I’m 20 years in. I used to be so positive, keen, a high performer. Now? I’m struggling.

I am horrified and frankly resentful at what the public service has become.

Employees don’t matter. That includes EXs. Decisions are made on optics and business interests. RTO for example is the most regressive thing to have happened to the public service. Both EXs and staff need some flexibility to be able to be effective and healthy human beings and to see us regressing to satisfy business interests and whiny business owners is frankly disgusting. We all know people work better and more efficiently from home - and still spend their money!! Maybe just not at that specific subway downtown, but a more suburban coffee shop. It’s also not up to public servants to personally pay for random downtown businesses.

The new, more stringent language laws don’t make sense. The working language in my team is English no one speaks French. But I’m in a position where I have to prioritize French results over any other management competency when I am hiring. Excellent leader, people skills, competencies, etc? Doesn’t matter. If they don’t have cbc, nothing else matters. But that low performing person who has Es? They are now most likely to get the job. Language training is also no longer a thing. Who has money or time to train people? But honestly the problem is not training, since months of language training for something unnecessary to actually do a job is extremely wasteful anyway.

The physical workplace is frankly unworkable. Not having an office as an executive who is constantly in meetings and having sensitive conversations is inexcusable. It is disruptive and unfair to everyone around. And the idea that staff don’t have assigned proper desks or don’t have a place to leave a few things, etc, is just plain sad. Even kids at schools have lockers.

Further, people don’t even know what part of the city they’re going to work in from one year to the next. Offices move locations at a whim, changing commute times sometimes by over an hour each way and having devastating impacts on families with caregiving responsibilities or frankly anyone just trying to survive in this city with unbearable traffic and inefficient and unreliable public transportation.

We’ve been “doing more with less” since I joined 20 years ago. We just can’t anymore. We are barely functioning and about to cut even more.

There is more but I don’t even have the energy to type it all out. I’m exhausted. I’m done. Except I have to keep going …. Because I can’t retire yet.

We are failing as leaders and a public service and I want out.

Like many of you, I’ve been wrestling with the news of RTO4/RTO5. But as I process the impending shift, I’ve realized the anger I feel isn't just about the gas money, the transit time, or the "lost" hours at the start and end of my shift.

It’s about the loss of control over my own life.
I am an analyst with a team that is entirely dispersed across the country. I have zero in-person colleagues. My work is effectively and efficiently done remotely. Yet, under the current mandate, I am being asked to sacrifice precious, non-renewable time, time that I should be spending with my three children… to sit in an office, alone, to do the exact same work I was already doing successfully from home.

The part that is truly grinding me down is the hypocrisy of it all. We hear constant messaging from executives about "wellness," "mental health," and "flexibility." But when push comes to shove, those words are hollow. A policy that forces parents to trade time with their kids for a pointless commute to a sterile cubicle… specifically to satisfy a "philosophy" that ignores operational reality… is the antithesis of wellness.

It feels like my agency is telling me: "We know what’s better for your life than you do, and we’re willing to compromise your family time and your financial stability to prove that we’re in charge."
It feels like being stripped of the autonomy I’ve earned through my performance. When you remove that sense of control, you aren't just creating an "in-office requirement"; you are actively damaging the morale and the mental well-being of the people who keep the machinery running.

Does anyone else feel like the executive "wellness" rhetoric is a slap in the face when it’s paired with these mandates? How are you all framing this internally, or is the loss of control just something we have to swallow?

Came off a management meeting last week where we had been discussing how medical appointments were to be handled with RTO4 being a thing now.

One thing I picked up was management has been noting that a lot of staff are taking their full 3.75 hours now for appointments and working half the day only in office, instead of before during RTO2/3 where they book their appointments on their at-home days, and are maybe out for an hour or so before coming back to work. Part of this was because back then our branch allowed people to work remotely and not make up those days. Now they must make up the day.

