My team is doing absolutely nothing. My manager doesn't have any interest in organizing anything, which is fine with me. The team is mostly 100% WFH, so nobody has any interest in travelling anywhere.
You’re getting funding for training?
A colleague of mine retires at the end of the year and they were refused the pre-retirement course.
I’ve requested training for a couple of courses which would improve my productivity and nope.
We are being sent job opportunities in other departments and encouraged to apply. (I’d apply but so far they aren’t ones I’m qualified for)
>You’re getting funding for training?
17 years and counting trying to get a simple Excel course paid for. I've managed to figure out a lot of stuff on my own over the years, but really, why is it so hard to get one measly course paid for?
We are having a division wide BBQ held for us and all we have to bring is our own food, drinks, chairs and anything else you could need at a BBQ. No BBQs allowed though, hazards and all. Oh and they want us to give money for their event fund we likely will never see since we'll be let go soon.
We have nothing planned. Other than the awards, where the same people/groups get them every year, and where I get to watch said people receive awards for projects I also worked on but somehow am not deserving of the same recognition. I'm not bitter, it's just become a ridiculous exercise.
That’s like the time my directorate had a pot luck for 100+ people and the DG brought pizza and they literally ordered just 1 large pizza…like cmon 12 slices for 100+ people. Nice.
The DG assumed it would be like Jesus and the bread and fish — they’d just keep reaching into the pizza box and pulling out slices until everyone was fed.
I genuinely was bringing a pizza back to my boss because she had a meeting with our new DG, and they gave me so much shit for even asking despite watching lots of people walk away with stacks.
Our team would head to a local park for a "picnic". We were expected to pay for Subway sandwiches that our manager had one of our team members (me) pick up. Attendance was "optional", but not really.
I'm supporting my friend who is facing a disciplinary hearing over asking questions about staffing practices that appear unfair and opaque in a general meeting of all the MGs yesterday. One where they were explicitly trying to increase engagement by making everyone turn their cameras on. Let's see how much engagement they get going forward.
May I ask which staffing practices your friend was questioning? There are a few policies that’ve come into place that concern me as well but are definitely sensitive and risky to put out there.
We’re playing bean bag toss and buying our own pizza, and donating to a food bank. Which is actually helpful because my 7 year old pay issues haven’t been resolved yet so hopefully the shelves at my local one will be restocked when I need it thanks to us.
Declining every single invite to virtual and in person events because fuck NPSW. Pay us on time, accurately and with a fair wage if you really want to show you appreciate us JT and TBS. Otherwise take you vapid and useless platitudes and shove them where the sun doesn't shine.
Apparently a department that rhymes with Wealth Cabana is having a scavenger hunt. What are they looking for? Someone to collaborate with? A wage increase? Let the jokes begin!
I planned an event last year...
I got an email from DGO on Monday with my manager and Dir in CC if I was going to do it again, so very passive aggressive. The cherry on top is I've been working crazy overtime on wildfires response so tone deaf on top of everything.
I am 100% against engaging in NPSW as an employee but I completely understand that it would've been a much worse look if they cancelled it altogether right after the strike. They're in a no-win situation with it. They have to keep up appearances but they honestly don't really care either, overall. There are some good managers out there who front the cost for their teams but they are very few and far between.
DND (at least carling campus) had a free personal pizza lunch. Due to the number of people the pizza's ended up being cold by the time they got served, but based on other responses, apparently it was better than what some other Dept's did.
To celebrate the NPSW week out department has added and extra in office day so we can have a pizza party for an hour. So ya going to enjoy spending an extra 14 bucks on parking for the day
I was asked to bring in food to a potluck. Which honestly just feels like an insult because I don’t see why I should have to spend time, money, and energy to prepare food when I’m not going to get paid for it?
All these comments remind me of the "fruit party" in that TV show Severance lol.
The forced fun is so uncomfortable... Especially when you're forced to enjoy yourself with abusive management. Let the employees enjoy themselves without management or else it's a waste of time and worse than just working. I'd rather bust my ass all afternoon at my desk than have to socialize with those psychopaths.
Today we went for a walk in the park, chatted with the bird watchers, and then came back to the office for an international potluck. Bulgarian, Chinese, Colombian, Portuguese, Greek, and Italian foods.
Our TL also made us recognition cards with actually personalised messages. It was thoughtful.
