Federal Government & Union spar over returning to office

[CountDC]

DND being inefficient with travel management and approvals, creating significantly increased costs, is not novel.

Whatever could you mean Miss the time when I could approve travel rather than jumping through hoops to get a General to approve it.

We have wifi throughout the building and a very nice open atrium. Great for collab work but not the best office space for a full day’s work.

That being said I’m in the office today and there is plenty of space lol.

That's because it is a long weekend.

IT sounds like poor city planning for the amount of people who work in the Office core, for transportation and transit.
Poor planning on the employers side for lack of desk space, office space and internet connections.

I have a good solution to all this. Move the jobs from Ottawa to Calgary. They have tons of office space, great transit, beautiful views of the mountains and close to tons of recreation.

Ottawa used to have lots of office space and I suspect still do. It is DND that doesn't have it anymore as they got rid of lots of the offices while people did WFH.

 

[Furniture]

It appears the the GCWCC good idea fairies have struck at CRTC...

CRTC raffling off office space in 'absurd and insulting' charity drive for public servants

 

[Remius]

It appears the the GCWCC good idea fairies have struck at CRTC...

CRTC raffling off office space in 'absurd and insulting' charity drive for public servants

A bit tone deaf but was probably well meaning in intent.

 

[Remius]

IT sounds like poor city planning for the amount of people who work in the Office core, for transportation and transit.
Poor planning on the employers side for lack of desk space, office space and internet connections.

I have a good solution to all this. Move the jobs from Ottawa to Calgary. They have tons of office space, great transit, beautiful views of the mountains and close to tons of recreation.

Ironically we could have hired qualified people from Calgary but remote work apparently isn’t in the cards anymore.

 

[Furniture]

A bit tone deaf but was probably well meaning in intent.

Someone on the team should have had the good sense to read the room and know it was a terrible idea.

 

[Harris]

So in Halifax where I work, for new employees without at least 10 years, there "may" be a desk and there won't be parking. Every time someone gets posted, the other Branches are sniffing around to see if they can have the space. My Boss is away until next Sept, so I'm using his desk, but "my" desk is now in another Branch. Not sure what happens when my boss gets back. I can safely say I will not be playing where's waldo looking for a desk. I'll be full time work from home. I'm supposed to hire two more people but we don't have desks for them. Good Times.

 

[childs56]

So in Halifax where I work, for new employees without at least 10 years, there "may" be a desk and there won't be parking. Every time someone gets posted, the other Branches are sniffing around to see if they can have the space. My Boss is away until next Sept, so I'm using his desk, but "my" desk is now in another Branch. Not sure what happens when my boss gets back. I can safely say I will not be playing where's waldo looking for a desk. I'll be full time work from home. I'm supposed to hire two more people but we don't have desks for them. Good Times.

How is this even happening is the question? Any where I have ever worked I have had a work station if required. Sometimes it was a shared station such as parts ordering or sign off. But I had a work station I could use. Any office work I had to do I was given a work station to use.

Someone on the team should have had the good sense to read the room and know it was a terrible idea.

I cant see this working out well.

Ironically we could have hired qualified people from Calgary but remote work apparently isn’t in the cards anymore.

or they can move the whole operation out west, lots of office space and great environment.

It appears the the GCWCC good idea fairies have struck at CRTC...

CRTC raffling off office space in 'absurd and insulting' charity drive for public servants

This is so bad, Not sure where peoples heads are. No accountability of management team nowadays leads to this crap.

Maybe the Military can do a raffle to fire a ATGM, or fire a tank, ohhh maybe a F18 ride, to raise funds to provide offices to people who need them.

 

[dimsum]

How is this even happening is the question? Any where I have ever worked I have had a work station if required. Sometimes it was a shared station such as parts ordering or sign off. But I had a work station I could use. Any office work I had to do I was given a work station to use.

Because, if I remember correctly, it was a Treasury Board directive to reduce the footprint when WFH due to Covid. The issue was that when folks were ordered back to the office, one hand didn’t talk to the other and have the footprint brought back up.

I’m not sure if this was just an Ottawa thing, or a whole of Federal Govt thing. It’s not like buildings started being demolished - they just didn’t renew leases. So the availability of office space isn’t the main issue.

Frankly I don’t know how it would be that much better if the offices moved to City X, if there isn’t a robust WFH arrangement as well. If people have to be physically at the office, then they still have to move to Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Flin Flon, or Iqaluit…currently, most people are already in the National Capital Region that do these things, for good or ill. If Ministry of Silly Walks ends up moving to Sydney, NS - then most of the people they hire will be from that area, except for the folks willing to move there.

