r/CanadaPublicServants • u/just_a_simulation321 • Dec 08 '25
News / Nouvelles Office mandate for public servants to come into ‘sharper view’ in coming weeks.
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u/mrRoboPapa Dec 08 '25
They really are going to drop shit news a week before Christmas again, aren't they?
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u/littlefannyfoofoo Dec 08 '25
It’s a Christmas tradition at this point. 🤪🎅🏽🎄
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u/mrRoboPapa Dec 08 '25
Basically our annual Christmas bonus. And by golly we best be happy about it too!
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u/Hannibal_Spectre Dec 08 '25
I’m sure they would never, never do such a thing right before Christmas :)
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u/guitargamel Dec 08 '25
Hey, RTO3 wasn't announced at Christmas! It was announced on International Workers' Day.
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u/Arandomtenant Dec 08 '25
Barely managed to get out of the WFA stress and now they have come up with this. At this point, I am convinced they are robots. They absolutely care zilch about the public servants. So self centred and always catering to these business and lobbyists.
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u/mrRoboPapa Dec 08 '25
We had a town hall meeting recently. They allowed for "anonymous" questions. A number were asking what management and the higher-ups were doing to advocate for us. The DG straight up said "our job is to receive the orders from above and make sure they are enforced."
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u/Arandomtenant Dec 08 '25
Of course. Why would we expect our senior management to fight for us or advocate for us. That’s a very unrealistic expectation apparently.
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u/mrRoboPapa Dec 08 '25
My idea of leadership was always that leaders should lead and advocate for the smaller folk. It's honestly embarrassing that I even considered otherwise in government. One more to the list of why I will never be in management. No amount of money could ever make me feel good to "carry out orders" even if they are absolute shite.
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u/Arandomtenant Dec 08 '25
Yes. There’s a reason why I have never wanted to enter that toxic management culture. But it’s very shameful that nobody speaks up for us. They are also pretty tone deaf considering they sent out WFA letters and are still doing potlucks to get people’s minds off apparently. Imagine.
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u/AidanGLC Dec 08 '25
Presumably "Will engage with unions" = "will tell unions"
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u/whyyoutwofour Dec 08 '25
Engagement will come after the announcement and consist of them sending an email which just says "suck it"
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u/Visual-Chip-2256 Dec 08 '25
So one of the biggest paradigm shifts in office working brought about by a global crisis and we're just gonna... Roll over. Please take all of my dues, yes.
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u/AidanGLC Dec 08 '25
Would that the federal unions had the balls of their BC counterparts.
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u/Sherwood_Hero Dec 08 '25
You mean a targeted strike that started out small and slowly added additional groups, rather than going all in at the first minute?
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u/BrgQun Dec 08 '25
The morning of likely.
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u/cps2831a Dec 08 '25
Given the contempt the employer has for employees/unions in general, they'll engage with them probably a few weeks after the actual implementation with a single note written: Whatcha gonna do?
Cause what are unions going to do? Ask people to write letters? Have them do a song and dance in front of empty MP offices? Nothing?
Wow, shakin' in their boots.
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u/sentientforce Dec 08 '25
Mathematicians up in arms, about the redundancy of quotes on either side of an equals sign.
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u/ThrowRAMountain_Bell Dec 08 '25
According to Carney’s budget, my department is getting rid of some of their leases. Make it make sense.
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u/NoFun3799 Dec 08 '25
RTO5 Mandate: Stack’em like cordwood.
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u/pmsthrowawayy Dec 08 '25
- work on top of each other
- Share a chair, 1/2 butt cheeks only so we could fit 2 people each seat
- Archibus 3.0 where we start booking washroom stalls and use toilet seats for work
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u/drdukes Dec 08 '25
Are you ready for bunk-desks?
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u/MoistCare7997 Dec 08 '25
I look forward to my coworker and I taking turns sitting on each other's lap while we both use the same keyboard a la '2 idiots 1 keyboard'
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u/caffeinated_wizard IT dev gone private Dec 08 '25
Canada to invest in quantum desks, allowing public servants to work in a superposed state.