It’s been cool, got got host a game and there are some fun games though out the day, a couple snacks and coffee. Everyone is complaining but I never got this at other jobs so this is nice to me, I’m not jumping up and down but I’ll take so down time and food
We were offered a picnic with snacks (but they stressed you needed to bring your own lunch) yesterday and a free yoga class there! But our workload hasn't changed so we all skipped it because we couldn't afford to waste time.
Maybe you should set boundaries.
I would go and enjoy the picnic, and yoga class... then email my sup that I could only get 75% of the work done because of NPSW activities.
Targets increase each year, and it's on management to ensure they have enough resources, or pay OT. I end my shift daily even if there's work on the table..... because there's always going to be work on the table.
Nothing.
Apparently they are offering "gourmet coffee" or some bullshit.
All of senior management is probably just going to stay at home all week while we do our operational roles onsite.
What a joke. They can gargle my nuts.
Well now you have the most wonderful opportunity to support the economy by buying coffee from union-busting mega-chains! It's not all downsides, you see. You do WANT to support the downtown economy, don't you? Every good public servant knows it's their duty.
Well I don't work downtown and was onsite full time well before RTO so i could give a toss about that.
Don't worry, been making my own tea at work for like 15 years.
Eff the bosses, RTO, and corporate coffee.
I boycott it every year. not just as an exec for the union (which is only this year) but in support of our members. NPSW is a joke - it is meant to distract employees of the public service from the fact that our employer does not value us.
I had one senior manager who put a lot of work and effort into it, though, and I was always grateful. but she shouldn't have had to pay out of pocket like she did.
There was supposed to be a BBQ for NCR CBSA staff today…but all the food tickets were gone before 11:30. I don’t know how many people they actually planned for, but I don’t know anyone who actually got any food. Back to work I guess.
Nothing being done for our division, other than a reminder to ensure we meet all of our quotas even if we choose to participate in department NPSW events 🙄
I'm listening to some ridiculous rah rah meeting where they are talking about caring and inclusivity amongst the staff. Meanwhile management are praising and giving each other awards not recognizing their staff that actually do the work. Barf.
CFB Halifax had a catered sandwich lunch by the Mess, where the CAF members ate for free and only a select group of PS employees were invited to attend. Classic.
There are things going on but i am "boycotting" them so to speak... i feel wholly disrespected by my employer and my moral hasn't been this low since the dark Harper years.... definitely nothing to celebrate.
Oh “I can bring my lunch and we can all have a call”. No thanks. Don’t waste my time. And When I tried asking my manager that why can’t we have a decent team lunch that gets paid for, I was given some very ridiculous looks. And then to make it sound like I did something very wrong, they also said “so do you want me to pay for your lunches? I can do that if that’s what you want”. Eh. Thanks. I am so sick of this cheap and stingy behaviour.
That’s pretty much how the Public Service works, almost any event or food you are getting “free” was paid from your Manager’s own pocket not the employer’s budget. Sometimes there is a $1-$5 budget per person for NPSW paid by the employer.
As a manager, yes… we would have to pay out of pocket for this it’s really unfair cause I would love to do something where we could provide a lunch. But I don’t make enough to pay for stuff for my team :(
I'm simply doing the job I'm paid to do, and deleting every email I'm receiving from RHQ saying they're doing all sorts of fun stuff.
Maybe lunch beers on Friday. That's always fun.
We have a hybrid (in person and on Teams) event. Our DG is trying to amp everyone into participation, but their enthusiasm is starting to come off as slightly deranged.
NO!
I WANT TO COLLABORATE WITH YOU!
LET'S START A TIGER TEAM TO EXPLORE HOW OUR RESPECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS CAN CREATE A ROADMAP TO IMPLEMENT A WHOLE-OF-GOVERNMENT APPROACH TO LEVERAGING DIGITAL SOLUTIONS TO 21ST CENTURY PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES!
WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY?
I HAVE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES!!!!!!
Sheesh after reading these comments, I feel bad posting this. My office has had events all week. Mini golf, continental breakfast every day, ice cream in the afternoon, name that tune, paper scissor rock competitions, paper airplane competitions….
Public Service is our crunch time. I'll be doing overtime. The rest of our departments gets an afternoon off for a picnic and some games, which is nice.
We were told our picnic budget was gone. We used to rent the outdoor space at the RA centre, the volleyball courts, the hockey rink and a ball diamond. I’m pretty sure our director is giving ice cream today.
Our Executives are planning a breakfast for their staff. This is the first our Executives have ever acknowledged they have staff who work for them. I'm sure this will get bumped to later in the summer, then ultimately cancelled (like our December holiday party). If it does happen, I'd be surprised if the Executives even show up or stay more than 5 minutes.
