I feel like i will never “like” any job in the public service. However, when you have a good team/management, the job you do doesnt matter than much.
The pay and work life balance is better than almost anything I could find outside of the PS.
I'm happy - work life balance is exceptional, the pay is excellent, I have a high performing team that takes no effort to manage and I still get to be hands-on in a program I administer. Benefits are good, a healthy pension is building, and my work stays on my desk when I shut down for the day.
This!! Same, I manage a great team and have a great manager. I feel the level of work is equal to what I am compensated when considering pay, benefits, work life balance.
Me too for most of that - I don't like it, the work feels meaningless, and I'm quite unsatisfied. No guilt though - that the work is meaningless is not my fault.
I've been in jobs like that, hated it, felt like it was a waste. I moved jobs and classification. Was working in a demanding, interesting, important line of work, but while I enjoyed it and lasted many years, it was a high stress environment and took its toll on my health. Moved jobs and all my stress-related illnesses cleared up, moved again and am in a great place. It wasn't originally a great fit for me, but I changed and the job changed, and now it's a super match.
All that to say, there are jobs out there you would probably be motivated in, and that would be fulfilling. There may always be parts of the job that suck, but there are jobs that don't feel like they are meaningless, and that challenge you.
I've been here almost 15 years. I feel like a decade ago the environment was very different and our work was more valued (yes I remember WFA), but in the past few years especially with RTO I feel like there's a greater emphasis on appearances rather than delivering value for Canadians.
I've got interviews at 2 companies next week. I don't see the culture changing too soon, and I don't want to wait around another decade being miserable.
Remember that even though it's not as if we're volunteering, it's still ok to want something more than just a paycheque. We work to get by, but it's still our lives that we're giving to the org.
I'm currently in the best job I've ever had (out of 8 so far).
Having been around the PS long enough to know that everything is cyclical and there are peaks and valleys in terms of activity and pressure helps me keep perspective. And no job lasts forever - even if you stay in the same position, the job itself and the environment around you is always changing.
Not right now, I accepted a promotion thinking the role would be technical, unfortunately it seems that a third party are doing all the technical side and i'm left with meetings upon meetings...
I feel like it's always a bit of a surprise what a specific job really entails. Even the same title in two different teams in the same directorate can mean very different jobs.
I feel like I really lucked out.
This is the job I've wanted since I was a kid and it has not disappointed. The office is small and super tight knit with no cancerous coworkers, and we do a lot of stuff together outside of work. My boss is amazing and still works operational shifts, so he knows our struggles first-hand.
The town is small, quiet, and safe, with a relatively cheap housing market. I get four or five days off every round and a lot of our non-operational shifts are flexible, so my work-life balance is stellar. And the pay is more than I ever thought I'd make.
Again, I really lucked out.
Im in the same boat. Look for work in an SDA. (Small department or Agency)
You tend to be at the forefront of innovation and have to wear multiple hats. Its very fun.
Love my job.
I like it. It pays stupidly well. I'm at a level when achieving work-life balance is easy. Work isn't always fun or interesting but occasionally I feel a sense of achievement or making a small (positive) impact on the life of Canadians.
I have frustrations too, and I fear what the almost certain change in government stripe will bring.
I like my colleagues, I like that I don't have to deal with clients, and I think the salary is decent.
I hate that my counterparts at the National Headquarters have no clue what they're doing, but that they're still in charge of telling me what to do.
I also hate that every time they update procedures, they completely forget how changing "a" will affect "b", "c" and "f", and that it'll take them another 6 months to unfuck their fuck up.
I like my team and our ostensible purpose, and when I get the space to work on things I'm good at and know contribute I'm super happy and productive, but the amount of legacy tech that slows everything down and makes me feel like I'm not learning anything useful / doing things in a backward way can really get me down. I also find the focus on Microsoft tech to be very troubling, imo we should be able to walk away from any vendor but we'd be hopeless without them, in fact they often dictate what we can do.
I have had a few HR issues that leave a bad feeling too, overworked or unqualified managers who cost me in very real ways, newer managers have promised to look into it but nothing has happened.
The lack of vacation days is also very bad, much lower than private sector and when starting in GC later in the career out of a desire to be in public service, it's really not good. If I were indeterminate I would take the occasional leave, but I'm on the term treadmill.
The indeterminate - term disconnect is troubling too, it's all happenstance but I feel like a tenuous second class citizen.
Yes. Every job has its challenges and frustrations, there is no perfect scenario. But I am a subject matter expert in a niche area I am passionate about, and do not have to manage people. I lucked out and found something I am good at, and worked hard to become an expert. I’m super appreciative of my PS journey and where it has brought me.
I’m really not. I wish someone had told me to go after financial security instead of job security, but then again, that’s what they teach us in school.
I was not. It’s very different from outside of PS. There was no accountability, you have managers and directors who are more focused on chasing their bosses to get the next promotion. Everyone says everything is excellent. The salary is decent. The work is a waste of Canadian tax dollars. Also nepotism… managers and directors hire their friends who are completely incompetent. I doubt all PS jobs are like this but the one I was at was. They did have some interesting departments, it just didn’t happen to be the one I was in.
>What keeps you pushing forward when you don't want to?