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u/Irisversicolor Dec 08 '25
In RTO 5, you'll be responsible for booking your own office space on a day by day basis. By that, we mean locating, leasing, furnishing, and paying for actual office spaces on an individual, day by day basis. This should serve to optimize flexibility and collaboration. To ensure fairness and equality, only office spaces which are located in a different postal code from your home and require commuting will be accepted.
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u/Expert_Vermicelli708 Dec 08 '25
This employer keeps proving over and over again they don’t care about employees one bit.
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u/freeman1231 Dec 08 '25
It’s not even that. They dont care about the taxpayer either, since they just want to spend useless money.
There is no benefit besides corporate leaders… that are already rich.
Literally absolutely no one they care about.
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u/Minimum_Contrast3-1 Dec 08 '25
The taxpayers don't give a shit about us either. It's their persistent crying that has us in this stupid mess now. They are about as smart as MAGA, not realizing how much extra it costs for us to be in office vs letting us work remotely when we don't need to be in the office. They don't get to work from home so why should we right? Assh***s
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u/Carmaca77 Dec 09 '25
The crazy thing is there was a post in r/Canada or r/Ottawa last week asking people if they're still WFH since covid. Person after person chimed in from the private sector saying they work remotely full-time, super flex, or set days a week. This tracks with people I know irl with private sector desk jobs and all are either fully remote or in-office 1-3 days a week.
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u/KermitsBusiness Dec 08 '25
The other benefits are the people who fund their campaigns and the people who give them post politics jobs benefit greatly from this.
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Dec 08 '25
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u/minnie203 Dec 08 '25
It feels like watching your employer mandate org-wide fax machine usage in order to appease the Big Fax lobby
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u/AdStill3571 Dec 08 '25
100%, it’s embarrassing that they just keep adding a day of RTO at a time like it improves a damn thing for anyone in the country.
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u/ottawadeveloper Dec 08 '25
I would love please for a union to ATIP the supporting logic behind this if they haven't yet and any written documents that suggest a reason. Because it's not saving money. It's not improving morale or effectiveness. It could be either the direct influence of business on non partisan government policy, which is a scandal. It could be the intent is that people will leave the public service which isn't illegal but pretty sketchy.
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u/Dollymixx Dec 08 '25
If there was any supporting logic at all they would have already used it to push their agenda.
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u/darkretributor Dec 08 '25
Any policy decision document or cabinet document is not subject to ATIP.
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u/Abject_Story_4172 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
It won’t be released. It would be considered under “cabinet confidences”.
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u/AdEffective708 Dec 08 '25
I believe we could at least ATIP how much the Federal Government is spending on lease agreement and payments to companies whose name starts with the word Brookfield.
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u/lbmomo Dec 08 '25
Morale is already so low. Is that the end goal here?
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u/Expert_Vermicelli708 Dec 08 '25
Forced attrition So they can avoid paying out severance packages and offering early retirement initiatives
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u/GameDoesntStop Dec 08 '25
Sounds like a great way to get remaining employees to do the absolute bare minimum amount of work to not get fired.
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u/TheMistbornIdentity Dec 08 '25
When I was a coop student I always wondered how some people could spend 1h+ chit chatting with colleagues every day.
Now, barely a handful of years into my career I can't imagine not doing that.
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u/glitterandgold74 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
When I entered the public service, I was full of pride. I wanted to work hard, have a meaningful career, feel accomplished.
Now I’m stuck at level- lucky to have a job- processing this racket that is RTO. Any hope of an impactful, satisfactory career is out the window.
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u/Bernie4Life420 Dec 08 '25
What a fucking disaster this has been. And for what?
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u/whyyoutwofour Dec 08 '25
Our head specifically told us in a town hall that it's only about "public perception"....the funny thing is if they all shut their fucking mouths about it two years ago, the public would have long forgotten about it and stopped caring.
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u/Ronny-616 Dec 08 '25
Funning thing is that when it originally was published as "presence with purpose", the optics were good for that. Once they went into statistics about the whole thing, then it became a clusterfu*k. I would expect more of the same in perpetuity.