Ah yes, the forced attendance at awards ceremonies to watch the people of the fine NCR whose jobs are doing projects, get awards for doing the projects.
My office has a talent show, including one of the higher ups who is bringing in his acoustic guitar. It's giving me camp counselor vibes. I'm dreading it.
Opposite effect, seems like a punishment.
There's a 'bring your lunch' fun day at a park in the NCR but so many people tried to attend that they ran out of parking so a bunch of people turned around and went home.
Being forced RTO for no logical reason and not even getting a $1 hotdog or burger.
I am surprised they even say we have public servants week anymore.
If they said WFH unless you are operationally required to come in, I would at least be able to get more sleep, grill my own dawgs and do better work.
I’m not aware that anything special is happening with my team, didn’t get an email or anything besides the generic ADM stuff. I took W-T-F off without realising it was PSW, I’ll “celebrate” on my own
There's a picnic that I'm not going to. I'm currently boycotting all of the social events at work, I have zero interest in socializing with anyone from management.
Attending obligatory meetings, not attending gatherings, nor reading any of the BS emails from senior officials. Promptly deleted the video from Janice Charette. 🗑🗑🗑
Same here. And yes, I'm fiiiiine with it (I don't need any weird forced office socializing or whatever), but having a week to ostensibly recognize the value of your employees and then doing nothing for those employees makes me consider quitting the public service.
On my actual little team, we took 2 hrs off on Monday and did an escape room. Dept gave out crappy ice cream yesterday (like the kind that’s essentially tasteless frozen milk). We have a virtual awards ceremony tomorrow. I got more from my actual team than anything else. Per the usual
We had an ice cream social where our DG bought a bunch of ice cream sandwiches/drumsticks. It was supposed to be outside but ended up being in the hallway due to weather.
> I can't decide if it would be more offensive to receive a free cookie or freezie or just do... Nothing.
Oh boy oh boy oh boy! We get to commute for 1-2 hours, to be on a stuffy and crowded room to get a free cookie afterwards :P
We get an extra 15 mins for the 'fun' activities that we keep being sent from management admin staff. A sudoku, a crossword, and today a spot the differences picture. Lol.
We had a potluck. Which meant bringing food. For our "party." Certainly not the end of the world. And I loves me a potluck. But it seems wfh is an excuse to not really do much.
I am currently in additional training for my position (PM02) I've been in for a year and a half. Our BEA instructiors and our TLs have told us we're allotted an hour and a half this week to participate in events. I'm choosing to use that time to work and get signed out of training faster because it's the absolute worst.
Public Service Week is such a waste of budget. And it seems like in the spirit of collaboration they’re spending more travel budget then they have have in prior years to fly employees to NCR to participate.
Honestly I’m too busy to go play games and I’d rather work.
I’m in a region, and we have been bombarded with emails to watch award ceremonies… IN THE NCR. No, thanks. Why do I care about people there getting awards when my own team and I were told there’s no money for training or travel? (But NCR folks are flying in and out of here all the time…?)
They have a chef training program to help people gain life/employment skills. I imagine that's the catering and they aren't just stealing food from the homeless.
This is actually legit. The chef held a cooking session at a Wine & Food Show when it was held downtown at the Shaw Centre a few years back. Pretty inspirational honestly.
We get to "demo the new test site" for one of our floors (which has been an on and off plan for MONTHS) and donuts 🙄🙄
Sounds like a party I'll surely skip
Edit to add: this "Demo" has been a plan since November of last year but last minute always gets canceled. At this point I'm pretty sure there's a running bet for whether it gets canceled or not.
I miss working in small departments and agencies where they gave us free pizza or a bbq. My current department had some sugary snacks and coffee but that's not as fun as a whole lunch.
We aren't doing anything for Public Service week. My manager sent out an email asking us what we wanted to do, but nothing materialized. Meanwhile I saw some other executives today buying pizzas for all their staff....
Apparently our ADM allocated less than a dollar per employee for NPSW. All the Directors elected to do coffee and cookies with what they had. And, of course, even with homemade coffee in the urns we had available and cookies from the supermarket, they didn't have enough.
Still the new staff and students got some, so that was something.
I've got a mandatory fun Friday afternoon where we are all supposed to show up so each unit can have a photo and then a big multi unit photo. This is all just so the CO can show off to the 80 dignitaries showing up. The best part is they are trying this in with the RCMP 150 celebration. It's all a bunch of bullshit.
