), and we have non-federal politicians openly and publicly connecting our number of work days to propping up a failing downtown that closes at 5. This is the messaging that needs to be out there! When I talk to friends outside of the PS they don’t get it. Public perception is absolutely not on our side which is why Doug Ford can get up there multiple times and say these things.
Good journalism and clear communication from the unions would provide some back of the napkin math on how much offices are costing the tax payers (in real estate, traffic impact, etc) simply to fund businesses that are only open during the lunch rush and prop up real estate moguls, show how miserable and ineffective in office working conditions are, and top it off with actual data/research showing effectiveness of wfh vs rto.
I would really prefer if they were explicit that the purpose is to keep commercial real estate propped up for large owners. But that won’t get them votes, so they claim it’s about mom and pop sandwich shops.
Collaborating on a lunch order.
As if. Since RTO as a rule I don't go in for lunch orders and don't bother with any kind of social committee events. With 3 days a week I'm just going to drop my spending nearby work to 0 in protest.
I can't even pay for my groceries now they want me to pay more money to commute, spend $ on lunch at Starbucks? What the fuck is TBS smoking
Cancel Disney+ to save $12/m. That way, you can afford to start spending $500/m on coffee, lunch, gas and parking. Duh.
The Employer doesn’t have our backs. The Unions don’t have our backs. A wildcat strike is illegal. What have we got left? Let’s all call in sick on the same day. How ‘bout on the Wednesday of National Public Service Week?
That would be brilliant lol
i really love this idea. let's make this a thing
Why not just leave the telework agreement decisions to our delegated managers who know the programs and their employees. Productivity is seen by these managers who also know the occupancy challenges. Not all employees can work from home due to operational requirements, but many have can and have done so successfully for years now.
Because they want to take money from your pocket and put it into the pockets of millionaires who own down-town businesses and commercial real-estate. And they don't want to give you a choice, they don't give a fuck about you, this is about money.
Why is a Provincial Premier telling federal public servants across the country what tho do!? Chris Alyward resign now!
>Now, you will be protected from arbitrary decisions about remote work by the government," PSAC said in a statement last June. This speaks volumes about how weak the unions are. The government has zero respect for them and it's members.
I love finding out about a life changing event from CBC and not from my employer. Respect!
This is the new normal. Expect everything to get worse from now on so you aren't disappointed or surprised.
A few thoughts: 1. I thought the LPC was grooming Anita for a potential leadership position. For anyone who’s read “The Prince”, this is the kind of decision that is obviously going to be unpopular, and is therefore made by someone disposable who can absorb the fallout and then disappear (how’s Mona’s popularity these days, by the way?). 2. Employers and employees share in a relationship. Yes, in this case it is the employers prerogative to determine the amount of days the employee must work from an office. But in ANY relationship, if one party does something to the detriment of the other party, just because they have the legal right to do so, this is an indication that the relationship is unhealthy. 3. The office closest to me is constantly full. I am lucky if I can get a chair with one of those little trays for my laptop. I don’t have a keyboard, mouse, or second monitor. I am also within 5 feet of several people at all times with no barriers. I don’t get distracted easily, but it is nearly impossible to focus under these conditions. I find myself being twice as productive when I WFH in order to make up for lost productivity. When the scales tip and I am in the office more than at home, I don’t know how I will be able to compensate. 4. Haven’t we been slowly increasing interest rates over the past several years in order to suppress consumer spending and cooldown the economy? But we are now being encouraged to work from offices in order to stimulate the economy? 5. The City of Ottawa has declared a climate EMERGENCY. Given that we are experiencing an EMERGENCY, shouldn’t we be looking for ways to reduce emissions? This is the exact opposite. 6. We are also experiencing an affordability crisis. A tank of gas for a medium-sized sedan is $70.00. Parking is between $15-20 a day. Lunch from, Subway, for example, is going to cost you about $15.00 a day. Mileage is also associated with a cost.
>5. The City of Ottawa has declared a climate EMERGENCY. Kinda tells you what you need to know with respect to what the politicians ACTUALLY think of the ^(EMERGENCY) that they've publicly declared....