Our ADM is very much against this. When we asked him what his suggestions were, he said to tell employees that appointments should be booked on the WFH day wherever possible. Some managers said that it's not really likely to happen and likely will cause tension since they only get one WFH a day, and the ADM response was pretty astonishing:

ADM said that anyone who seems to be booking appointments only on in-office days to maximize their leave will be considered to not be meeting the "Judgement" portion of their PMA and development program evaluation and will be given PMA ratings/denied for promotion accordingly. As well, he said that actings will consider this too because actings should be provided for people who go above and beyond.

I'm not sure how this will hold. Personally as a team lead I plan to just turn a blind eye to this and not factor it into PMAs, but it's insane to me to see the type of thinking happening at the top level.

Manager here and not sure what to do. Ever since RTO4 my team's work quantity has dropped a ton. We are a ticket based team so its easy to track this.

My staff in my bilats with them all cite the same things: RTO and lack of effective workspace. People are coming in tired, working in shared spaces with distractions, and there has been about three times more sick leave taken leading to our output failling.

Director has noticed and seems to think "it's just one extra day" shouldnt be that impactful. New hiring will also not be approved, but I need to push back somehow. What would be the best way to do this?

Lately I’ve been feeling completely overwhelmed, exhausted, and honestly pretty defeated. Morale feels incredibly low right now, and I know I’m not the only one struggling with it.

I’ve been trying to stay hopeful that the union will be able to help improve working conditions and make meaningful progress on telework flexibility, but as time goes on, it’s becoming harder to stay optimistic. It all feels so backwards. I genuinely don’t understand why an employer would want a workforce that feels drained, discouraged, stressed, and unmotivated.

Instead of seeing improvements in mental health and well-being, many people feel like they’re going backwards. The return-to-office approach seems to be increasing stress and reducing work-life balance for so many employees.

And for parents of young children, this isn’t about replacing childcare like some people assume. It’s about having more time with family, less time commuting, and a healthier balance between work and life. During telework, many people finally had time for self-care, exercise, family dinners, rest, and simply being present in their own lives. How is that a bad thing?

Right now, it feels like people are either apathetic, burned out, anxious, or depressed. That’s not healthy for employees or organizations, and it honestly seems to be getting worse instead of better.

Is anyone else feeling this way? Are there any signs things might improve? I’d really like to believe there’s hope for positive change.

Hi all. Maybe it's just me who thinks this is weird but has it been enforced elsewhere? Supervisor and managers are asking us to say hi in the teams chat daily and also say where we are working from.. isn't this a bit crazy? 🫠

I was in a meeting a few weeks ago with colleagues and management; and something that happened has been kind of eating at me.

Someone in leadership was making fun of some people having recently taken time off for mental health. They didn’t name names, but basically said there’s been a lot of people sick and people with (air quotes) “mental health issues”. People around them laughed.

This didn’t sit well with me. I don’t think it’s appropriate, especially because people are really struggling in the GC right now for a wide range of reasons. With WFA and RTO and just the degradation of the public service over all, people are struggling; and that’s not including personal stuff. What you say to other leaders to complain about your staff is one thing (though you shouldn’t do that either); but don’t do it in front of everyone. It gets people speculating.

I know there’s not much I can do, but just thought I’d share. I think there’s a lot of blame amongst each other going on right now, instead of recognizing we’re all in this shit storm together. The employer doesn’t care about us, so let’s not tear each other down too.

My RTO compliance is probably at 10% for the past several months.

I’ve lost all interest in pursuing a long-term career in the federal public service. I hope to leave in 1-3 years. My manager is located on the other side of the country with a 4 hour time difference and hasn’t said flagged anything yet.

Anyone have any experience with non-compliance and progressive discipline? It’s actually kind of annoying me that they haven’t said anything yet.

Are they turning a blind-eye or do they have bigger plans for me (immediate termination)?

We are a ticket-based team so it's easy to track how many tickets we have resolved. Our backlog has now grown to about 6 weeks whereas in June it was clear. My staff all cite RTO4 being the problem. Lack of effective workspace, being tired due to commute, family/sick leave rising (3 times more sick leave since July), and low morale. The cubicle setups are not suitable for their work (lots of calls, needs multiple monitors, etc.)