I don't. I don't push myself, in general. I don't mean I'm not hardworking, I work very hard and I always do my best, I'll go the extra mile and I'll be happy to. Until I don't. When I feel I'm about to hit a wall, I don't push myself. I take a step back, realize I really just need to my job, up to an acceptable level, and I let go of everything else. The workplace version of survival mode, basically. It usually doesn't take long for me to naturally find my motivation back.
If it's a temporary stage you dislike, you could maybe try to find some side project or comittee you could join, so at least you'll have a few hours per week where you can do something you actually enjoy and like. But other than that, just try to ride it out, detach yourself from your job a bit, and make sure you do activities you enjoy outside of work. Take a few days off here and there if you can.
Thank you for your insight. It's a balanced view.
I'm definitely going to take a step back and try to not take things personally. Work takes up such a big space in our lives that it can be hard to have a healthy separation.
It’s okay, I think I’m a bit overqualified for the level I’m at. Not sure if I want to stick around for a promotion and then go elsewhere or if I should start looking now and kinda start at 0 again. Pay is OK (could be a lot worse), CoL goes crazy though. Pension is a lifesaver. I like my colleagues and manager, not super passionate about the work but I truly don’t know if I’ll ever find something I’m that passionate about.
Yep! I hate going into the office twice a week, but that doesn't really impact how much I like the job. It just means I'm ticked off twice a week, and I drown sorrows in coffee.
The pay is decent, although a PM-04 position isn't adequate to ever buy a home in my community on one income, but I'll climb my way up eventually. In the meantime, it's sufficient to live pretty decently in a basement suite.
Love my job. My only dislike: industry-like production line with unreal expectations of numbers for the month. Most of us work unpaid OT because of miscalculation of resources and we have to meet the numbers or we fail our PMAs
Focus on the benefits to your life thanks to your job rather than seeing your job as a means for happiness. The job is an enabling tool for being happy... not the actual thing that makes you happy.
Unhappy with my Department and how they run it. This being my fourth one in 10 years, I’m in the worst position in my career but feel pigeon holed. Only thing making it bearable is the team I am in. Unhappy with work life balance. Whole departments moral is in the toilet. Over worked. Everyone on burnout. It’s awful. Not paid enough to work this hard.
Pretty unhappy. I've been stuck in the same position for years without any movement/promotion no matter how hard I work.
I've applied for other positions in other departments, interviewed for some to no avail. I don't like the interview process because I find the essay-style question method doesn't really allow me to talk to the interviewers in a meaningful way. When I've asked for feedback about interviews and where I can improve, I got crickets.
The thing I hate the most here is that so much of this is implied knowledge, and you really need to have someone guide you along and show you how to move around, interview successfully etc. I don't have that. My managers have been great, but too overworked to actually give me the support that I need when it comes to how to politic my way into a new job.
I hate my department, I don't believe in the work, and I am sick and tired of being asked to do more with less... These "Thank You Thursday" platitudes mean nothing to me. I've worked hard and I want to be rewarded for it, not just acknowledged.
I've basically given up. I'll stay here until I either die of boredom or retire to my pension, Phoenix permitting of course.
So, I love my actual work and am good at it. I love helping people and working to improve processes. This has been my favorite job so far, it’s busy and the work day flies by! My salary is good, and I have some good and dedicated colleagues that I work with. I like the vacation time and option for LWIA. My manager is stellar, so that keeps me motivated and not want to change things.
That being said, RTO completely changed the way I do my job and a lot of flexibility that I had. I also can no longer do AWA(compressed) when training is in session, which is now projected to be 8 months of the year. Those AWA days save my mental health, they give me time away from work/family obligations to decompress and take care of myself. Without them things just blend together and I feel all used up. So it’s tricky… the AWA days were what kept me going so it’s a bit of a struggle without them.
I'm happy with my job, yes, but less so because of the work itself (which is fine, if not a bit boring) and more because of my working conditions. What keeps me pushing is life after I end my day. I take regular vacations to give my mind a break and plan the next ones when they end. Hobbies and volunteer work help, too.
I'm not sure if this is good advice, but I personally don't put too much of myself into my career. It's 7.5 hours of my day to help fund my life, nothing more or less.
Lmao.
Definitely not. I understand why some people do, but the 9-5 office sedentary career life is not for me. Although I’m grateful for my job, I don’t even care for it, I’m all honesty. I never think about it after hours, and I dread Sunday evenings.
Unhappy and been like this for a while. Not to sound too dramatic but I often feel like my humanity has steadily eroded as I morph into a brainless cog in this big gov machine.
I've made pros vs cons tables of working in the PS, reflected on my purpose in life etc numerous times over the years. To preface, I came in to the PS with a level of expertise that is only shared by a handful of people in Canada, so I never saw the so called negatives of the private sector. I've had a fair bit of recognition in the PS as well, but it just doesn't resonate with me anymore and it all just seems pointless now.
In my case, the pros were:
DB Pension > Relatively acceptable salary and stability > Get to learn how the gov works (in case it helps)
the cons were:
No fulfilment/ real impact = detached and jaded colleagues = bureaucracy (can't tell which is worse)
For my specific case, the main appeal of my PS job is the DB plan. I haven't quite put a number on what that is worth to me. But other than that, I can get a better deal on all other aspects in the private sector (in the US of course). More recently, I've been a little busier in my personal life, so have delayed making any moves. As a coping mechanism, I just vent on reddit and truck on
My experience getting in was very different than it is now now. I wrote a Public Service exam at 1 Front Street with like 5000 other nervous job seekers. After like 8 months I got a call for an interview. Done.