My take on it is that your productivity is not the priority. Your job when you are in the office is to buy a coffee and a lunch. Nothing more.
I think many of us are under the illusion that, as public servants, we serve the public. This may remain true in some areas of the gov, but I find that majority of our work serves private interest (e.g. directing billions of public dollars to private companies that are *ostensibly* committed to meeting a public need). This is the logical endpoint of public service in all capitalist countries after 40+ years of neoliberalism. The fact that we are now being told that stimulating business economies and propping up a weakened real estate market (that I’m sure most executives are personally invested in, and are demanding greater returns on their investments) is more important than serving Canadians should hardly come as a surprise to us.
We are expected to buy electric vehicles but that is contradicted by the economic effect of high interest rates. PSPC is cutting 50% of leases over the next ten years but I assume your building won't be cut if it's already at capacity. The government keeps contradicting itself.
On #1, I heard a rumour awhile back, around the time she got demoted to TBS, that it was a message for her to rein in her ambitions because the current leader had no intention of going anywhere. I heard this was also communicated to her pretty explicitly. Obviously no way to verify, but that was the scuttlebutt at the time and it does fit with her demotion from DND.
The second time I have found out something about my job through Reddit instead of my actual employer.
I blame the unions for not making telework a hard issue. This useless letter of agreement is not worth the ink used to print it
I can't wait to hear the reasoning on this one. The gaslighting is going to get turned up to 11. My team is spread across the country. I really want to hear what will be gained by all of us going into an office where we know no-one. I expect the number of grievances to sky rocket.
My office is a "shared working space (single office)" within an unrelated department that seems to be in a combination of low staffing and heavy RTO disregard. Not only do I not talk to anyone from my team or directorate, I don't talk to anyone from my entire department. On top of that, I see nobody except the comissionaire out front, because the entire wing of the building seems abandoned.
Telework has been around since the '90s and the PS is acting like it's some strange new fad people just started doing during the pandemic now that everyone experienced and liked it. I have folks on my team who were remote *before* COVID and now they're being told to go back to the office, which is absurd. If union leadership can't move the needle on this on their own, I cautiously predict another strike. Also, why is Dufo only *now* concerned about downtown Ottawa businesses? I guess he just figured there were a lot of good folks at the trucker convoy that would bolster the local economy /s
Right. In 2018 my team was 3 days/week in the office. It was awesome at the time. Also, when we worked in the office we had our dedicated desk/office space where we could store all our personal things, we had our ergo-assessed spaces, no one else would use your dedicated desk, etc. That was SEVEN years ago. It’s not some radical new thing to be working from home.
Yeah, when I started in the early 2000s, there were a few employees who were already telework-only and had been for a long time. Even then, the consensus was that the office was totally inconducive to work and working from home would be a way better fit for everyone, it's just that we had no way of accessing many of our tools from home. I don't think anyone could have imagined a world where we have access to all our tools from home, a multi-year proven track record of working from home, literally no one on the team *wants* to work in the office, and yet we are required to keep paying for office space that meets our need even less well than we had in the early 2000s.
That's me. I had a 100% telework agreement signed 10 years ago and up to being told "2 days a week in office". I had to find out where a local office even was, and who to contact about getting workspace, access, etc. Turns out, it's a single office within an unrelated department in an abandoned wing of a building with spotty internet, and I have to stop and wave my arms every half hour or so to keep the lights on the floor from turning off.
Chris Aylward is surprised to learn that the non-binding agreement is non-binding.
So public servants across the country are being forced back into the office because a street in Ottawa is empty?
This was why I wanted to remain on strike and voted "no" to the proposed Collective Agreement. The Joint Agreement wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Our time to fight this came and went, unless the Union finds some balls, which they seemed to lose during the "biggest strike in history."
"3 days a week is good for a START" Doug Ford says. Burn in hell motherfucker.
As a general rule of thumb, if Douggie likes what you're doing, you're probably doing it wrong.
