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Federal Government & Union spar over returning to office

I was just reading this Reddit thread about "process rather than success" in the Aussie military:

I suspect it is a blight that exists in all bureaucracies, since following the process means you are protected if anything goes wrong. "I don't know why it failed, I followed all the rules."

I also am starting to suspect it has to do with the personality types that are drawn to working in bureaucracies... The sort of people who want to get things done tend to bow out, and the ones quite content to check off boxes on a spreadsheet stick around.
 
I also am starting to suspect it has to do with the personality types that are drawn to working in bureaucracies... The sort of people who want to get things done tend to bow out, and the ones quite content to check off boxes on a spreadsheet stick around.
Maybe?

Thinking about the aviation sector, pilots are folks who generally are seen as "wanting to get things done", but the actual process of flying, from signing out the aircraft to signing it back in, is very bureaucratic. Even in the flight deck, it's all about checklist procedures.
 
Maybe?

Thinking about the aviation sector, pilots are folks who generally are seen as "wanting to get things done", but the actual process of flying, from signing out the aircraft to signing it back in, is very bureaucratic. Even in the flight deck, it's all about checklist procedures.
There is a difference between following a procedure that leads somewhere, and following a procedure that leads to more procedure...

I could be wrong, I am a weather guy... It happens on a rare occasion. :ROFLMAO:
 
I suspect it is a blight that exists in all bureaucracies, since following the process means you are protected if anything goes wrong. "I don't know why it failed, I followed all the rules."

I also am starting to suspect it has to do with the personality types that are drawn to working in bureaucracies... The sort of people who want to get things done tend to bow out, and the ones quite content to check off boxes on a spreadsheet stick around.

Paradoxically, a little red tape can set you free ... sometimes ;)

 
I suspect it is a blight that exists in all bureaucracies, since following the process means you are protected if anything goes wrong. "I don't know why it failed, I followed all the rules."

I also am starting to suspect it has to do with the personality types that are drawn to working in bureaucracies... The sort of people who want to get things done tend to bow out, and the ones quite content to check off boxes on a spreadsheet stick around.
The whole environmental review thing is critically flawed. I know several cases where the proponent was willing to change a project for the better, but it would have triggered a new review, so instead they went with the reviewed one, even though a better option had been identified. Mainly as almost every case challenging a EA was based on the process and not the results. Prior to Harpers forcing them to become a real Regulatory Agency, I called the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency the "Teflon Department" , because nothing stuck to them, process was king, results were immaterial and they disappeared after the review, never to get involved again in the project. On one project in Prince Rupert they left us a frigging crapfest where we as a regulating agency had to stand up for the little guy because CEAA had ignored local issues in their review. Then we were held up as the roadblock because we would not issue a permit till that issue was resolved.
 
WFH only works for one group, it seems:

"...according to a report by workplace research firm Leesman, office-based working has been most popular with one group alone—senior leaders who had their own offices (or private meeting spaces)."


The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning

Forget return-to-office mandates. The most sought-after talent want ultimate flexibility. Their bosses need to get on board.

Who calls the shots on how many days you end up working in the office? It has gradually dawned on bosses that it isn’t them. The real power holders? The elusive “top talent” that every firm is trying to attract.

Raj Choudhury, an economist from Harvard Business School, argues that throughout history it’s been the most sought-after job candidates who end up shaping what our jobs look like. For instance, in the early ’90s, using email on our phones was a luxury exclusive to CEOs. Soon, however, top talent in companies started demanding it and, as a result, we now can’t escape email.

Today, Choudhury’s spidey-sense is tingling over the demand for extreme flexibility: Top talent doesn’t just want hybrid work, they want to work from wherever they want. “There are two kinds of companies,” Choudhury explains. “One is going to embrace work-from-anywhere, and the second is in denial—I feel those companies will lose their workforce.” He argues that the “companies that are trying to drag back time will lose some of their best talent, and that dynamic will force these companies to catch up.”

This might come as a revelation to workers who are currently experiencing a top-down model of 3/2 in their workplaces. This “three days in, two days out” model was certainly expected to become a norm when we first imagined, during the pandemic, what life would be like after Covid. But since emerging from our bedrooms and kitchen tables we’ve recognized that we’re not at the end of this story—we’re still at the beginning of it. Data by Stanford economist Nick Bloom backs this up: In June 2020, most companies expected employees to be working from home around one and a half days a week, but the subsequent two years have seen the expectation of homeworking go up each successive month—most firms now expect workers to be at home for almost half of the week.