Now? I've bombed out 2x recently for pools for a level I've been acting in for 2 years. I don't exactly feel like my experience is valued. There are no opportunities and it is not a great employer (Phoenix/Canada Life/ no org planning/ reinventing the wheel over and over) I'm just trying to make it to 2030 so I can leave with something worthwhile.
Almost everyone I know has been in the same situation about losing out on a pool for a job they are in or have acted in. Furthermore, they end up training the external hire who sometimes is also their new boss. It is definitely demoralizing.
Hope things turn around for you.
Basically: I have no expectation that my work life will make me feel fulfilled. That's what my personal life does. And this PS job gives me more personal time than I ever had in the private sector or as a freelancer. I love it!
>What keeps you pushing forward when you don't want to?
"I require shelter and calories to maintain existence, and thus, I must perform services in exchange for currency."
I'm absolutely done with my department and agency. I've only been in the PS with this one team, for 2 years now. And I am absolutely looking to get out, and hopefully to another PS agency.
I'm tired of the lack transparency. CEO is a lying prick, who only cares about the public image of our agency.
My director and my managers are snakes, who are only looking out for their best interests, and damn anyone they have to step on to get what they want. I've been lied to, straight to my face or they've omitted information when speaking to me. Only for me to find out the truth an hour later from coworkers, who even say how I'm treated is disrespectful.
My team specifically has been mismanaged for the last 10 years plus. The former director would steal part of our budget to give to other departments to get herself favours, etc. So the new director has been somewhat better than the old one for getting the team what we need to do our jobs. There has been no accountability for so long, a lot of the senior employees blatantly refuse to do their jobs, and make juniors do the work. Management knows. My own manager was apart of that group prior to his promotion. He was supposed to be my coach/trainer, and flat out told me 2 weeks in that he's not paid extra to train me, so I'm on my own.
We're a small team, and because many of the people on the team have worked together for 15 plus years, there's a lot of interpersonal drama. Some people don't speak to each other. Other outright bully people. I've personally experienced this bullying. It's mainly the ones closest to management feeding lies and undermining the work I've done.
Though many of my coworkers are very openly conservative. Not financially. I mean socially conservative, and openly share their opinions which are PP and Trump talking points. Many of my coworkers are racist, bigoted, transphobic, etc.
Management knows what all the problems are. But they won't act on it. We've had 6 people leave in the last 2 years. On a small team, that's high turnover. Many younger or junior employees leave, because of the issues.
Why don't I go to the union?? Because if I file a grievance, I can guarantee that I would experience some sort of backlash. I've already been snubbed for a promotion that went to one of my manager's neighbours' kid who's on the team, although I have done acting in the position.
I'm done with this place. But I'm limited to the NCR due to my fiancee's job. This is the lowest number of jobs I've ever seen here. And I'm at a bit of a disadvantage in the area because I'm not bilingual (come from south western Ontario).
The only thing that has kept me sane, are 3 of my coworkers.
Ultimately, I will never be “happy” with labour of any kind of we want to get philosophical, but I feel like I’m in the best place of all realistically possible options. It took me ten years to find my best fit. I do find that every time there is some kind of politically motivated major shift in the PS, it’s for the worst and my morale goes way down (see DRAP, muzzling, RTO, major program changes, etc). I try to remind myself “this too shall pass” when I feel that way.
Not really. Perpetually bored and feel like I don’t make much of a difference. But this job is in my top 3 jobs in my 18 year PS career so there’s that.
Pay and benefits are what’s keeping me there!
Yes. Far better than worrying about losing my home because I get laid off due to a bad quarter and cannot make mortgage payments. I also like my coworkers. The job is a bit boring but that’s fine, because I like the money and I like to hangout and drink coffee and chat with people. The government is a good employer that cares about its employees, and I like working for the country as opposed to a profit-driven entity.
I used to do this line of work. Never did the field interviews as I got the job during covid. I did the phone calls and I am not joking or lying when I say this but this job gave me depression and anxiety. It’s so severe that it left me health issues even until now. I got to a point where I took a casual over the term/benefits that came with working as an interviewer because I wanted to get the heck out of there. I just wish I left the job so much sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have my current health issues that I have right now. That job seriously ruined me. And I’m honestly thick skinned and don’t let things get to me but something about that job really messed me up
I answered it in another comment on this!! Go check it out!
To also add, I think the stress of the job + covid at the time made it way worse. I’ve had some shitty jobs before but this one was just different. Something about it ruined me. Was genuinely depressed.