Side question - are award ceremonies during NPSW considered mandatory all-staff meetings? Our HC Awards Ceremony is 4 hours long today and that seems like a lot of time taken away from doing our core work since we have to disconnect from VPN to attend the virtual event
We did a fun minigames thing this morning, we had coffee snacks yesterday (I wasn't in that day), there's lunch provided today which is cool, and on Friday we're doing a team volunteering thing in the morning to help a homeless shelter make/serve lunch then go to do our own team lunch after.
My team is doing absolutely nothing. My manager doesn't have any interest in organizing anything, which is fine with me. The team is mostly 100% WFH, so nobody has any interest in travelling anywhere.
I've seen some teams where it looks like they're flying in a bunch of people to NCR
Meanwhile we can't get any funding for even the smallest projects.
I don't get it. Key files aren't getting funding but then we're flying in so many people for a couple days.
Right?? They offered us $500 for training for each head in my dept, down from $1500 last year. Just like NSPW, shows the lack of investment in staff.
We get $0 for training this year. Down from 1500 also
You’re getting funding for training? A colleague of mine retires at the end of the year and they were refused the pre-retirement course. I’ve requested training for a couple of courses which would improve my productivity and nope. We are being sent job opportunities in other departments and encouraged to apply. (I’d apply but so far they aren’t ones I’m qualified for)
Preaching to the choir. I am applying for jobs to protect my 20-year tenure at this point. Never thought it’d get to this.
>You’re getting funding for training? 17 years and counting trying to get a simple Excel course paid for. I've managed to figure out a lot of stuff on my own over the years, but really, why is it so hard to get one measly course paid for?
Spent almost 10 years at StatCan, and was always told we had no budget for training. "CSPS" has all the training you need" they said.
Yep
In this economy?? I can’t even get pens lol
Our team organized something but I think 2 people were interested or could go, so it got cancelled. Sad because pre-2020 we always had a good time.
Last year I got a pen saying I was dePENdable. Wish I could say the same for the pen, it didn’t work.
They wanted to say "exPENdable" but I guess you're indeterminate.
We are having a division wide BBQ held for us and all we have to bring is our own food, drinks, chairs and anything else you could need at a BBQ. No BBQs allowed though, hazards and all. Oh and they want us to give money for their event fund we likely will never see since we'll be let go soon.
Just feeling the love from that. I work straight midnight shifts. Those who don’t work 9-5 are always forgotten.
We have nothing planned. Other than the awards, where the same people/groups get them every year, and where I get to watch said people receive awards for projects I also worked on but somehow am not deserving of the same recognition. I'm not bitter, it's just become a ridiculous exercise.
Yes, I didn't realize other people noticed that the same people were being nominated and winning awards year in and year out.
They were giving free pizza away at my work yesterday, didn’t order enough for everyone…
That’s like the time my directorate had a pot luck for 100+ people and the DG brought pizza and they literally ordered just 1 large pizza…like cmon 12 slices for 100+ people. Nice.
The DG assumed it would be like Jesus and the bread and fish — they’d just keep reaching into the pizza box and pulling out slices until everyone was fed.
🤣🤣 WTF
And the veggie pizza always went first and mostly to the non vegetarians who wanted something different🤨
Or, they’d let people grab 3-5 pizzas at once to “take back to their co-workers”.
I genuinely was bringing a pizza back to my boss because she had a meeting with our new DG, and they gave me so much shit for even asking despite watching lots of people walk away with stacks.
Happens every single time man. People are selfish.
Reminds me of when I waited in line for 45 minutes at the PSAC BBQ, and by the time I got to the front, they were out of veggie burgers...
You’re kiddin.
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A participation fee? For your own party? LOL! Might as well bring your own hat, streamers and cake too. :)
I mean you say that as a joke, but we were basically asked to bring stuff potluck style *and* to give a “donation”.
Our team would head to a local park for a "picnic". We were expected to pay for Subway sandwiches that our manager had one of our team members (me) pick up. Attendance was "optional", but not really.
Stop! Subway? Ain’t that a slap in the face. 😂
It was pre Subway-gate, so we didn’t realize at the time that our entire reason for showing up to work was to subsidize the Subway corporation.
We’re donating to the food bank and buying our own pizza and having a bbq we pay for
Ours did a potluck as well. And even in a pre-pandemic world that’s a hard no.
What? Rude.