Nimble startup firms have a strong advantage due to this cultural shift. Indeed, in 2023, we will see startups migrate to remote-first. On the other hand, more established firms will be presented with the decision of whether to hang on to expensive real estate and slow-to-evolve managers, or to just dash to chase the new trend.

This will not be an easy transition. For instance, according to a report by workplace research firm Leesman, office-based working has been most popular with one group alone—senior leaders who had their own offices (or private meeting spaces). As a result, in 2023, veteran corporate managers will likely use the economic downturn to do a final attempt of dragging workers back to the office. It’s implausible to imagine that these more traditional managers might be rubbing their hands at the prospect of a short economic slowdown ahead, but using a softer job market as leverage to bring employees back to the office could prove a popular strategy. It might be too late; top talent has already made its mind up. There could be conflict ahead as it resolves itself.

The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning
 
"I took a three day executive course on X so I am therefore now an expert!"

"What do you mean we have to follow the law?"

"What if we do the same thing as the last five times? Certainly I have no need to understand why it failed before!"

And the ever popular "Congratulations! Based solely on a posting message, with no education, training or experience, you are now the CAF's resident expert on this complex topic!"
Sorta like the POLs we get everyso often?
 
Entirely an own-goal by managers copying and pasting lists from the last round of essential designations without asking "what has changed"?

New positions were created for new employees; old employees against old positions retired; and the old positions (now vacant) were the ones designated as essential.
 
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Related to the PSAC strike, excuse me but what in the ****??

It's not just Pet, also at CFLRS St Jean, and Halifax/Esquimalt. Not sure if they are all without hot water, but steam plants also providing hot water is pretty common as it's very efficient
 
Entirely an own-goal by managers copying and pasting lists from the last round of essential designations without asking "what has changed"?

New positions were created for new employees; old employees against old positions retired; and the old positions (now vacant) were the ones designated as essential.
In my experience: senior management ignoring the prodding for discussion on ESA for the last 14 months then making decisions in isolation of L3/4 input. Spectacular.
 
Entirely an own-goal by managers copying and pasting lists from the last round of essential designations without asking "what has changed"?

New positions were created for new employees; old employees against old positions retired; and the old positions (now vacant) were the ones designated as essential.
I don't know how other places did it, but our inputs came from bottom up and none made the cut. I could see not going with always essential, but was a bit surprised at not even the level 3 for the re-callable option. When there have been genuine emergencies before (like PRO fire) some people got recalled from leave that are now on strike. 🤷‍♂️
 
And the workers of the world, and their bosses, held their collective breaths...

Civil Servants’ Push for Remote Work Has Canadian Employers Watching Anxiously​


Canada’s government is grappling with what comes after the “forced experiment” of remote work brought on by the pandemic as it negotiates with striking civil servants, the country’s labor minister said.

More than 155,000 federal employees launched one of the country’s largest strikes a week ago in a dispute that primarily focuses on wages and enshrining the right to work from home.

With talks at a standstill, the union has escalated its demonstrations, targeting major ports for exports of grain and other commodities. While that’s prompted calls from industry for the government to step in, Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan declined to comment on the status of negotiations.
Though O’Regan said the government doesn’t dictate what works for other employers or sectors, a deal that cements a right to remote work may set a precedent. If the civil servants are successful, it may strengthen the negotiating leverage of workers in other sectors to push back against employers who favor a return to office.

“The government as an employer is trying to figure it out. We as a society are trying to work this out,” O’Regan said in an interview at his Ottawa office. “We had a crazy forced experiment of remote work imposed on us. There are some workers who had no choice but to go to work. There were a lot of people who didn’t have to go anymore, and yet we functioned and our economy got through it.”

When most Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, employers started mandating a return to office or hybrid work, saying that it would foster collaboration and boost productivity. But some workers are eager to keep the autonomy and flexibility they enjoyed during the pandemic lockdowns.

Likely Precedent​

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is demanding that the arrangement be included in a new collective agreement. If that happens, it has the potential to influence the outcome of future talks between unions and provincial governments, municipalities, and even private-sector businesses.