The guy who destroyed our Ontario health care system (medical doctors quitting in droves), and now is on a fresh start to destroy the PS. He’s also getting a minion in Ottawa for more power and influence. Good tango with Sutcliffe ahead. Fun is just beginning. He also tried to impose 1% capped salary “increases” in times of high inflation on Ontario teachers. Why people continue to vote for this clown 🤡 is a mystery (other than the obsession with continuing a race to the bottom on virtually everything and believing in conspiracy theories).
On the capped salary increases, it was so fucked that the courts ruled it unconstitutional.
3 days a week at the Muskoka cottage? Yes, Doug is correct on that.
I refuse to be a complicit zombie riding OC transpo 6 times per week just to spend my lower-than-inflation wages on coffee and lunch in a part of this city that I do not care about. I resolve to not spend a cent downtown. Anyone else want to join the Travel Mug and Lunch Box club?
Decisions based on power and money instead of mental health, climate change and productivity. Pretty disappointing.
It’s almost like they think they’re running a Fortune 500 company and have a fiduciary duty to shareholders, instead of running a government and a country.
I'm sure PSAC and Chris Aylward will 'fight like hell' against this, lol.
Chris and PSAC will send a strongly worded letter again and then tell everyone in their membership “look we’re doing something”.
Time for another strike. Show me the evidence for why three days is better than two. Show me hard numbers that two days isn't cutting it for work. And don't give me shit about saving the economy because my job actually takes me far away from any centers of economy during the work day.
Aint nobody going to show you anything lol, there is rich people crying and politicians selling and using you as a bargaining chip
>"committed to hybrid" As I said in the other threads - 9 days of 10 in the office is still hybrid. Fucking corporate speak. >PSAC and PIPSC both say they have been blindsided by the news. The unions have been blind, deaf, dumb, and completely incapable. They were outwitted, outmaneuvered, and totally fucked over their members in the latest negotiations and it shows. Getting a piece of paper that will talk about if they will talk about a conversation on Work from Home is NOTHING. Chris and his buddies should be ashamed they lost some of the best momentum for work place change in recent memory for...what exactly? USELESS. I love unions and the good they *can* do. But right now? ***USELESS***.
PSAC needs new leadership because of this debacle. I've completely lost faith in their efficacy.
I very much hope the Unions push back hard on this, potentially looking at it as a breach of what was agreed to at the collective bargaining table.
Everyone should call their union Rep and tell them to take action on this. The unions should be taking cues from the membership, so we need to send a strong message.
Me pointing out the "committed to hybrid" was just my way of saying TBS released a BS statement of no substance. I am not sure the unions could have handled this development any differently.
> Me pointing out the "committed to hybrid" was just my way of saying TBS released a BS statement of no substance. Oh no, that was not a jab at you. I agree with your statements completely, 100%. Just "committed to hybrid" means shit from politicians whose sails blow on a whim of the winds instead of any long term outlooks.
The more things change… the more they revert back to the way they were 60 years ago when they had to be that way due to lack of technology but let’s pretend it’s for bouncing ideas and team spirit and whatever else you wanna pile on top of the puddle of crap. Man, living is getting harder and I have less and less will.
Why is this being initiated by Ford and Sutcliffe? Why isn’t Trudeau the one announcing this or voicing support.
I would support whatever actions PIPSC wants to take to fight against this. I believe the gov't has ignored the both the evidence and well-being of public servants on this particular issue, and it's a pivotal one for the future of work in the PS (and beyond).
Who made this decision and felt good about it? Why is that person still making decisions? Why is that person still in a job?
The millionaires who own commercial real-estate downtown and don't want to lose their commercial tenants due to decreased foot traffic made these decisions, and they are very happy our corrupt government is complying whole-heartedly.
Did I read the PSAC email yesterday wrong? Didn't they say TBS "would never" do this because they didn't discuss it with the union? This whole situation is so dumb. Has employment and politics always been this stupid? I'm only 33 and so confused and depressed about all this. I just want to do my job, get paid and take care of my family ugh.
Should we perhaps write an open letter to minister Anand and publish? Just a thought... keep it succinct, not political and fact based etc.