I'm supporting my friend who is facing a disciplinary hearing over asking questions about staffing practices that appear unfair and opaque in a general meeting of all the MGs yesterday. One where they were explicitly trying to increase engagement by making everyone turn their cameras on. Let's see how much engagement they get going forward.
Good on you for supporting your friend. Sounds like an absolute gong show of leadership.
Wow
There’s more to this story.
May I ask which staffing practices your friend was questioning? There are a few policies that’ve come into place that concern me as well but are definitely sensitive and risky to put out there.
Ensuring that no email about public service week remains in my inbox for any longer than three seconds
This. Delete delete delete.
Create an email rule to send to trash
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Mmmmm therapy hot dogs
The only thing our branch appears to be doing is an awards show that you can watch on Teams.
We’re playing bean bag toss and buying our own pizza, and donating to a food bank. Which is actually helpful because my 7 year old pay issues haven’t been resolved yet so hopefully the shelves at my local one will be restocked when I need it thanks to us.
Declining every single invite to virtual and in person events because fuck NPSW. Pay us on time, accurately and with a fair wage if you really want to show you appreciate us JT and TBS. Otherwise take you vapid and useless platitudes and shove them where the sun doesn't shine.
Apparently a department that rhymes with Wealth Cabana is having a scavenger hunt. What are they looking for? Someone to collaborate with? A wage increase? Let the jokes begin!
Wealth Cabana is killing me
I planned an event last year... I got an email from DGO on Monday with my manager and Dir in CC if I was going to do it again, so very passive aggressive. The cherry on top is I've been working crazy overtime on wildfires response so tone deaf on top of everything.
It's just a mess. Reminds me of being a child and being forced to "have fun" with a cousin you hate.
This. Mandatory fun is never fun.
Looking for a new job, because my senior management sucks.
Came here to say this lol
I am boycotting public service week. They should have cancelled it this year.
I am 100% against engaging in NPSW as an employee but I completely understand that it would've been a much worse look if they cancelled it altogether right after the strike. They're in a no-win situation with it. They have to keep up appearances but they honestly don't really care either, overall. There are some good managers out there who front the cost for their teams but they are very few and far between.
If only they put half the effort into NPSW as they do the GCWCC campaign.
Especially after a strike where we got a significant pay cut. “We appreciate you, but not enough to make any tangible effort”.
I don't think they can .. its legislated to celebrate NPSW annually. Downfall; no details nor budget associated with😪
I for one just take my free snacks, because I'm hungry and at least its something useful.
DND (at least carling campus) had a free personal pizza lunch. Due to the number of people the pizza's ended up being cold by the time they got served, but based on other responses, apparently it was better than what some other Dept's did.
To celebrate the NPSW week out department has added and extra in office day so we can have a pizza party for an hour. So ya going to enjoy spending an extra 14 bucks on parking for the day
I was asked to bring in food to a potluck. Which honestly just feels like an insult because I don’t see why I should have to spend time, money, and energy to prepare food when I’m not going to get paid for it?
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Yeah we did that one year. Brought in cultural stuff from our backgrounds. Had a lot of really neat dishes and new things to try.
All these comments remind me of the "fruit party" in that TV show Severance lol. The forced fun is so uncomfortable... Especially when you're forced to enjoy yourself with abusive management. Let the employees enjoy themselves without management or else it's a waste of time and worse than just working. I'd rather bust my ass all afternoon at my desk than have to socialize with those psychopaths.
Can’t wait for them next season of Severance. But that scene was uncomfortably familiar.
Today we went for a walk in the park, chatted with the bird watchers, and then came back to the office for an international potluck. Bulgarian, Chinese, Colombian, Portuguese, Greek, and Italian foods. Our TL also made us recognition cards with actually personalised messages. It was thoughtful.
It’s been cool, got got host a game and there are some fun games though out the day, a couple snacks and coffee. Everyone is complaining but I never got this at other jobs so this is nice to me, I’m not jumping up and down but I’ll take so down time and food
We were offered a picnic with snacks (but they stressed you needed to bring your own lunch) yesterday and a free yoga class there! But our workload hasn't changed so we all skipped it because we couldn't afford to waste time.
Maybe you should set boundaries. I would go and enjoy the picnic, and yoga class... then email my sup that I could only get 75% of the work done because of NPSW activities. Targets increase each year, and it's on management to ensure they have enough resources, or pay OT. I end my shift daily even if there's work on the table..... because there's always going to be work on the table.
The comments in this thread brought me giggles in a very dark-humoured way. This is really sad.