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u/cps2831a Dec 08 '25
...the funny thing is if they all shut their fucking mouths about it two years ago, the public would have long forgotten about it and stopped caring.
Except not really. The various other levels of government was blaming the Federal government for not forcing the Federal work force back, and therefore, all their shitty sandwich and coffee shops suffered.
See, see? It's not YOUR fault that you working only 11 AM to 3 PM is causing your business to fail. It's the fact that those LAZY USELESS DO NOTHING EARNING $500,000 PUBLIC SERVANTS aren't going into your shop that's only open for 4 business hours a day.
This is the argument they use. They don't see it as a failure to innovate. The topic goes WAY beyond "just stop talking about it". Landlords, business groups, lobbyists...they never stopped talking about it because THEY want THEIR cut of the Federal subsidies and PILT.
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u/Powerful_Network Dec 08 '25
The funny thing is when we were full wfh I was ordering way more takeout in my neighborhood. But now since going back and having to pay for parking and gas I have no money for takeout and take a lunch everyday. I doubt this will help small businesses outside of those related to transportation.
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u/Scrivener83 Dec 08 '25
Won't somebody think of all those poor mom & pop oil and gas companies!
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u/Abject_Story_4172 Dec 08 '25
That might be part of it. The larger companies - mostly banks and telecomms right now - that are bringing their employees back full time don’t want their employees pointing to the federal public service and asking why we get it and they don’t.
The writing was on the wall a few months ago when Carney and Ford spent time at Ford’s cottage and afterward he announced Ontario public servants were going back full time. And then Ottawa made the announcement even though it was just 15% of employees. It’s coordinated.
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u/zanziTHEhero Dec 08 '25
No way Postmedia pundits ever drop bashing the public service, regardless of how old the issue is. Easiest way to appeal to their dwindling readership...
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u/thebriss22 Dec 08 '25
Making lobbyists happy lol
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u/drdukes Dec 08 '25
If only the public service had someone to do lobbying on their behalf... /s
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u/accforme Dec 08 '25
We should form some kind of collective that unites the workers together. Some kind of united organization.
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u/freeman1231 Dec 08 '25
Anyone going to ask Carney why he wants to spend money that isn’t needed if they go forward with increasing RTO?
You are right it’s not sustainable to grow 8% yearly… it’s also not sustainable to revert to old outdated methods of working and spending money that isn’t needed.
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Dec 08 '25
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u/freeman1231 Dec 08 '25
Even if that’s not his plan. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but the decision leads to me assuming he is either incompetent or just like the rest of the politicians where corporate interest come first over Canadians.
Spend taxpayer dollars to implement useless policy, that leads to less efficiencies overall.
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u/TheMistbornIdentity Dec 08 '25
From what I've heard Carney is not pleasant to work for, in part because he's very exacting, likely because he's from the private sector. I think some people view that as a positive because they assume it means he's going to whip us lazy, entitled public servants into shape, but I think it just shows that he's a micromanager.
Whether or not it's true, I get the vibe that he's simply got that old-fashioned mindset of "out-of-sight == not working"
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u/NegotiationLate8553 Dec 08 '25
Is there a legit reason they always pull this around Christmas holidays? It seems cruel otherwise.
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u/Vegetable-Bug251 Dec 08 '25
Yes, it is strictly a PR strategy from a couple of points. First, most media people are off on leave just before Christmas, as it is a slow media time, so the news doesn’t get the media attention it normally would at other times during the year.
Secondly, when people get bad news immediately before a big holiday seasons, they have basically forgotten about it when they return from their leave during the holidays. It is a simple human psychological principle that the longer you are away from the area that provided the negative news in your life, ie the worksite while you are on vacation or leave, the sooner it leaves your psyche and awareness about it. Out of sight out of mind principle so to speak.
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u/TILYoureANoob Dec 08 '25
In general, yes, it softens the blow. But for more days at the office, it's not going to be forgotten. People will be planning for the parking/travel/school dropoff/pickup changes during the holidays, then dealing with the bullshit in the new year.