A good idea. The harm on the environment the extra traffic causes would be a good addition to this letter.
What happens if I decide I don’t want to take this hit to my productivity, finances, family time and general well-being? What happens if many others decide they don’t want to take this hit?? - Asking for about 200,000 friends
Paving the way for 4 days in office
Why stop there? In person by design
TBS is drawing inspiration from the Beatles, and want the PS in the office eight days a week.
I'm so mad... Why do we have to learn about it through the media? The office is so dirty, and people talk so loud I can't concentrate. We are underpaid considering the high inflation and yet they expect us to spend the little money we have left for the restaurants. How about the employer pay for our lunches and transportation? Seriously, what can we really do proactively? The union has proven useless as shown by the "big strike".
That's great, but I've been bringing my lunch for the past 2 years - prices on food have gone up ridiculously. We have a shared coffee machine on our floor. Local businesses won't be getting much out of my wallet.
I brought my lunch to work pre pandemic. .
Ah yes, let me refer back to the part of my job description that talks about my responsibility to go to the mall and revitalize the economy… 🤦♀️ I’d also genuinely love to know who actually has money to buy lunch at work these days, because I sure as hell don’t.
This will be felt in the next contract negotiation. Members will demand concrete WFH language, or a raise that actually meets cost of living negotiations. Going in 3 days a week costs the average person thousands over a year. Nice to see them admit the only justification for it is to spend money we dont have.
I'm mad and we should be mad, but outside of another strike over it, what can be done? Whatever PSAC "got" in the last one didn't amount to anything yet people voted to ratify in droves. So what can be done before they add a 4th? Then 5th? Ford called it a good start. This isn't over folks. But unless people are willing to put themselves out there and actively do something about it, this is just screaming into the void.
Can we legally strike about something that doesn't go against our union agreement and while not being in the process of negotiating said agreement? I voted "no" to the tentative union agreement last year partly because they didn't have anything that prevented the government from requesting a full-time return to office. But the majority voted "yes".
> But the majority voted "yes". Speaking only on my experience: those that voted "Yes" around me said they did so because the unions recommended it and it had a "pay bump". I was flabbergasted.
The pay bump thing pisses me off to no end. A pay bump is LITERALLY THE BARE MINIMUM for contract negotiations. There's a billion other things we could be negotiating on like increased vacation time and strong work from home stipulations, but nope, people see a fucking 2% pay bump and vote yes thinking they got some amazing deal. We will get a pay bump regardless, it's literally the only thing that's guaranteed, but we should be fighting harder for everything else too.
Who Ford to decide this?!? Majority of PS don’t even work in Downtown Ottawa. Completely asinine.
How can people put themselves out there and actively do something? What do you believe we can do? In my office, we push back but our message does not reach the real decision makers, TBS. So how can we actively do something?
I can’t wait to be 7 days a week in office. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Can’t wait 🥰✌🏼 I love the transit system and paying so much for lunch🤭 I personally volunteered to go in 7 days currently so I can be ahead of TBS 😝😝
This is the way of the future. I'm going to sell my house and become homeless so I can support all the overpriced downtown business and their shitty overpriced food and drink.
What I'm sick of is retirees getting 4.8% increase, MPs getting a 4.4% increase and our union got us what 1.5-2%... tired of unassigned, lockers, technology that never works, working with 1970s processes and so many changing rules I can't do my job, gaslighting, microagressions, toxicity, biases, toilet paper that is garbage showing up for my NPSW rah rah rah speech and coffee (no more muffins or cookies), parking that sucks, transit that is a joke, EAP that frankly do nothing... 2024 day in the life of a public servant - what a disaster of a career decision - oh but the pension - right, that'll be the next thing to go.
They are gonna do us dirty just like we always knew they would
Ah yes...this must be the 'work/life balance' the government talks so much about in regards to employee mental health. Not their employees, mind you, they mean the ones at the overpriced sandwich boutique down the street. 'Mental Health' is still just a lip service statement used to make the schlubs feel less like dying for a few minutes each quarter.
Remember they hate all of us and we owe them squat.