 

[Good2Golf]

This is not at all surprising. Folks are thinking of it as all the federal Public servants RETURNING to their offices…when you add 100,000+ to your workforce, 70,000 since when WFH started, there’s no hope in Hell of having offices for all of them when you order them “back” to the office.

Least we forget…

Under Trudeau, the civil service has grown twice as fast as Canada’s population - National | Globalnews.ca

More than 110,000 people have been added to the federal payroll since 2015 when Justin Trudeau became prime minister - a 43 per cent increase.

globalnews.ca

 

[Remius]

Because, if I remember correctly, it was a Treasury Board directive to reduce the footprint when WFH due to Covid. The issue was that when folks were ordered back to the office, one hand didn’t talk to the other and have the footprint brought back up.

And some departments were already piloting WFH initiatives before COVID. At that time they were looking at a more gradual approach to it. It was a solution to the growing workforce and a cost cutting measure. Private industry was already doing it so none of this was novel in any way.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Another demonstration of the superiority of public enterprise over private.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Another demonstration of the superiority of public enterprise over private.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Lawyering up, which is likely futile of course...

Public service union calls for investigation into return-to-office mandate​

CAPE wants a parliamentary committee to look into the matter​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/public-service-union-calls-for-investigation-into-return-to-office-mandate-1.7351577

 

[daftandbarmy]

Of course they want a doctor's note... poor things

Federal office mandate burdening Ottawa doctors as public servants seek medical notes​

'We're getting completely bogged down with these requests and feeling completely overwhelmed'​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-office-mandate-burdening-ottawa-doctors-as-public-servants-seek-medical-notes-1.7352351

 

[Furniture]

Of course they want a doctor's note... poor things

Federal office mandate burdening Ottawa doctors as public servants seek medical notes​

'We're getting completely bogged down with these requests and feeling completely overwhelmed'​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-office-mandate-burdening-ottawa-doctors-as-public-servants-seek-medical-notes-1.7352351

Lets not pretend that the bureaucratic nature of the job didn't force this. A person could show up missing a leg, and still require a Dr's note to prove they couldn't walk up stairs to get an accommodation.

I'm sure there are plenty of malingerers wasting the Dr's time, but I suspect there are also lots of reasonable cases being sent that way because the rules say the person needs a Dr's note.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Lets not pretend that the bureaucratic nature of the job didn't force this. A person could show up missing a leg, and still require a Dr's note to prove they couldn't walk up stairs to get an accommodation.

I'm sure there are plenty of malingerers wasting the Dr's time, but I suspect there are also lots of reasonable cases being sent that way because the rules say the person needs a Dr's note.

The other item I noted was it seems they need to 'redo' any accommodations from before the pandemic, which sounds a bit odd...

 

[brihard]

The other item I noted was it seems they need to 'redo' any accommodations from before the pandemic, which sounds a bit odd...

I’ve heard that too. Old accommodations arrangements are no longer being honoured and they need to ‘reset’.

Lets not pretend that the bureaucratic nature of the job didn't force this. A person could show up missing a leg, and still require a Dr's note to prove they couldn't walk up stairs to get an accommodation.

I'm sure there are plenty of malingerers wasting the Dr's time, but I suspect there are also lots of reasonable cases being sent that way because the rules say the person needs a Dr's note.

There’s likely some truth to this. I have a family member working entirely remotely on an accommodation for a fairly severe chronic illness. (Not fed PS, but not a dissimilar sort of role). It requires periodic doctor’s notes to feed the bureaucracy of disability management accommodation. For people who were working entirely remotely, no such documentation was needed if their medical needs were incidentally succesfully accommodated simply by the fact that they worked from home. Being made to come back necessitated activating formal bureaucratic accommodations processes.

But yes there are also some people probably fighting to leverage the very permissive system of medical notes to game part of the system. I don’t think it happens a ton, but it does happen.

 

[CountDC]

I would like to say I am surprised but really I'm not. When it comes to disabilities the federal government really is out to lunch and requires people with permanent disabilities to prove it over and over again with documentation from a doctor. CRA is a perfect example - my disabled daughter has to prove it to them every 5 years. She has been disabled her entire life and they seem to think that there will be miracle cure come out of someone's arse. So - no surprise they are requiring the PS to go get doctors not saying they need accommodation because they are missing a leg and can't walk up the stairs or forcing resets on prior approvals.

 

[PrairieFella]

My office in the Prairies has enough seats for 2 days a week. When everyone's exceptions expire next spring it'll be mathematically impossible to seat everyone. Good public policy...

 

[daftandbarmy]

My office in the Prairies has enough seats for 2 days a week. When everyone's exceptions expire next spring it'll be mathematically impossible to seat everyone. Good public policy...

Smart coffee shops nearby will upgrade their wifi