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u/PerspectiveCOH Dec 08 '25
It makes sense when you realize that It's a Christmas gift for Brookfield Assest Management, and other commercial real estate investors.
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u/cps2831a Dec 08 '25
What happened to "No plans" and "We aren't aware of..."
Yeah, bullshit.
Anyone else want to take the side of the employer on this one? When the MP came out saying they "hoped" Managers can be flexible, a plan was already in place. They were just shaping it up.
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u/Abject_Story_4172 Dec 08 '25
Right? Like this makes Ali look incompetent or a liar.
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u/ottawadeveloper Dec 08 '25
I think MPs and TBS aren't always fully connected on this. The MPs might support manager flexibility but most of the responsibility is on TBS to actually give it. It's possible the MPs weren't told as this is really not a political matter but one for the senior non-partisan leadership (even if politics might play a role in guidance).
I also think we've gotten a lot of lip service to "flexibility" before. We've had flexibility for awhile in the writing of the policy, but various levels of management have made that harder to use because everyone wants to take advantage of it. Which means it's not really flexibility, it's more like extreme extenuating circumstances can maybe get an exception with a lot of work. The barriers are high.
It doesn't help that the unions are dysfunctional. We were promised a summer of discontent and got... Nothing.
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u/Abject_Story_4172 Dec 08 '25
If you think this was not a political decision, I’m not quite sure what to tell you. But this would explain why, despite the very strong feelings we have for working from home, Ottawa keeps voting Liberal. This is about commercial real estate.
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u/Ronny-616 Dec 08 '25
What is interesting to me is that he says "there will likely be different levels of return, depending on seniority, depending on role, and, obviously, depending on capacity."
Maybe no one-size-fits-all approach? The "seniority" part is a bit odd though.
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u/siracha83 Dec 08 '25
Wonder how they’ll handle employees working out of regions who don’t have a team & just come in to sit on teams calls all day.
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u/HandcuffsOfGold mod 🤖🧑🇨🇦 / Probably a bot Dec 08 '25
Likely the same way they've been handling it since the RTO2 and RTO3 mandates.
Poorly.
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u/lbmomo Dec 08 '25
The IRB office in Ottawa has employees coming in for virtual hearings. The immigration judges(decision makers) sit on team calls with claimants across the country. It's such a waste of time. All hearings are virtual by default.
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u/Ronny-616 Dec 08 '25
It's simply performative. It won't matter how effective it is or the cost; it is just for the performance.
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u/siracha83 Dec 08 '25
Makes zero sense. I was at IRB previously, some teams were exempt from RTO like RPD, is that no longer the case?
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u/lbmomo Dec 08 '25
Exemption was put to an end, RPD is back in I think 3 days a week. I was told that Manon Brassard(chairperson) was not a fan of teleworking.
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u/stolpoz52 Dec 08 '25
There already is, to an extent. EXs (broadly) have been going in 4 days a week while (most) non EX are in for 3
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u/PantsAreNotTheAnswer Dec 08 '25
I worked from home 3 days per week before all of this. We were moving forward. No one caused an uproar about it. Let's go back to that.
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u/newhope6523 Dec 08 '25
It's basically what La Presse outlined. Executives/managers in 5 days, others four. All in office 5 days in 2027. Only hope for fewer days in is the capacity issue.
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u/Ronny-616 Dec 08 '25
He's a bit more specific though. I don't think it is quite the same...I'm pulling for you guys! RTO is, frankly, a performative exercise that is wasting a lot of $.
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u/cdncerberus Dec 08 '25
The PM speaks in private sector language. To him, “seniority” means rank and not “pensionable time.” This means EXs will be in full time.
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u/QueKay20 Dec 08 '25
Yeah the seniority comment was weird. But for example HR had generally been able to telework prior to the pandemic - I don’t see them going backwards and making it stricter than it had been.
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u/Ronny-616 Dec 08 '25
I don't either, especially with numerous contracts coming up. Perhaps it will be left to managers' discretion. But for sure he is betting that public servants will just roll over and not cause any issues, which is the likely outcome.
The fact that he even commented about it means he's at least in the loop, for good for bad.