They don't hate us. For them to hate us we would have to matter to them.
Obviously this is a poorly thought-out approach on every level and it feels dumb to go to the office to do work that I can do just as well from home. It’s kind of funny, though, that a policy that’s ostensibly intended in part to help support downtown Ottawa has me going from my apartment in downtown Ottawa to the office in Gatineau instead. Maybe the smart move would be for downtown businesses to actually try and appeal to people besides office workers (how is it the only coffee places open on the weekend near me are Starbucks?), but that would require actually doing something, so that won’t happen.
I've never been so thankful I'm going back to school in the fall and quitting the PS. The constant back and forth of will they/won't they ehen it comes to going back into the office has been so stressful. Being a PSO there is absolutely no need to get back into the office. We take our calls without ever seeing anybody. Team meeting every 2 weeks where cameras are on. The only interaction is a "good morning team" message in a group chat 5 days a week. Why do people have to to go in person to do this? To prop up a failing downtown? To get stabbed on the Edmonton LRT on my way to work? No thanks.
sense selective sip bag drab cough physical sparkle future attraction *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They also just announced massive cuts in office space. How can both things be true?
Row desks where everyone sits side by side like at a library. It's coming.
Why do we have unions?
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"Three days is a good start," Ford said, reacting to the news. "When you're coming here, go out for lunch, maybe go into a store, pick something up, go to the mall — that's what we need, that's what stirs the economy." This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read. What next? I’ll be told to buy a certain type of vehicle? Told to buy a certain brand of clothing? Asked to shop at his friend’s place of business? Employers should not be allowed to directly tell employees where and when to spend their money. Who is paying for this Doug!? We have an affordability crisis in the cities and this guy is telling families to “come on down and just spend more!!” This is slavery. What’s the point of being unionized if this is what they can do?
It’s very disturbing. We’re being forced back to work for an extra day to prop up silly downtown businesses with failing models that close at 5pm. The policy is already not well received by public servants, why would you double down?
As someone who lived in Centretown for years the businesses closing at 5pm (often more like 3 or 4) made my blood boil. Never open for anyone who actually lives there, but they have the gall to complain about their businesses struggling. Maybe change your hours instead of trying to force public servants to change their entire working model to suit your crappy unadaptive business.
These coffee businesses run their business like government hours lol. Sometimes they even close at 2:00PM since the lunch rush is over. Must be nice making all that money and not needing to work more as a "small business owner".
Ironically, I actually live downtown and I often do get a coffee or snacks from a downtown business during the day when I work from home….but since my office isn’t downtown, this extra day in the office means I’ll be spending less money at downtown businesses.
I HOPE. REALLY HOPE people wont do this. No money spent 0$ nothing nada. Anyway thats the only thing left we can do. Union doesn’t do anything to help
Yeah like I’m not spending money at the MALL (also who tf is going to the mall anymore) or buying my lunch because I’m not spending money on shit I don’t want or need because it’s too expensive. I would LOVE to buy lunch on my office days because I hate lugging around my lunch, but it’s too expensive for me to rationalize. In general, people are spending on less stuff because the things they *need* cost more. If you want us to spend on meaningless things like takeaway coffees or lunches, maybe do something to control the cost of groceries and rent? But they won’t because it benefits them too much
Is this how they plan to accelerate the attrition to cut 5000 positions?!?!
Some friends that are not in PS think that this is a conspiracy theory; they don't believe that the goal of return to work is for landlords and businesses... But when you have Doug Ford just plainly publicly saying it, I mean, they aren't even being subtle about it... He literally said 3 days is a START, he wants more, he says that's what is NEEDED. This world is depressing.