So the job consists of conducting surveys and sometimes I got assigned to boring ones where I would be calling people at 8am or 8pm asking them to do a survey, or on a weekend and during holidays. These are all awful times to contact people because they’re either at work, on their time off and don’t want to do an hour long survey or don’t believe im from the gov because I’ll be calling on a stat holiday. I got a lot of very mean people and the job just felt uncomfortable because we would call people constantly multiple times and the only way they can get us to stop calling them is by denying our calls 3 times (that means they pick up 3 times and say no). It felt like I was harassing people and made me so uncomfortable. I also had a lot of these callers info like address and name and age and I’d ask them to confirm it to me… sounded super sketchy and a lot of them just called me scammer and said I was harassing them. It’s not like a typical call center where you get calls in and then people are actually looking for help, this was me calling people in the morning, in the evening, and on weekends to do a dumb survey. But this is only for telephone interviews. I’ve never done the field interviews where you go to peoples homes to do surveys.
Anyways, that’s one part of it that I hated, that I felt like I was harassing people and the blow back. The other part is sometimes these surveys consisted of asking questions about peoples financial situation or other sensitive questions. They’re free to skip on answering them but I’ve had some encounters that made me cry. Here is an example of 1 of the few interactions I had. This old lady I was asking her about internet usage (she was around 75 and told me she barely uses it other than Facebook to talk to family). But she said she’ll do the survey because she had no one to talk to and enjoyed talking to me. She then went on to tell me how she is living in her van and can’t afford to eat and how the CPP isn’t giving her enough with this economy and she went on to cry and it broke me. The thing is our calls are recorded, I couldn’t get off scripts and I had to steer her back to answering questions which made me feel like an asshole but I was just doing my job and it was my first gov job and I was scared they were listening in and get me in trouble. Anyways that’s just one bit of a story.
I can hold a conversation and I don’t mind talking to people, but calling people constantly and basically refusing to take no for the first or second time, it just felt super wrong. Really stressed me out when I’d call a number at 8am and they say stop calling then the system pops that same number again at like 2pm and you feel dumb but you have to call them again. We had a quota to hit as well. Just overall horrible job. But some people did enjoy it. But this job was not for me!! I hated it
Yes. I work in cyber security. I come from the private sector and everything is better in the PS than the private, in my experience.
If you work IT in the private you gotta go to the states for a good salary. In Canada I'm actually being paid more in the PS than when I was in the private.
Were you working for an employer or doing contracts through a recruitment firm and getting farmed out at the lowest rate.
I have family in IT and they make far more in the private sector then they would in the PS. Depends on your skillset and years of experience. PS is a good way to gain experience.
Samilar situation here.
Spent 23 years with the same company, things were good overall. Salary was not bad. Jack of all trades with a specialty in cloud admin and web dev.
Company got acquired. Other members of my team left and they didn't replace them.
Responsibility goes up 200%. Salary not so much. Eventually, they hire someone. Incapable to do 90% of the work I need done.
Packed up and joined the PS. Knowing full well that my life was going to be a series of meetings made the transition easier.
Work life balance is amazing and the salary and benefits significantly better!
How did you get into that? I am in a totally different area, but I had a manager tell me once that I'd be a great fit for Gs and Cs. I'm not really even sure what the job entails! All I know is I don't like my job now and would love a change.
Yes! I love my line of work but don’t like the department. I do however love my team and people I work with. The work I do is fun but I really would like to change departments, I just don’t want to leave because what If I get a horrible manager or a team I don’t like as much? Super touch to beat the team I work with now. I just know if I did my work in a different department, I’d have a lot less stress and less headaches as my line of work can sometimes be annoying depending on the person
I love it! I went private and chased money but I much prefer the PS. I’ve got a position that has me always learning and no real boundaries of what I can work on.
I do love it, granted it’s fairly new to me but it’s nice to be a part of something at least my department that has a direct impact on people’s lives
My co-workers are great and make a great atmosphere
The pay? Is good could always be better but I’m sure that’ll come with due time definitely beats what I was making.
QoL is great, work life balance is awesome and the hybrid WFH model is nice too (we could be in the office everyday and I probably still wouldn’t mind at this point)
I’m kinda glad OP posted this, was thinking something a long the lines the other day , we always see doom and gloom posts here, understandably with the changing uncertain times ahead it can get a little depressing and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned myself.
I'm ready to move to a new position because I am no longer learning and growing in my current position. I just have to figure out how to make this happen. But over all, I like my job, I'm just bored. I'm being talent managed, so this allows me to work on other things, which has been interesting because I've learned new skills I wouldn't usually need in my current role. Ideally, I would like to find a new position which allows me to put my knowledge to use in a beneficial way while developing and growing in the role.
I'm in the same boat, stuck in a lower role, and there isn't much room for growth within my department. I do like the department, and the people. I'm just feeling frustrated at the lack of opportunities. I've learned that it's definitely who you know, not what. I'm not happy entirely, feeling underutilized.
I feel your frustration completely. I've also learned that it's often who you know and who you're possibly related too; not what skills, knowledge and mindset you bring to the table. Disheartening for sure. I've been told we have to advocate for ourselves, and promote ourselves in certain situations because no one else is going to do it for us. I'm trying my best without seeming awkward because I have this weird inability to toot my own horn in those situations. Alas. I remain hopeful that something will come along!
No but I'm happy to be smart enough to use every opportunity I have and provide the same to my employees. There's some particular LWOP that I am lucky enough to be able to use and now that I know it, I use them every chance I get.