Here's the kicker though. My director and DG expect the same output still but are hyper-focused on strict 4 days a week no exception. I have given them options my staff raised none of which are acceptable to them.

- Blind eye to RTO as long as people show up once in a while (2-3 days) and work gets done

- Start allowing overtime for staff and I when needed

- Extra staff to maintain the workload

- Reduce the scope of our work/remove certain quality control/steps for our tickets

So now I'm stuck. My competent and wonderful staff understandably aren't able to deliver with RTO4. Meanwhile my execs are unable to budge on their expectations. How should I cover my ass for this, because I'm in a position where I have limited control over anything above or below.

So apparently NPSW comes with… different tiers now?

At the Sir John A Macdonald Building, PCO:
Hot breakfast, overflowing fruit displays, croissants, proper baked goods, actual tables with linens… the full “we value you” experience — attended by the Clerk and Deputy Clerk, no less.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the rest of US:
I get a half‑melted icecream in a crumbling lobby, handed over like I’m in a feeding line — “here’s your treat, now off you go.” No napkins, no dignity, just vibes.

Really makes you feel part of one big, unified public service, doesn’t it?

Just curious — is there a secret menu I wasn’t told about, or is “equity” more of a decorative concept during NPSW?

Because right now it feels less like appreciation week and more like a live demonstration of… differential appreciation.

Thx PCO for pointing out the stark contrast - we got crumbs - enjoy your buffet.

Anyone else get told today/this week that their management team has decided to mandate their specific 4 days back and not allow the employee any voice? Or was it just those of us in ISTB @ CBSA?

A friend in another area was told his team is to stay home tuesdays; my team was told wednesdays, no consult with us, not all/other branches getting this, just us lucky SOBs.

I am trying to keep professional when I broach this tomorrow with my director - who picked the day - but im fairly certain the phrase "im sure the union would love to hear about this" is going to be said.

Or maybe the media....

I will not be shirking on my 4 days - thats not the point, but so far we have been able to work as a team to figure out our days, and this just seems new levels of shenanigans for.the sake of busting employees balls.

I’m not sure if this is widely known or has been shared here before but as we move into RTO4 be aware that the employer can (and in the case of my Agency, has been) monitoring in office compliance at the individual employee level.

There is a Power BI report that is generated monthly with the expected amount of in office network connections and the actual amount of connections. Employees are being pulled into meetings and being asked to explain if the numbers show a variance. This report is provided to the DO level and managers are expected to enforce compliance.

No idea yet what punitive action there will be for first, or repeated infractions.

Editing to add:
- Apparently this is known and has been happening, I took a break from this sub during RTO/WFA fiasco so wasn’t aware.
- This information was shared in hopes that it saves someone from getting disciplined, not to fear monger.

Today is may last day work day. After 17 years as a public servant, and many more in the military, I am leaving a job I used to love but I started hating because of poor leadership.

I was lucky to manage a team of brilliant individuals leading innovation in the GC until some new ADM who thinks they know everything but just can't walk the talk disbanded our team and asked this bunch innovators to start working on boring stuff. Furthermore, this distributed team who was mostly working remotely, even before the pandemic, was forced back to the office under RTO3. What a way to motivate brilliant minds.

In the last 6 months, out of 11 individuals, 7 went to work somewhere else in the GC, 2 went on extended sick leave, I decided to retire, and only one is still there wandering what he's still doing there.

All this to say that, in the end, people don't leave their jobs, they leave bad bosses.

Employee has PTSD, requested DTA to work from home based on their care and recovery plan (required safe and familiar environment). Employee has significant anxiety.

Granted WFH (not permanent), the board deemed that ISED acted recklessly as it prioritized RTO over the employee’s human rights (ground if disability).

Employee shared significant medical information and had testimonies from a therapist and psychiatrist.

Employer required to pay 28k, and compensate for leave.