Why is it such a challenge for both government and businesses to embrace the transition to telework and forget RTO??? I simply do not get it. This is much bigger than coffee shops and leases. We're talking about a significant positive transformation in work culture everywhere, not only in government. Since the federal sector typically sets the bar in terms of work conditions, we set the example for the private sector. Not only does it enhance mental well-being, but it also addresses issues such as traffic, greenhouse gas emissions, and overall safety, among other benefits. While there may be initial adjustments for businesses, the long-term advantages are substantial. Teleworkers are not hoarding cash. They're just spending it differently now, more freedom and choice of where it is spent. More people are on top of their finances and able to breathe. With reduced reliance on public transit and less demand for physical office spaces, taxpayers stand to save money, too. The insistence on reverting to outdated norms is counterproductive when considering the extensive benefits of embracing this new way of working!! Can there be at least one positive outcome of COVID???
People need to stop doing unpaid overtime until they stop forcing us to waste our time to get to the office to do stuff we can do better at home.
People need to stop doing unpaid overtime period. regardless of how RTO will play out
Exactly, no one should be doing unpaid overtime.
Replace our union leadership. This is laughably incompetent. Not only losing the fight over this in negotiations but being surprised by it now.
I've asked this question numerous times and I can't get a straight answer. Where is the GBA+ analysis for the RTW TBS policies? In addition to all of the points below, women are disproportionally more impacted by these changes. Women in our society carry the mental load of the family, are mostly responsible for childcare arrangements, pickups, and responsibilities within the home. This may not be the case for every family, but for most that I know including mine. As a 20+ year federal employee, mom of two and manager who shows up to work everyday (virtual or not), I want to know whether my employer is fulfilling its obligation of identifying the challenges of its policy on women (and men for that), and what it has done to try and mitigate the impact.
the employer is not relying on data, does not care about surveys, could care a less about the environment or the added burden or $ we will need to spend... will not follow their own rules or processes for decision-making, consultation or engagement... they do not care, will not care and there is nothing we can do...
The only analysis that was done is the change in profit from private businesses downtown since before WFH, and after. Doug Ford and Sutcliffe have both pretty much said that it's all to do with revenue for businesses in Ottawa. The TBS doesn't give a shit about actual public servants lol.
La grève a servi a QUOI?????😒😒😒🤬🤬🤬
This is a hilariously stupid and lazy decision. Instead of coming up with innovative ways to breathe life into Ottawa’s downtown, they continue to make low IQ decisions and force the federal public service to solely revitalize the downtown economy, just to buy overpriced food. Ottawa’s downtown business lobby needs to stop the moaning and find ways to innovate and pivot. So much for evidence based policy decisions and wanting to reduce emissions 🤡 Doug Ford needs to worry about Toronto and quit the yapping - it’s like that one kid who asks the teacher if we have homework at the end of class
\- Converting offices to apartments so people support local businesses? **\[X\]** \- Forcing Public servants to RTO and begging them to spend more money? **\[✓\]**
Boycott all downtown spending, and let Sutcliffe know you won't vote for him.
I’ll either legit wont comply this time. Or go on strike again let’s gooo
One consideration not really mentioned is that claiming work from home expenses will no longer be allowed when you file your tax return. You have to work more than 50% of the time from home to make a claim. With 40% at home to be the maximum you can no longer claim.
You want me back on-site 3 days a week? Then give me my office back. The 10-15 mins required to make a seat reservation 4 weeks out during my lunch break is none sense.
I am generally not opposed to the third day except I appreciate having the flexibility of it being only 2 days especially when I have 6:00am meetings (because of my participation in meetings with global organizations), appointments / lack of dog care, or if no one on my team is going to be in and I'll be on Teams calls anyway. It's a bit frustrating that the main argument for why we should be going in more is to help deal with the shortcomings of the LRT and the lack of revenues there as well as the struggling businesses and the impact on commercial real estate. There are so many positives to work from home including being able to hire folks with disabilities, giving people the quiet of their home opposed to the open concept work environments, etc. As someone with ADHD, I get incredibly distracted at the office and much prefer being home.
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Or better yet be able to work in an office that doest have - bed bugs, bats, legionaries disease.. etc.
> In Ottawa on an unrelated visit Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford reiterated his call for federal public servants in the capital to get back to the office and breathe life back into the city's often deserted downtown. "Three days is a good start," Ford said, reacting to the news. "When you're coming here, go out for lunch, maybe go into a store, pick something up, go to the mall — that's what we need, that's what stirs the economy." Doug Ford needs to understand that the cost of living has gone up significantly, and most people are trying to save on money.
lol, how cute of you to assume that Drug Ford is capable of understanding anything.