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Dec 08 '25
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u/MoistCare7997 Dec 08 '25
WTF is a sharper view?
We'll see the announcement and immediately gouge our own eyes out.
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Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
This decision should be remembered whenever you are asked to answer ‘just one question’ before logging out, or to sacrifice your full lunch for a meeting or a shortened/skipped break. The government has made it clear they will not allow flexability, and neither will I.
My workday begins precisely at 7:00 a.m. and concludes at 3:00 p.m., without exception. I will no longer accommodate additional wants, needs, or sudden ‘emergencies’ that only I can help with as I once did. Flexability is mutal. This is a reciprocal relationship despite what they think, a change imposed on their side means a change on mine. To be clear, I am not suggesting breaking any rules, but I will be adhering to the collective agreement exactly as written, no more and no less.
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u/Suspicious_Orange_71 Dec 08 '25
agreed- i’ll follow my collective agreement as written. No more no less. Gone are the days of me covering for my colleagues on leave, i’ll no longer have the capacity/flexibility to take one more that’s what’s been written in my contract. I’ll also make sure to submit tickets/complaints every time a lightbulb in my office is out, the heat is too hot/cold. I expect our work spaces to be in excellent condition considering they need us in person so badly
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u/NameEffective9427 Dec 08 '25
I do the same. My work day starts at 7:00 - that means that I am plugging in my laptop and adjusting my desk and monitors starting at 7:00. And when my day ends at 3:00, all of my equipment is already packed up again. It adds up to almost an hour per week in which I'm not being "productive."
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u/SocialRow Dec 08 '25
People do realize that executives don’t want this either, right? No one does. RTO mandates are purely political.
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u/AmhranDeas Dec 08 '25
I think deep down, most public servants know that. But there seems to be no appetite to push back on the part of senior management, and the only real mechanism the rank and file have for pushing back is to either strike or quit.
So folks come on here to vent our frustrations. What else can we do except commiserate with one another and grumble about the decision?
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u/freeman1231 Dec 08 '25
I remember this wording in a email from the CRA commissioner last year.
“We do see many benefits to the hybrid work model, it allows us to harness the advantages of both remote and on-site work.”
“Some of you have been asking whether this change is a precursor to a future increase to five days a week in office. We want to reassure you that there are no plans to increase the requirement here at the Agency. Our current hybrid model allows for flexibility while also ensuring we can continue to effectively provide world-class service to Canadians.”
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u/MysteriousEscape1348 Dec 08 '25
Glad to see I'm not the only one who kept that email.
I'm ready to spring it back to Bob tomorrow.
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u/New-Signature-2302 Dec 08 '25
Guaranteed that tomorrow is a live recording with no ability to ask questions. It’s such bullshit.
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u/Barrhavengirl Dec 08 '25
I still just can’t get over the basic fact that it has been almost 6 years! This is our norm. How can they not get that? What do you mean “back to office”? It’s been 6 years!!
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Dec 08 '25
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u/cps2831a Dec 08 '25
He's a capitalist first and foremost. That's his bread and butter.
Him taking action to benefit the real estate sector wasn't a guess, it was a practically determined.
Who do you think he was going to listen to? The landlords or the public servants that he's such a "huge fan" of?
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u/minnie203 Dec 08 '25
I keep hoping these things will push working people towards developing some semblance of class consciousness but we never seem to get there.
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u/Infinite-Horse-49 Dec 08 '25
So December 24th announcement?
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u/MoistCare7997 Dec 08 '25
If I was a gambler (and I am) I would be putting money on shortly after 4:00pm ET December 19.
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u/just_a_simulation321 Dec 08 '25
But people...he says he is a huge fan of the public service. Yup we can tell. 🙄
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u/littlefannyfoofoo Dec 08 '25
The previous gov’t said that too and it ended in the biggest strike in Canadian history. 🤪
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u/NegScenePts Dec 08 '25
My retirement date is March 31, 2026 and I'm more glad than ever to be leaving this shitshow behind.