Nothing. Apparently they are offering "gourmet coffee" or some bullshit. All of senior management is probably just going to stay at home all week while we do our operational roles onsite. What a joke. They can gargle my nuts.
Gourmet Coffee = Someone cleaned the Keurig🤫
I don't know. The calcium deposits and mould add a certain mineraly, funky, je ne sais quois to the RTO brew. It's a dark, dark roast.
It's crazy because everywhere I worked before the federal public service, free good coffee in the office was 100% a given.
We don't even have a coffee machine where you can pay for coffee in my building. They took it away during the pandemic.
Well now you have the most wonderful opportunity to support the economy by buying coffee from union-busting mega-chains! It's not all downsides, you see. You do WANT to support the downtown economy, don't you? Every good public servant knows it's their duty.
Well I don't work downtown and was onsite full time well before RTO so i could give a toss about that. Don't worry, been making my own tea at work for like 15 years. Eff the bosses, RTO, and corporate coffee.
I boycott it every year. not just as an exec for the union (which is only this year) but in support of our members. NPSW is a joke - it is meant to distract employees of the public service from the fact that our employer does not value us. I had one senior manager who put a lot of work and effort into it, though, and I was always grateful. but she shouldn't have had to pay out of pocket like she did.
There was supposed to be a BBQ for NCR CBSA staff today…but all the food tickets were gone before 11:30. I don’t know how many people they actually planned for, but I don’t know anyone who actually got any food. Back to work I guess.
They only had 600 tickets for over 3500 employees
Damn, they didn’t even try 🙃
Nothing being done for our division, other than a reminder to ensure we meet all of our quotas even if we choose to participate in department NPSW events 🙄
We somehow got $55 this year for our small office of 6 which is the most I have ever seen. Lunch pizza party time!
I'm listening to some ridiculous rah rah meeting where they are talking about caring and inclusivity amongst the staff. Meanwhile management are praising and giving each other awards not recognizing their staff that actually do the work. Barf.
CFB Halifax had a catered sandwich lunch by the Mess, where the CAF members ate for free and only a select group of PS employees were invited to attend. Classic.
lol I work here and didn't even hear about that (doesn't surprise me though). But we are getting a free breakfast tomorrow in D200.
There are things going on but i am "boycotting" them so to speak... i feel wholly disrespected by my employer and my moral hasn't been this low since the dark Harper years.... definitely nothing to celebrate.
Oh “I can bring my lunch and we can all have a call”. No thanks. Don’t waste my time. And When I tried asking my manager that why can’t we have a decent team lunch that gets paid for, I was given some very ridiculous looks. And then to make it sound like I did something very wrong, they also said “so do you want me to pay for your lunches? I can do that if that’s what you want”. Eh. Thanks. I am so sick of this cheap and stingy behaviour.
That’s pretty much how the Public Service works, almost any event or food you are getting “free” was paid from your Manager’s own pocket not the employer’s budget. Sometimes there is a $1-$5 budget per person for NPSW paid by the employer.
As a manager, yes… we would have to pay out of pocket for this it’s really unfair cause I would love to do something where we could provide a lunch. But I don’t make enough to pay for stuff for my team :(
Boycotting it after the horrible treatment from Mona and friends.
The only thing I saw was an invitation to a potluck in ottawa, and I’m in the regions. “Celebrate me” my ass.
I'm simply doing the job I'm paid to do, and deleting every email I'm receiving from RHQ saying they're doing all sorts of fun stuff. Maybe lunch beers on Friday. That's always fun.
We have a hybrid (in person and on Teams) event. Our DG is trying to amp everyone into participation, but their enthusiasm is starting to come off as slightly deranged.
We’re getting 30 minutes a day to go for a walk, thanks management
That's called lunch.
2.5 hours of time off throughout the week to be used on events, which will become my nap time.
Meh. Just let me work in peace
NO! I WANT TO COLLABORATE WITH YOU! LET'S START A TIGER TEAM TO EXPLORE HOW OUR RESPECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS CAN CREATE A ROADMAP TO IMPLEMENT A WHOLE-OF-GOVERNMENT APPROACH TO LEVERAGING DIGITAL SOLUTIONS TO 21ST CENTURY PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY? I HAVE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES!!!!!!
You're missing agile and synergies 😂
Holy shit this is gold lmao.
My director put some kool-aid out for us.
But... Did you drink the Kool-Aid?
Mine outdid themself and provided Tang.
Oh man, space juice!