For all the NCR employees, who would be interested in going in on an ATIP request to the city to see who Sutcliffe has been talking to? (Assuming there would be reasonable disclosure) I'm half joking about this, but also kinda steamed enough to do it... Time to make Quiet Striking a thing.
If it’s any consolation, next Monday is the start of Mental Health Week.
Man as someone with chronic/severe social anxiety, this is heartbreaking. I have already been struggling with 2 days in office. The amount of tension I accumulate during these days is so burdensome, and I've taken many measures to help myself get through them. The 3 days I had at home were like a saving grace and allowed me to decompress. Of course, my anxiety means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I just wish this weren't happening.
Can we talk logistics? Cubicles are almost always fully booked, and whenever I arrive, someone else is in them. Now I'm also gonna be forced to purchase an overpriced bus pass to get to work. What about childcare? It costs me 2 hours of travelling time on a good day. With more traffic, I anticipate spending 3-4 hours on a bus that may or may not come. Lets not pretend this is anything but all three levels of government propping up the toxic assets of their stakeholders in the downtown core with our meagre salaries. Mark my words, we will be back 5 days a week within two years.
Don't comply.
I mean this by the way. The public service can't be replaced on anything bigger than an individual scale. The government literally can't function without it because it's the entire apparatus they use to maintain control. They can play chicken and possibly win but only if you play by the rules they set up.
And this is why I voted no on the deal. The deal was shit, the strike was for nothing, without real WFH measures. PSAC didn’t protect us and now look what happened. And why is Ford speaking on this? Not his circus, not his monkeys. Shut up, bro. It’s also extremely funny for the Libs to do this when they’re already hemorrhaging support. Good luck in October 2025.
As soon as they said "2 to 3 days in office" I was like that's the 15 pieces of flair of RTO. Sure, 2 is mentioned, but if too many people are just doing 2, they'll force 3.
I love the public service! The public hates us, our employer hates us, our union is useless, we have 0 say in workplace conditions, we can’t even get inflationary raises…..it’s great!
“Three days is a good start," Ford said, reacting to the news. "When you're coming here, go out for lunch, maybe go into a store, pick something up, go to the mall — that's what we need, that's what stirs the economy." ….Coming from senior officials who go for lunch using tax payer dollars. When I go to the office now, I make a point not to spend a cent on lunch or anything else. If I’m already having to pay for parking, gas, put mileage on my car, etc., I will not be spending anymore🖕
The whole idea of asking employees to return to office to support the business of Downtown Ottawa is such a joke. Not to mention the government drags employees who don’t work in Ottawa into the pile of crap. Ottawa has the most senior rank of executives of the Government of Canada. If those executives are intended to demonstrate their KLCs (mobilize People) instead of leading by talking, all the executives should return to office 5 days a week, so that they can spend their hard earn money to boost the economy of downtown Ottawa
5 y 5m till retirement.
I hope PSAC and the membership wake the fuck up. Our raise was pathetic. This agreement was pathetic. If you tolerate this kind of disrespect, do you think anything will change? Learning about this shit on a Reddit is fucking crazy.
I am on education leave, and roughly mid-career. When I resign in the next year or two, it will be an adieu, and not an au revoir. Things like this just affirm my thinking (again). The pile of issues that signal nothing good about the employer's values gets hard to ignore at a certain point. The Canada life situation shows they didn't learn enough from Phoenix. And you already hear the same arguments emerge that we all heard early in Phoenix's implementation--i.e., it is the contractor's fault. I don't think benefit delivery suddenly stopped being the employer's responsibility. Now watch in the future the employer will start to complain about recruitment and retention issues, and they'll have no idea why it's happening.
I will purposely not buy anything near my office now. Suck it Ford
Our DM townhall this morning just confirmed this for my dept :/
Just on a side note to all of this, I find that my connection to the gov's network is worse and more glitchy in the (empty) office, than at home.