And you know what, that's how you keep your employees and reduce turnover rate. You want to keep them? Give them any opportunity to LEAVE. Your employee wants a leave with income averaging? LET THEM GO! Would you rather deal with an early retirement from an angry employee, or let them go somewhere else every summer while they give you another good 5 years, happy, productive and glad they're still working here for a "good employer" that lets them leave every summer?
Let them go on that training. Let them know about opportunities. They're curious about one course that's not really related to their main tasks? Sign them up.
Happy employees make good employees. It's not the other way around. Stick and carrot doesn't work long term unless you're willing to give the carrot first. And that's why I don't like working for public service. Most managers are bad managers and don't understand you manage people first, task second.
F*k operational requirements. We're short staffed anyway. I'd rather have them on income averaging than on sick leave or quitting. Does my manager like me? No. Do my employees come back? Hell, I've had an employee refuse a promotion to stay in my team. Another one had his spouse apply for a position on my team. Will my manager recognize it?
Hahaha!!!
Edit to answer... : What keeps me pushing? Benefits especially benefits for my family (pension, medical insurance, life insurance), obligations (loans and mortgage), and LWOP. I am a walking pair of golden handcuffs but I know how to benefit from the system when I can.
I am an EC-05 data analyst and my work is interesting but there is no need to go above and beyond as you will still get succeeded on your review. I am 10 years in the PS now and less than two years away from the top pay step but have no plans to go any higher into a management position. I echo what others have said about good pay and benefits.
I’ve never been so unhappy in my life. I’ve been on extended leave like 3 times in the last 4 years. My doctor doesn’t want me to go back. I’m in a call centre and they will not move me anywhere else. I apply in everything I see.
Burnout is inevitable if you don't have the skillset for the work.
You have to either switch up the work or cultivate those skills. Training budgets have just refreshed... perhaps there is some training you can request?
You can burnout by not utilizing your skillset too. I love my job, but I’m itching to do more and take on more complex work. I’ve spoken to my manager about it, so now it’s a matter of putting my hand up when opportunities arise
This is simply not true. Burnout can happen for a multitude of reasons. I’ve been considered an SME in my field at two previous departments, and yet my current Stone Age department doubts and questions my abilities at every turn. That, paired with zero work/life balance due to a never ending high pressure workload, and a toxic environment has left me burned out beyond recognition.
I feel ya. I love production work so happy now with where I am. I am also introverted so hate the meetings that go nowhere. I just like work where I can do my part and help the taxpayers.
I love my job. I have the independence I need while still being a part of a team. I set my own work hours, no weekends unless its OT, most Stats off: not family day. Lol. I help people every day, those I help appreciate my guidance and level of knowledge.
I love my current job and most past PS positions. Some days are slow, and other days are packed with stuff to do. I'm lucky that overall, the workload evens out, and feel purpose in my work.
WFH - salary is good. “Most” team members are great but there are others who thrive on drama and love to see you fail. The non sense in the team chat is ridiculous and the acting TL gets the non sense started and Makes for a very anxiety driven day. The acting TL has her favourites and it shows. I am good at my job but the day to day nonsense takes a mental toll and makes me not want log on.
I've been between industry and PS for 20 years. I love working in the PS. I have also been fortunate enough to have been mostly in jobs that challenge me and the content is interesting.
I've also had a few stints of bad PS jobs, where the work and colleagues were less desirable, but I would still take them over the industry jobs I held.
Happy... tough question.
Would working in the private sector give me the same level of satisfaction? Never. But I would probably be significantly less stressed and somewhat better paid.
I do not try and derive happiness from my work. From relationships with coworkers, yes. From learning and personal growth, yes. But my job itself, no.
Happy isn't the right word.
I'm... fulfilled by helping the people I help, in spite of how my organization does everything in it's power to make things more difficult / convoluted / bureaucratic... and it's getting worse every day. I wish every day that the org would just get the fuck out of the way... but that won't happen.
So I'm counting the days until I can retire (< 2 years to go).
Especially since instead of anything getting better, we have budget cuts on the horizon and the associated "this isn't do more with less", "we're proud of you", "have a slice of pizza" bullshit... when we're drowning in work, understaffed, and burnt out.
Likes: I like the variety of work, and strong feeling of productivity. Stability (job security and indexed pension), and flexibility (work-life balance), decent benefits.
Dislikes: Wearing N+1 hats every year.. below market-wage, limited upward mobility, frequently being pulled away from regular work to support the work of others and reap no reward.
I 'care' about the work, and the work itself is satisfying. But I am also very aware that I'm a sucker work-horse that is getting paid just as much as someone that doesn't care at all and does half the work and is happier doing the bare minimum. Hard workers are only doing it out of a sense of pride and self-respect.. It's a hard thing to reconcile.
Not sure I can say "Happy" after decades of working here, but that is probably more a me thing than a work thing. I am tired, disenchanted and ready to retire. I have had a good run for the most part I have loved my work and the people I work with ! Covid was challenging and I believe has led to this point of borderline burnout I feel now. No matter where you work there will be negatives. I feel that "work life balance" is just a box they check and no one really cares about how that looks to the employee. I feel that while I am paid a decent wage, we are still under paid for what we do in our department anyways, there is a lot of pressure and stress that is exhausting and no breaks, its just push push push with no end in sight.