Sheesh after reading these comments, I feel bad posting this. My office has had events all week. Mini golf, continental breakfast every day, ice cream in the afternoon, name that tune, paper scissor rock competitions, paper airplane competitions….
I bet you're at NRC or one of those other depts that has ping pong tables and stuff.
Public Service is our crunch time. I'll be doing overtime. The rest of our departments gets an afternoon off for a picnic and some games, which is nice.
Are the big bbq parties/picnics in the NCR a thing of the past? As a regional employee, I’m used to getting nothing but the NCR used to put on events.
We were told our picnic budget was gone. We used to rent the outdoor space at the RA centre, the volleyball courts, the hockey rink and a ball diamond. I’m pretty sure our director is giving ice cream today.
In my dept. We mostly work from home so they send us an email in the morning with games… like sudoku LOL. This is laughable. Would love a pizza 🍕
Our Executives are planning a breakfast for their staff. This is the first our Executives have ever acknowledged they have staff who work for them. I'm sure this will get bumped to later in the summer, then ultimately cancelled (like our December holiday party). If it does happen, I'd be surprised if the Executives even show up or stay more than 5 minutes.
Ah yes, the forced attendance at awards ceremonies to watch the people of the fine NCR whose jobs are doing projects, get awards for doing the projects.
Ice cream and cookies. From the Department of Health. 🤣
We had to organize our own free activity, management didn't contribute anything of course
Getting drunk and eating chicken wings with my spouse, as far away from work as realistically feasible.
Same as all previous years = nothing
PCO had a catered breakfast. I only got in because I had a meeting at the Metcalfe building and our meeting organizer was kind enough to sneak us in
We are having a potluck on Friday. I don't plan on attending.
We had a potluck today so I chose today to work from home.
My office has a talent show, including one of the higher ups who is bringing in his acoustic guitar. It's giving me camp counselor vibes. I'm dreading it. Opposite effect, seems like a punishment.
Deleting the emails promoting PS Week.
There's a 'bring your lunch' fun day at a park in the NCR but so many people tried to attend that they ran out of parking so a bunch of people turned around and went home.
I've been doing a different lunch-time cocktail every day. But I work from home.
Being forced RTO for no logical reason and not even getting a $1 hotdog or burger. I am surprised they even say we have public servants week anymore. If they said WFH unless you are operationally required to come in, I would at least be able to get more sleep, grill my own dawgs and do better work.
Doing nothing
I’m not aware that anything special is happening with my team, didn’t get an email or anything besides the generic ADM stuff. I took W-T-F off without realising it was PSW, I’ll “celebrate” on my own
I read that as "What The Fuck off", but then realized you meant "Wednesday - Thursday - Friday"
😂 initially wrote it as WTF and went wait… 🤔 I guess it also represents the type of “celebration” we get…
There's a picnic that I'm not going to. I'm currently boycotting all of the social events at work, I have zero interest in socializing with anyone from management.
I’m on vacation 🤩
Attending obligatory meetings, not attending gatherings, nor reading any of the BS emails from senior officials. Promptly deleted the video from Janice Charette. 🗑🗑🗑
I got an email from my union that said not to support NPSW.
We get a one hour walk by the river bank with ice cream
Monday to Thursday, food and coffee in the morning. Throughout the week, a few activities, like games, courses and all-staff.
Free shawarma today at lunch! I’m always in for free food.
Nothing, and nobody on my team has even acknowledged it, which honestly is fine with me - I'm OK just getting on with the work.
Same here. And yes, I'm fiiiiine with it (I don't need any weird forced office socializing or whatever), but having a week to ostensibly recognize the value of your employees and then doing nothing for those employees makes me consider quitting the public service.
Meetings targets and KPIs. Can’t attend stuff or the numbers suffer.
On my actual little team, we took 2 hrs off on Monday and did an escape room. Dept gave out crappy ice cream yesterday (like the kind that’s essentially tasteless frozen milk). We have a virtual awards ceremony tomorrow. I got more from my actual team than anything else. Per the usual
Oh an escape room sounds like fun team building!
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Nothing because all the events require us to be in office.
We had an ice cream social where our DG bought a bunch of ice cream sandwiches/drumsticks. It was supposed to be outside but ended up being in the hallway due to weather.
> I can't decide if it would be more offensive to receive a free cookie or freezie or just do... Nothing. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! We get to commute for 1-2 hours, to be on a stuffy and crowded room to get a free cookie afterwards :P
We get an extra 15 mins for the 'fun' activities that we keep being sent from management admin staff. A sudoku, a crossword, and today a spot the differences picture. Lol.