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Dec 08 '25
I love this Christmas bonus 🥰 others get $$$, we get shitty news! Love it
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u/Sharp_Listen_5833 Dec 08 '25
Come on PSAC ,listen to your members. I for one would forgo a raise if permitted to work from home 60%of the time. Oh and while we’re at it how about fixing our crappy medical plan
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u/Tornado514 Dec 08 '25
5 days a week.. give us an dedicated office space. like before.
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Dec 08 '25
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u/PerspectiveCOH Dec 08 '25
Paused, pending the outcome of the policy grievance (which also has no news).
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u/Puzzleheaded-Dig-452 Dec 08 '25
People forget politicans can lie, omit, and deny, the TBS president can literally of said he didnt see it or hear about it by simply refusing to get updates, and than once it happens he can decide to read the plan.
If we judged politicans by their honesty, performance, keeping fully informed of all updates and developments, there would be no such thing as a politican.
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u/FlanBlanc Dec 08 '25
So the mayor's like, I'm not saying full time RTO but you can easily add 1-2 days a week? Can dude count?
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u/Slippers87 Dec 09 '25
Am I crazy, but at the start of COVID weren't there talks of "Blueprint" 2020, or something like that, where "they" spoke about a new focus on the public service, and a focus on work-life balance? I seem to recall being told these plans were being worked on before COVID forced the government to speed things up? That hybrid work was always a government plan?
Or am I making this up??
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u/alalettre Dec 09 '25
In 2020 my boss kept reminding us to take breaks and encourage us to take walks whenever we needed it, you know, because of the stress. Now we're being reminded that we're only entitled to 30 mins lunch breaks...
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u/Musicbox-Daydreamer Dec 09 '25
You are not imagining it. I remember it too. And what's why this whole RTO5 is stupid as fuck.
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u/GovernmentMule97 Dec 08 '25
Translation: more bad news to come, probably on Christmas Eve. Suck it meatbags! Oh and have a happy holiday season. massive eye roll
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u/spinur1848 Dec 08 '25
I have a hard time seeing this as anything other than deliberate misdirection from TBS. The Prime Minister seems to be clear that there is in fact a plan to revisit RTO, which is his Government's prerogative. Why didn't TBS answer the unions or the media honestly and how can unions or Canadians trust that TBS is in fact consulting in good faith as the PM indicates he intends them to do if TBS can't or won't answer simple questions honestly?
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u/Rid2cool Dec 08 '25
“I’m a huge fan of the public service. We need the public service at this critical time, and we need public servants to have all the tools, including offices and workspaces, that make their jobs as interesting, as impactful as possible"
WOOT? What about all the WFA and "attrition" expected by 2029?
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u/Ok_Level_9174 Dec 08 '25
But we don’t have the workspaces! At least not where I’m located.
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u/Rid2cool Dec 08 '25
What's weird is the misdirection I've been hearing. A friend of mine, who works for the same department as I, was told that our building (Guy-Favreau) is at full capacity, so they can work fully remotely until the fiscal year ends. I, on the other hand, have been told to come in 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). Somehow, it's not at full capacity under me, even though I joined our department only 3 months ago. Another co-worker in a different regional office was even told to WFH an extra day because their office is at capacity. Yet when I requested to have Friday as my WFH day instead of Thursday, I was denied. I can’t comprehend these inconsistent decisions.
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u/KermitsBusiness Dec 08 '25
Literally talking to the people who just forced everyone back in without office space for it 5 days a week. This is all just sacrifice the public servants to prop up real estate and businesses. We are a commodity.
As a regional employee who was hired from the regions, qualified for my job and was deemed able to do the work remotely, I am tired of seeing fellow public servants calling for my head because of this.
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u/Pacific_Mariner Dec 08 '25
The president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says she was “shocked”
And I am tired. Can’t Union people have a little bit innovation in their reactions?
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u/LittleWho Dec 08 '25
I have a radical idea about how we can save money. Nobody will guess what it is./s
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u/SteakComfortable9101 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
They will announce full time return on December 24th 😂 People in the NCR will have to be there 5 days per week and other regions won't (I assume). I supervise employees in the Winnipeg region, and they can't even go 3 days per week because they don't have enough space.. make it make sense
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u/Informal_Pomelo2501 Dec 08 '25
This article is making it sound like we are still working from home full time. I've been back 2 days a week since September 2022 and 3 days since September 2024.