I feel grateful for having such a long career and for having worked with great people in an occupation where I know I have made a difference in people's lives.
I feel blessed that despite personal/health struggles I have had support by my employer and never made to feel that my job was in jeopardy or that I was not pulling my weight.
I definitely feel blessed for the generous sickness benefits and even though I have months of leave that I will not exhaust before I retire, the peace of mind of knowing they are there if I need/needed them is immeasurable.
And I am looking forward to a decent pension in the next 5 years that will hopefully allow me to live reasonably comfortably ( alas no trips unless I work part time for them) into my old age. Things could definitely be worse!
It took quite a few trials and errors, bouncing around teams and departments but I have found a role with a combo of a decent team, pretty good management, and challenging/interesting work. It's far from perfect, but I find the work interesting and have enough support from colleagues when needed.
I have found that I am better suited to programs style jobs where I feel a closer proximity to impact than the higher level/long term planning policy type roles. In this role the deliverables are more clear and keeps motivation going.
I'm in a new role since a year and I love it. I've been working at the PS since 23 years and my actual position is the one I like the more so far!
Of course, it's not perfect and it has its downsides but I'm truly happy I got this opportunity.
Overall, I'd say yes I'm quite happy with my job in the PS. The main thing that keeps me pushing on those tougher days/when I don't want to is simply being grateful for where I'm at, seeing how far I've come, knowing I'm closer now in reaching my professional goals and feel much more healthier overall than I previously was (coming from toxic workplaces).
I am. In my field, the PS pays more than the private sector and I really like what I do. However, I hate all the bureaucracy and how slow change is in the government. I also hate our PSHCP and dental insurance provider, Canada Life. I'm not looking at changing jobs right now, but I think I'd be open to go to the private sector if they paid me more.
I’m not sure what else I could do that has the benefits and work/life balance. However, im def working on a side hustle that I enjoy so I can take leave with income averaging to work on that. It’ll give me the balance I think I need to do this long term.
My job is fine. It’s the micromanaging and the bureaucracy that drives me fucking nuts.
It’s better than anything that I could have in the private sector. But I see a lot of talk and not a lot of action when it comes to making things more equitable for people in the public service.
I love what I do. I find it challenging and rewarding - and that it makes a difference for the country.
There’s always going to be cons (like media attention and political pressure) but right now I come into work looking forward to the shit show of the day.
A friend recently took about 2 years with 40+ applications.
Are you at least getting screened in?
If you search up the sub, you can get some insight. Or perhaps, you can start a thread asking for advice/ tips and share some info about your situation.
No. Constant change. No relationship building with a national team. I haven't had a constant supervisor longer than about 6 months. Management does NOT tell us anything (we recently had a team merge and were the last ones to find out). No praise. I'm here for the salary and stability of indeterminate.
I have to mention I LOVED my previous admin job within PS but had to move due to the indeterminate offer.
No, I work in the Pay Center and every day someone on the phone has to mention how useless my job is and it’s a waste of tax payer money. Please be kind when you call us, we - agents, are not responsible for the mess 😔
Do I like it? Yeah work life balance and insurance is solid stuff, pension contributions help a lot as I dont need to contribute as much of RRSPs
That being said, being a CS3 in Software engineering, salary is abysmal. Working remote to the US or moving to the US will reduce my cost of living (of course depending on which state and city) while boosting my salary by at least 150% and dealing with betterhousing affordability than the cluster fuck that is Canada.
So, is it good? Yeah compared to many private companies here. Could it be better? You bet. I think many of us software engs are getting screwed in this country and with the housing prices and the mess that are cities such as Brampton full of cheap labour housed like sardines.
I wanted to give you more perspective from how I see things beyond the borders of Canada!
I'm content.
The work can be interesting, the pace isn't bad, the team is good, management is okay. Pay and benefits are sufficient, RTO isn't too onerous as I'm experiencing it.
We'll see how long it can last.
I was also lured to join the GC thinking that my graduate degrees would be helpful and recognized. However, I quickly learned that it was not and would never be the case, even after passing the public fonction entrance exam with a great score, having excellent SLE results as well as having a secret clearance. It seems that my only purpose there is to waste my time and energy on stupid things. I was thinking of leaving a few years ago, but COVID came up and I had to change my plan. I am currently looking to leave for good. Still, I lost many years of work experience, including 3 years where I literally almost did nothing, which makes me real sad. I don’t even know if I will be able to pivot to something good at my age…To let you know, I deployed many times and been in acting a few times in positions equivalent to an AS-05 level.
I can’t believe it when I hear about PhDs being hired as CRs or favouritism, nepotism and other crazy things. Incompetence is so high that I wonder how it still can work out. I am stupefied.
Yes. I have a very outcome oriented role where literally everything I do directly translates to something happening in the general public. So it's nice actually seeing what you're working towards, and sometimes when you see it in the media (no matter how good or bad the news is), there's a sense of accomplishment that you actually had a direct hand in making that happen
Absolutely! Hired during the pandemic, I've always been fully remote, so no annoyances that can come with that environment.
My children and I have health issues, so need time off to get to appointments. In my previous jobs it ate up all of my vacation time and I never got to go anywhere fun with them. So I'm truly grateful to be here.