About a dozen clients who are currently negotiating collective agreements have already asked to delay the process to see the eventual deal from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, according to Patrick Groom, a labor lawyer at McMillan LLP in Toronto.

“This is going to set the standard for collective-bargaining negotiations and employee expectations, even in non-union environments across the country,” Groom said. “If the federal government agrees to working from home arrangements, that’s going to be a serious and difficult challenge to overcome for employers who want to have their workforces return.”

Employee resistance has left many business districts from Toronto to New York and San Francisco much emptier than in pre-Covid times. That’s been particularly acute in Ottawa, where more than 45% of workers were still working from home last year, compared with a national average of about 25%, according to Statistics Canada.

In an open letter earlier this week, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier — the cabinet minister who’s leading the talks for Trudeau — said the government has proposed to review the current telework directive jointly with unions to “help ensure that our approach is modern, fair, and supportive” for employees.

“We value our workers. We’re like any other firms out there. We want make sure that we retain them,” O’Regan said. “The government has a vested interest in making sure that it gets the best employees at the best value for the taxpayer. I’m very hopeful that we’ll land in a good place.”

 
My workforce which has had some people working from home (mainly in HR) since the pandemic recently ordered them all to return to work.

It was annoying dealing with it from the perspective of the blue collar worker because we aren’t the most technologically literate and before if we had a issue we would just go to the HR building and sort it out, vs trying to figure out who I am supposed to be emailing, playing email tag with a bunch of people (or in many cases simply sending it into the void and not receiving a response) and generally wasting a bunch of time for simple answers that could be made in a couple minutes in person.

I completely get why the government isn’t wanting to put it in the collective agreement, if it was my company I wouldn’t either.
 
My workforce which has had some people working from home (mainly in HR) since the pandemic recently ordered them all to return to work.

It was annoying dealing with it from the perspective of the blue collar worker because we aren’t the most technologically literate and before if we had a issue we would just go to the HR building and sort it out, vs trying to figure out who I am supposed to be emailing, playing email tag with a bunch of people (or in many cases simply sending it into the void and not receiving a response) and generally wasting a bunch of time for simple answers that could be made in a couple minutes in person.
We used to have in house Services like Pay and compensation types but someone made the decisions to get rid of them and centralise them elsewhere. government workers are quite spread out so just walking over is not always ideal or possible. Anyone working at DND especially knows that.
I completely get why the government isn’t wanting to put it in the collective agreement, if it was my company I wouldn’t either.
That depends on the industry. The GoC has an opportunity with WFH to add that to its modernisation arsenal but will likely do what it always does and miss that opportunity.
 
vs trying to figure out who I am supposed to be emailing, playing email tag with a bunch of people (or in many cases simply sending it into the void and not receiving a response) and generally wasting a bunch of time for simple answers that could be made in a couple minutes in person.
Hell, I have that issue in the office, pre-pandemic.
 
My workforce which has had some people working from home (mainly in HR) since the pandemic recently ordered them all to return to work.

It was annoying dealing with it from the perspective of the blue collar worker because we aren’t the most technologically literate and before if we had a issue we would just go to the HR building and sort it out, vs trying to figure out who I am supposed to be emailing, playing email tag with a bunch of people (or in many cases simply sending it into the void and not receiving a response) and generally wasting a bunch of time for simple answers that could be made in a couple minutes in person.

I completely get why the government isn’t wanting to put it in the collective agreement, if it was my company I wouldn’t either.

There are real issues with productivity as well, despite what some people are claiming.

Surprise, surprise government workers, and their leaders, are not hardwired to work/supervise effectively in a physically dispersed fashion - like some kind of hi tech start up.

Is it possible given the right kind of selection, training and technology? Of course, but we're nowhere near a reasonable level of competency yet.
 
We used to have in house Services like Pay and compensation types but someone made the decisions to get rid of them and centralise them elsewhere. government workers are quite spread out so just walking over is not always ideal or possible. Anyone working at DND especially knows that.
Our daughter is a civilian DND employee and I was never surprised at the bureaucracy she has to deal with. Coming from the Ontario public service, and having worked with some folks who were seconded to the feds, I always figured that what we had to put up with was bureaucracy with training wheels. What does amaze me is the remoteness of the various managers and levels of approvals she has to deal with. I would think that at least the same time zone would be a consideration but apparently not.
 
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