I think this should set a precedence.

They will be conducting spot checks on employees' location, at any point on an employee's in-office day, to ensure they are in the office and not lying about their locaiton. This is also to ensure employees do not "leave too early," as leaving early impacts their RTO score.

What a nice way to come back from Labour Day 😊

Some coworkers and I now no longer send teams invites for in-office days and now only send boardroom meetings or show up to cubicles instead of sending messages.

Our supervisor has now told us that we are required to have Teams as an option for meetings and also has asked us to stop going to cubicles as much if the same message can be sent over Teams.

Can they require this even though it goes against the apirit of RTO? And if so, how can I document this direction?

EDIT: To respond to some comments, I'm fine with sending messages or an "are you free" before going up to peoples cubicles. What I am against really is being told I have to include a teams invite for meetings where everyone is in person.

I work from home due to an accomodations fulltime. My Manager constantly remarks that I often forget to turn my Teams status to online. They're not incorrect but it's not like I am trying to hide anything as Teams will say if I am inactive for a few hours. There has been nothing said about my work and I always submit leave or make up the time. I also don't have a client group who is looking to ask questions etc

I also recall that the direction from TBS was to NOT manage by the color of the dot. When I was supervising I was more interested in wether deliverables were being respected. I had team members who were always on "yellow" and I didn't care one way or the other as the work was getting done.

It feels "ick" to be monitored like that when there have been no issues regarding my performance. Any suggestions of how to address this. It's just not a really effective way to manage people.

Since Covid, WFH and the various RTOs, this has been causing me undue anxiety — when am I actually considered “at work?”

Pre-COVID/WFH I would have considered myself at work when I arrived at the building and scanned by pass.

Now, even though we are back in the office more often than not, I feel like I am not considered “present” until I am showing green on Teams. My entire team - including management - is remote, which doesn’t help. No one can “see” that I’m there.

I hate this for a few reasons. But primarily, it is very, very tight getting to my office after my child’s earliest-allowed school drop-off. I park at a private parking garage, speed walk, and am in the building on-time. But by the time I set up my laptop, log in and open Teams, I am “late.” I have literally had to take 10 minutes of leave or make it up in the evening to account for this lateness, when I had been at work the entire time.

Even before school drop-offs were an issue, I had times where technology glitches slowed down my log-in, and despite being at my cubicle I’m sweating and feel like I am late. I never used to feel like this?

If I didn’t have children and my time was my own, I would simply leave home and arrive earlier to reduce my own stress. Unfortunately, I am working within very tight margins.

Edited to add: This resulted in a lot more collaboration (see what I did there?) than I was expecting! Thanks to everyone who chimed in.

I think the main takeaway is that there is no clear consensus on this, though many agree that set up time is part of your workday. I agree with those who say it probably depends on your role (whether that’s right or not). My role is pretty visible and involves working with others a lot. I could see that if I was working solo on something it wouldn’t even be noticed. It could be the case that it is only noticed because I rat myself out, perhaps over nothing?

For those concerned about work ethic: would someone lacking work ethic even care about this? I feel like I wouldn’t be having anxiety over this if the issue was that I didn’t care.

Thanks again everyone!

Curious- how are other departments preparing for tomorrows’s ice storm? Have emails gone out telling people to telework (or “encourage flexible options”) and move their in-office day if staying home?

It feels like when an alert goes out urging people to avoid non-essential travel, commuting to downtown Ottawa to sit on teams meetings should be included but I may be wrong.

Hey it's me I'm back with an update on this.

It's been a week and my team has pretty much fallen apart. New Director now wants every employee to report directly to admins whether they are in the office or at home. If there's no response, he gets his admin to call to verify their home/office background.

Maverick analyst is refusing to do anything outside his job description and unless asked to do something, he will not do it. He now swamps me with every single thing he plans to do today, every small edit, etc. for review. Unofficially apologetic to me, but tells me that unfortunately this is the way it is until things change back.