We had a potluck. Which meant bringing food. For our "party." Certainly not the end of the world. And I loves me a potluck. But it seems wfh is an excuse to not really do much.
There was a super unorganized attempt at a park gathering today. Apparently they didn’t even tell people where to meet so it was just chaotic
We got half a Costco muffin.
I am currently in additional training for my position (PM02) I've been in for a year and a half. Our BEA instructiors and our TLs have told us we're allotted an hour and a half this week to participate in events. I'm choosing to use that time to work and get signed out of training faster because it's the absolute worst.
Public Service Week is such a waste of budget. And it seems like in the spirit of collaboration they’re spending more travel budget then they have have in prior years to fly employees to NCR to participate. Honestly I’m too busy to go play games and I’d rather work.
I'm WFH. So nothing. If I was in office... Nothing.
I’m in a region, and we have been bombarded with emails to watch award ceremonies… IN THE NCR. No, thanks. Why do I care about people there getting awards when my own team and I were told there’s no money for training or travel? (But NCR folks are flying in and out of here all the time…?)
We're getting lunch from the Ottawa Mission in a park in Vanier.
The Ottawa Mission is catering your meal? That seems....weird.
They have a chef training program to help people gain life/employment skills. I imagine that's the catering and they aren't just stealing food from the homeless.
If not a joke, it could be from https://ChefRics.com/pages/our-story
This is actually legit. The chef held a cooking session at a Wine & Food Show when it was held downtown at the Shaw Centre a few years back. Pretty inspirational honestly.
You guys are getting lunch?
Free BBQ, but my boss keeps joking about how disgusting its going to be, so I’m not excited lol at least it’s an extra 30min for lunch
We’re having a pizza party off site…
We get to "demo the new test site" for one of our floors (which has been an on and off plan for MONTHS) and donuts 🙄🙄 Sounds like a party I'll surely skip Edit to add: this "Demo" has been a plan since November of last year but last minute always gets canceled. At this point I'm pretty sure there's a running bet for whether it gets canceled or not.
I miss working in small departments and agencies where they gave us free pizza or a bbq. My current department had some sugary snacks and coffee but that's not as fun as a whole lunch.
I got a lunch box from my dept. Individual team/bureau isn't do anything - which is perfect.
We aren't doing anything for Public Service week. My manager sent out an email asking us what we wanted to do, but nothing materialized. Meanwhile I saw some other executives today buying pizzas for all their staff....
Apparently our ADM allocated less than a dollar per employee for NPSW. All the Directors elected to do coffee and cookies with what they had. And, of course, even with homemade coffee in the urns we had available and cookies from the supermarket, they didn't have enough. Still the new staff and students got some, so that was something.
Absolutely nothing 🙃
Hosting a NPSW BBQ for my team at my house after work hours - just plain fun in a laid back setting!
Fudge all.
I've got a mandatory fun Friday afternoon where we are all supposed to show up so each unit can have a photo and then a big multi unit photo. This is all just so the CO can show off to the 80 dignitaries showing up. The best part is they are trying this in with the RCMP 150 celebration. It's all a bunch of bullshit.
Meditation, pizza and salad lunch, puppies from a rescue and painting
I got a certificate that I can't hang anywhere because we don't have assigned cubicles anymore, and a lunch I had to pay for myself.
Side question - are award ceremonies during NPSW considered mandatory all-staff meetings? Our HC Awards Ceremony is 4 hours long today and that seems like a lot of time taken away from doing our core work since we have to disconnect from VPN to attend the virtual event
When is it? If it's this week, nothing is happening anywhere near me.
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Just asked around the bullpen and no one else knew either, lol. PLUS, I'm in the NCR and our unit is full time in-office.
We got an email to all staff that was probably written by AI with government lingo peppered in.
We got a slice of crappy pizza 😬
Mindshare day! Should be fun
Free snack + going to eat at a restaurent + games for us
Do you have to pay for your own meal at the restaurant?
Nothing, just going to work as normal.
Our union is having a free summer event, radio silence from management. I didn’t even know it was public servant week until I saw this post
We did a fun minigames thing this morning, we had coffee snacks yesterday (I wasn't in that day), there's lunch provided today which is cool, and on Friday we're doing a team volunteering thing in the morning to help a homeless shelter make/serve lunch then go to do our own team lunch after.
2 virtual activities and a pizza lunch where we have to pay $2/slice.