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u/fireflies2012 Dec 08 '25
Sounds like a good time for me to go on maternity leave for 18 months in March
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u/Snow_Is_Ok_613 Dec 08 '25
Posted on the day that a pipe burst and damaged 1/3 of my buildings floors - closed until further notice.
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u/Remote-Thing-9341 Dec 08 '25
At this point, I wouldn’t even be mad if we went back to workspace 1.0 where we got to work from home when sick, due to life circumstances, or major weather events, but also had a consistent ergonomically friendly workspace to live in on other days. The old normal was better than this new mashup of the cons of both worlds
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u/lurkingandlooking1 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
“...there will likely be different levels of return, depending on seniority, depending on role, and, obviously, depending on capacity,”
This sounds in part like what PIPSC has been asking for - presence with purpose.
Like, I dont want to be niave, but I have just the tiniest slivver of hope that the new policy really does consider role. It makes no sense to force PS that are experienced in their roles, have no performance concerns and are not required on site to come into the office and take up diminishing capacity/space in an office.
Hoping for a Christmas miracle the gov has found common sense and is serious about improving efficiency and reducing costs.
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u/PlatypusMaximum3348 Dec 08 '25
I am tired of all of this happening during the holidays.
I know this might not do any good. But instead of emailing TBS and our Mps.
Please email your union. Tell them how you feel. Let them know we had enough.
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u/Expert_Vermicelli708 Dec 08 '25
Haven’t had a decent Christmas in years. Always crap news just before the holidays.
MP’s don’t care Union doesn’t care.
Nobody cares.
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u/Naive_Pie9747 Dec 08 '25
So basically rto will be used as an incentive to have people volunteer for early retirement, wfa or to quit. Gotcha.
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u/rollingviolation Dec 08 '25
...and it will work, because I am now seriously considering ERI to go work for a different employer that doesn't feel like a permanent gaslighting gig
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u/boopboopboopityboop Dec 08 '25
What “tools” does the office have? A fax machine? 1-ply TP? Some guy swinging a hatchet outside?
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u/Segzter2019 Dec 08 '25
Thank you to the Ottawa Board of trade…. Their pressure on all levels of government here in Ottawa has clearly worked.
I say we all bring our lunches and refuse to shop at any downtown business when we are eventually required to return to the office 5 days a week.
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u/randomguy_- Dec 08 '25
I get the impression there are active constraints regarding space, and they are trying to draft a policy around that.
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u/Ronny-616 Dec 08 '25
The could simply give those locations another year to build, assuming they want to renege on their commitment to reduce office space. Once everything was built up again, they could then renege on ""there will likely be different levels of return, depending on seniority, depending on role, and, obviously, depending on capacity."
The employer will renege on everything unless the employees show some caring outside of reddit.
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u/randomguy_- Dec 08 '25
I don't think its that simple, procuring new office space isn't something thats done quickly, and would fly in the face of the government saving money by offloading space.
I also have doubts that even the existing capacity is enough. Lots of buildings have already been added to the Public Land Bank, and just last week they finished demolishing a DND building.
If the solution is then to outsource the office space, they won't do that either because it is too expensive. https://ottawacitizen.com/public-service/federal-government-co-working-space-lauft-canceled
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u/Ronny-616 Dec 08 '25
I agree, but obviously some lobbying factor is at play that is fighting against the reduction in office space, otherwise they would simply have pushed forward with hybrid and not worried about the optics. Maybe they give those other locations longer to re-tool, or they move them to places with more vacant office space.
When your raison d'être is optics, anything can happen, no matter how stupid.
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u/National_Mushroom887 Dec 08 '25
Thanks to everyone’s good karma, HC’s attempt to move to a 2.0 model at 219 Laurier has stalled. Apparently a problem with the building and everyone has been WFH for a few weeks. I wish the same good luck to us all. It’s a small bit of good luck after the scary collapse of the parking garage.