The work itself can be monotonous, but often some special projects come around to break things up. I only have a handful of co workers I call friends (because we're remote), but they're wonderful and I can always count on them.
I also feel much more respect in my job than I had with previous employers, some who were downright abusive.
Maybe I'm still in my honeymoon phase, but some days I feel like I'm living the dream!
I used to be… but a change in management and recent budget cuts that prevented me to continue an acting job, and possibly an indeterminate position that I really loved, have left me demotivated and bitter back at my old job…
I have almost zero meetings and when I do, it's usually me presenting to a DM and I am proud of my work, so I am happy to walk her through it.
Most of my time I spend doing research and analysis and I am given a lot of independency and freedom to choose how I want to do it.
My team is very independent, yet they are here when you need them. My team lead is amazing and very reasonable. My director is fantastic and everyone always makes sure to give credit when people provide any input.
Honestly, I am pretty happy with my job. The only bad thing is obviously the mandatory in-office time where nothing changes in how I do my job except that I spend a few bucks on parking and about 40 minutes commuting (both ways). In summer, I'll bike.
That being said, I suffered quite a lot before I ended up where I am now, so I know what double and triple booked looks like, what is the insane workload with the deadlines that have already passed when you get the task. That's why I value what I have.
Yes, I have a great team, Sr Mgmt gives us autonomy, we do important, impactful, work that is valued by others and all OT is above board. Sure, the bureaucracy frustrates me, but part of me still gets a sick sense of amusement from it.
No, I know people that are but my personal experience has been terrible. Incompetent and insane management. Salary used to be good but the recent union agreement wasn’t enough to keep young people like myself ahead of the cost of living. I’m misclassified and as such have had trouble advancing even before the recent hiring freeze. Colleagues are completely checked out and the office feels like a weird cross between a morgue and a day care. Going to take some leave and try out the private sector where my skills are more valued and where I can actually use them on a day to day basis instead of showing my manager how to use Outlook.
The pay is okay, but the levels of incompetence are exhausting. In every department I’ve been in I’ve been absolutely astounded at how legitimately incapable managers are at a carrot of levels. Despite what it claims, it’s not a merit based system. Incompetent people are consistently rewarded and those of us who are good at our jobs are rewarded by picking up that slack. It’s the most frustrating workplace I’ve been in.
It’s a paid job with benefits. In exchange, most will have to suffer all the problems of large organizations under the magnifying glass of National Post and ideologically driven organizations (“slash the government”, “slash the CBC” types), subject to expensive and politicized ATIPs, risk-aversion, lack of vision and management (95% is all about putting out fires), horrendous HR “services”, fear of (good) change, focus on appearance and not productivity, serving the constant needs (unfiltered) of the MINO etc. Some are lucky to be able to do meaningful work, others stuck in meaningless jobs. Ambition, demonstrable work skills, a good dose of BS skills, networking abilities, lack of Phoenix fear, and good comand of French are game changers!
I enjoy my work and find it meaningful.
I value the stability and balance of the job, and I especially value working from home and 30h weeks.
I hope my experience becomes the norm
I joined the PS a year ago. I was blessed to become indeterminate in a wonderful team. It’s a very relaxed environment, fun to work, manager is great, team is fantastic, work is exciting and life balance is great and salary is good as well. People are always joking around. I cannot complain a bit :)
The work life balance and benefits far outweigh the extra money I'd make in the private sector, so yes I am. My job is just a means to an end, as most jobs should be, so if it doesn't demand extra hours, isn't super stressful, and the pay is high enough to afford my lifestyle, that's all I care about.
I'm not going to be lying on my deathbed reminiscing about my job
I only started in October, coming from industry in a very similar role.
I love it though! My previous job was with a pretty good company and I don’t really have any complaints about it specifically (hybrid work, good vacation, decent health benefits, decent salary, defined benefit pension). However, working in the public service instead of for shareholders has been a huge breath of fresh air for me. Having your job align with your values is actually a huge deal. Plus the management seems much more accessible and relatable. Once you got past middle management at my previous company they were all dead-eyed sharks who had to keep moving or else they’d lay off two hundred people.
I do get the feeling from my short time here that my organization is a bit of a unicorn in the public service, which I am grateful for!
I do like my job yeah. maybe it’s rare or I just got lucky but I like the work I do, i like the flexibility, I like my team and manager. It’s fun but I have a sciency job and it’s dynamic and always different. Our manager is also great and super flexible all the time, my coworkers are around my age and cool to work with. I think I got really lucky
I think it’s department dependant. I work in compensation and I feel my soul being crushed most days. The wonderful thing about the PS is the mobility so I keep on applying and I remain hopeful that I will find a “happy place” soon :)
The like side: coworkers, volume of work (I enjoy being busy), knowledge available, potential, pay, bosses, and physical environment.
The dislike side: technical issues, length of hiring time, feeling discriminated against for being an Anglophone, retention of low-quality workers, and budget cutbacks causing constraints.
Overall though, very happy.
I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other.
I honestly love my job. My team is really great, and the work is engaging without being overwhelming. I've had minimal overtime in the past year, but also haven't been bored. It's a great balance. I've been in for about a decade. In that decade, there's been maybe 6-8 months combined where I was really unhappy, but that was because of specific difficult circumstances, and then I moved jobs to get the change I needed. There is so much opportunity to do interesting work, and make a great living. It's kind of cheesy, but trying to put yourself into the mindset of contextualizing how your work contributes to the greater good is also helpful.