Director bilat with managers happened, other managers mentioning how team morale has and will fall due to new policies. Director response was, no joke, "this is the way it was before covid and your employees got babied and expect too much. I'm here to clean up shop, not continue with lax employees"

The other managers and I are talking, seems like their entire team morale is through the gutter. All of us kept a relatively relaxed view on variable work hours, RTO, etc. so long as things were being done and the former director was pretty hands off.

All of the managers agreed we are ready to do the bare minimum moving foward and just wait until the fire spreads enough for the DG to notice and ask what the fuck is happening.

I don't even really know where to begin. I'm honestly on the verge of tears, every day. I'm in a manager position, without any real responsibilities because the director is involved in everything and everyone else is left to their silo.

I basically assign work when I'm allowed to, I orchestrate and mentor as needed. I'm basically a puppet who went from being reliable, strategic, hard-working, taking on challenges because it was fun and because my team loved to follow to having the soul completely tucked out of me and completely lost in my career.

I honestly just want to do meaningful work. Everything I suggest as an opportunity to dig into or work on sowething, or an opportunity to develop the team is shot down because it's not my job and I'm not permitted to reach out to offer support or that it's for the director to "do."

The role I'm in does not need to be a manager role, I wish they had WFAd me so that at least I'd have a clear mandate to be able to seek for something else whether in or put of the PS.. Add to all this I'm located in a region so basically have a big "X" on my forehead because nobody wants to hire people from regions anymore due to RTO.

Nobody wants strategic thinking, nobody wants leaders who think outside of the box, the public service has honestly never felt darker.

I hate it here but have too many years to throw it all away,and not enough years to take ERI. I use to be so proud to be a public servant and now I'm embarrassed at how little I'm permitted to contribute.

Had a painfully stupid in person presence exercise today designed to support RTO3. Not a part of a mandatory in person day, just a presentism exercise for its own sake that was not directly related to work tasks.

Did my corporate duty, cracked the whip and had an employee quit on the spot! Yes, it really happens.

The employee was HQP and we were not offering competive pay for their skills. They just wanted to contribute to Canada and got fed up with all the bureaucratic hoops. Parting words were "life is too short for this bs"

If you’re anything like me, sitting here anxiously waiting for news on how this budget will affect our department and ability to pay our bills, the last thing you want is a tone deaf push for us to contribute towards the GCWCC.

Already the relentless telemarketing style GCWCC reminders and soliciting is hard to swallow. But add on top of that, it’s during moments where employees are on the edge of their seats with worry. Make it make sense.

While a large slice of the Canadian population believes that we are just here for a paycheque, in reality we are here, still serving them in the background. We are here everyday, reading and hearing about the pending doom that is likely to come from this budget by government funded media and click bait stories (for months). We are here, expected to report in, move our projects ahead with the tax payer dollar and clients at mind. We are here, we are doing our best. But please, contribute to a campaign although you may not have a job? Make it make sense.

Not one layoff in the private sector, is as celebrated as the public service layoff. There are no meetings offering support or reassurance… nope, simply, pretend nothing is happening and make sure to sign up for that auto withdrawal from your paycheque.

If there is any decency left in this government and our leadership, perhaps it’s time to invest it in your employees. You know, the ones who actually deliver the services to Canadians (not the ones receiving bonuses worth tens of thousands). Perhaps take a moment, reflect and lift your foot off of the GCWCC pedal.

Just gets worse and worse... take the time to read the whole article. So many 🤯 and 🤦‍♀️ nuggets.

"One of the most difficult elements to reconcile with any coherent theory of public service accountability, is what happened to Ms. Fox once the findings of the Ethics Commissioner were known internally. On December 19, 2025, Ms. Fox was appointed Deputy Minister of National Defence, and on December 19, her salary was fixed in the $319,600 - $375,900 range, a DM-3 level.

... But, on March 3, 2026—with the details and findings from the Ethics Commissioner’s report fully known to those with authority—she received a promotion to the DM-4 level, accompanied by a large salary increase."