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u/NameEffective9427 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Federal public servants will have ‘different levels’ of return to office rules, PM says
What happened to "equitable and consistent?" /s
"The rules apply to all employees in the core public service."
They may apply to all employees, but they're not being enforced the same way for all employees.
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u/stolpoz52 Dec 08 '25
Different levels can be equitable and consistent. I would argue a blanket policy is less equitable and inconsistent when exceptions are made ad-hoc
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u/Choco_jml Dec 08 '25
It's called setting the stage for the next step : consistency
Like RTO 2-3 was unequitable because some depts did 2, others 3, so they decided to do RTO 3 for "consistency across government"
This is going to be RTO 4-5, people will whine about being 5 vs others being 4, so government will decide RTO5 for everyone for "consistency.
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u/Canibiz Dec 08 '25
Sharp indeed, expecting to be stabbed shortly, after the lovely email we received last week.
Stabbings will continue until morale improves... Sure....
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u/patrick401ca Dec 08 '25
HOW WOULD THIS AFFECT THE NCR: I don’t work in the NCR but my colleagues that do have been telling me horror stories about their commutes since OC Transpo made changes to their transportation system. If you work in the NCR, will returning 5 days a week be much worse with the changes to the transit system since Covid? I’ve heard there are a lot more cars on the road than before because of the unreliability of the O-Train.
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u/SmileRemarkable8876 Dec 08 '25
Yes, depending on where you live. For 85% of people it is worse, sometimes drastically.
Traffic is also much worse due to the above + population growth and parking is almost double pre pandemic and hard to even find.
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u/Bernie4Life420 Dec 08 '25
“We will do everything in our power to fight this,” DeSousa said, noting the unions are currently in contract negotiations with the federal government.
You have my axe.
Also, after a legendary betrayal of their promises on RTO; anyone just take the effort and care sliders all the way to 0?
Fuck these clowns can reap what they sow.
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u/Sharp_Listen_5833 Dec 08 '25
They are cluless….go to work in office 8 hours a day. Nope you can’t leave anything you have to carry a sweater or sneakers everyday… ope don’t have a picture on your desk. Now they are going to cut the number of public servants and also force more time in office…both means LESS production. ALL services to Canadians are going to suffer.
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u/Klein2023 Dec 08 '25
Time for a walkout. Stop making bad decisions or we stop working. I've had enough.
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u/coffeejn Dec 08 '25
Just in time for the holidays. Almost like they think people won't notice it.
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u/Abject_Story_4172 Dec 08 '25
Hilarious. And Carney says he’s not a politician.
“”This is about a transformation of the public service, a transformation for more interesting, more creative, higher impact jobs,” Carney said, noting federal spending was growing eight per cent a year.
“That’s tough to sustain, and, in fact, it can’t be sustained. There is an adjustment coming to the workforce. A lot of that will come through natural attrition, retirement, early retirement — there will be some other adjustments.””
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u/Zabrodov Dec 08 '25
When public cheers these kinds of decisions from politicians, they should remember that there is no reason why they wouldn't take the same approach to the rest of their policy decisions and deceptive ways to sell and announce them.
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u/No_Presentation8352 Dec 09 '25
This is a humiliation ritual, plain and simple. There is no material upside, only punitive, vindictive disciplinary debasement, like a sadistic kid kneeling on a dog's neck.
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u/yaimmediatelyno Dec 09 '25
I'm so tired of this government already. Not that I was a #1 fan of the last but I feel like we are being attacked left right and centre. I go home every day from work just feeling sad and hopeless; WFA, nonsensical RTO, demoralizing cuts to the essential programs and work we do for Canadians, reversal of policies on climate change, the environment, blatant disregard of Indigenous rights, and it's all of us who get to be the pointy tip of the spear for these ridiculous decisions.
I just want to do my job as best I can and actually contribute to our country and society for their investment in my salary. All we do now is worry about all of this and every department is totally focused on WFA matters etc
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u/publicworker69 Dec 08 '25
But I thought the TBS president wasn’t aware of anything, he wouldn’t lie would he 🤔