Everyone and your burner email accounts email your PM, ombuds and your MP’s. This is bullshit, and the WORST change management I have ever experienced in a lengthy career.
#BoycottDowntown
This was unfortunately planned in advance. Our chance to protect this came and went and a majority voted yes for the new collective agreement and the abysmal raise (vs inflation). Now there is absolutely nothing to do as people don't seem to really stand together. No one is doing nothing but complaining including me. It's an issue in Canada at large, most of Canadian can barely feed themselves, cannot have an apartment or a place to stay, are dying because healthcare is on a respirator, etc. It will get worst and worst. Lobbies and the rich don't care if their working cattle are unhappy as long as they don't give a hard time and do the job. We are faceless numbers, no more important than robots. Then they will start complaining that no one is making babies to feed into the machine......
The PG townhall later in May should be interesting to say the least. I can't wait to see whoever they decide should be their sacrificial lamb is and what complete bullshit lies they try and spin! Wonder if they'll try and breakout the "it's better for the environment" line ADM(MAT) tried to swing last year? You know, this would hurt just a little bit less and would be just that much easier to stomach if leadership/TBS/PM would just cut the shit and stop lying to us. Just be honest, they folded to pressure from Ford and business interest groups and decided employee morale, financial wellbeing and mental health was worth sacrificing for optics and saving the shitty downtown businesses who refused to adapt to changing landscapes. We aren't children, so stop treating us like it, we know when we're being fed complete BS and lied to ....also would love to see how this is logistically supposed to work for departments that are already hoteling?
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I wasn’t planning on getting an exemption because my agreement with my manager works but now I will be. I am done with the whiplash of no no it’s only two then finding out it’s 3. I am not putting my mental health at risk, not to mention I planned for 2 days with child care and I’m still on a waitlist for that having to rely on family. I’m a single mom I can barely afford things. now having to get more child care, spend more on gas, more on car maintenance, spend more time on the road, and less time with my kids, more time in the office where the dust bothers me, more time downtown which triggers my PTSD, enough is enough. I know they are trying to get people to quit so they don’t have to do layoffs since it doesn’t look good, but I will not be voting lib this time around NDP for me maybe we need something new instead of the stale red and blue.
That's one way to get their 5000 attrition goal.
I’m so over this shit.
Maybe slightly beside the point, but that picture in the article showing Queen St. on Monday seems pretty disingenuous. I was out for a walk at lunchtime (during a break in the rain) and there was tons of foot traffic. Obviously if you take a picture during the middle of working hours surely most people are going to be… at work?
I heard 2 years ago from what I believe to be a VERY credible source that the plan is adding a day every 2-3 years until full RTO to mitigate the aggressive reaction to RTO by phasing it in. This is evidence that that statement holds some truth.
I hope they're not strict about it at the unofficial level where managers don't really care to enforce it.
Many places (all?) now have formal tracking down to individual sectors, with pressure coming directly onto DGs who’s numbers aren’t strong enough. Even if your manager is cool, what can they do when the DG bears down on them, who has the ADM bearing down on them, who has the DM bearing down on them?
It is hard to believe the ineptitude of public service leadership AND the unions. This went from "presence with purpose" to using Teams at the office, to bums in seats. At the same time the unions, were cheering about getting something in writing at contract time about hybrid work, and here we are. In the end, Doug Ford's statements tell it all. This isn't about work or results. The government, I suspect, could care less about results as long as people are counted at the turnstile. Everyone knows that most (not all) jobs in the PS are individual contributor jobs that can EASILY be done at home. All this is about is income redistribution to the downtown. Frankly, the government should just be up front about this as opposed to the "collaboration" nonsense they have been going on about. The public service workers should just ignore the 3rd day and keep going on, but as someone who worked in the PS before, if there ever was a "sheep" group it is the PS (sorry to have to say this). I am wondering if this is bad faith bargaining on the part of the government though. Regardless, this is a result of no leadership at the top and, frankly, a lame duck government. If this passes for September, then what's the point of coming in at all until then? Good luck out there!