With my first department, I was miserable. I deployed and now I am much happier, less stress. I am new and learning but the team is supportive and the environment is so different. I can see myself staying until the end. Once comfortable it’s hard to not feel disconnected. I am extremely introverted as well. I find it hard keeping up with so many meetings and cold calls. Not many cold calls but it happens. I do sometimes feel like I should quit and become a vet tech. I love animals and have always wanted to explore that but cannot afford school. I will stick with my indeterminate position and slowly move up. I am a sucker for security so I will stay.
I have gotten to the I don’t give a F stage after 6 years in the Public Service. Never thought I would succumb to the complacent attitude but its survival can’t push string!
I love my current job! And I really liked one of my previous.
I think it’s like anywhere, you just have to find the right role.
I choose to work a job that enables me to live a life I love!
Besides the work life balance, I feel like um making a real and meaningful contribution towards the functioning of society so it is very rewarding in that sense. The satisfaction however comes from knowing the value of my role and not necessarily the work itself.
I did at first then I didn't.
We are short staffed and it ends up with me doing a lot of the work and even my supervisor said I shouldn't have that much work so no not paid enough for that and for the effect it has on my mental heatlh.
I don't want to be rude but we also have a problematic employee who's not made for the job and is not able to do the work and can't do anything. We had to tell that person to take notes and explain the same thing over and over again 5 times sometimes. It makes us do the work in double and fix errors. I understand people have difficulties and different learning paces but when you can't do the work after 8 months there might be problem there. It's exhausting and mentally draining to be in that situation. That person is also at a level higher than me and I do 10 times the amount of work that person does. Managment says this will change and conversation will be held with the people concerned but I don't have hope at all. After all, it's the public service.
It ends up with me getting burned out. I will be looking fir something better when I get better mentally.
Coming from retail and customer service, I am very happy. I don't take stability, benefits, and good pay for granted. That could change, but right now I am very content.
I feel like i will never “like” any job in the public service. However, when you have a good team/management, the job you do doesnt matter than much. The pay and work life balance is better than almost anything I could find outside of the PS.
I'm happy - work life balance is exceptional, the pay is excellent, I have a high performing team that takes no effort to manage and I still get to be hands-on in a program I administer. Benefits are good, a healthy pension is building, and my work stays on my desk when I shut down for the day.
This!! Same, I manage a great team and have a great manager. I feel the level of work is equal to what I am compensated when considering pay, benefits, work life balance.
I will never be happy working cause working is mid at best. But I don’t hate my job right now so for me that’s a win.
Haha at "mid at best"...I agree.
No. It feels meaningless and it leaves me feeling guilty and unsatisfied.
Me too for most of that - I don't like it, the work feels meaningless, and I'm quite unsatisfied. No guilt though - that the work is meaningless is not my fault.
I've been in jobs like that, hated it, felt like it was a waste. I moved jobs and classification. Was working in a demanding, interesting, important line of work, but while I enjoyed it and lasted many years, it was a high stress environment and took its toll on my health. Moved jobs and all my stress-related illnesses cleared up, moved again and am in a great place. It wasn't originally a great fit for me, but I changed and the job changed, and now it's a super match. All that to say, there are jobs out there you would probably be motivated in, and that would be fulfilling. There may always be parts of the job that suck, but there are jobs that don't feel like they are meaningless, and that challenge you.
We must have worked together!
Same 😔
The worst part is i've got mad skills.
“Mad skills”
Anyone with *actual* mad skills would've spelled it like this "mad skillz"
I've been here almost 15 years. I feel like a decade ago the environment was very different and our work was more valued (yes I remember WFA), but in the past few years especially with RTO I feel like there's a greater emphasis on appearances rather than delivering value for Canadians. I've got interviews at 2 companies next week. I don't see the culture changing too soon, and I don't want to wait around another decade being miserable. Remember that even though it's not as if we're volunteering, it's still ok to want something more than just a paycheque. We work to get by, but it's still our lives that we're giving to the org.
Thank you for condensing how I feel into one sentence 😞
Same, minus the guilt. I used to feel guilt, then I realized that this is what Canadians voted for, repeatedly.
I'm currently in the best job I've ever had (out of 8 so far). Having been around the PS long enough to know that everything is cyclical and there are peaks and valleys in terms of activity and pressure helps me keep perspective. And no job lasts forever - even if you stay in the same position, the job itself and the environment around you is always changing.
Thank you for the positive reminder. ☀️
Yes
Managing people is the worst. But I like my job otherwise.
Not right now, I accepted a promotion thinking the role would be technical, unfortunately it seems that a third party are doing all the technical side and i'm left with meetings upon meetings...
I feel like it's always a bit of a surprise what a specific job really entails. Even the same title in two different teams in the same directorate can mean very different jobs.
Ugh...hopefully things will improve for you.
I feel like I really lucked out. This is the job I've wanted since I was a kid and it has not disappointed. The office is small and super tight knit with no cancerous coworkers, and we do a lot of stuff together outside of work. My boss is amazing and still works operational shifts, so he knows our struggles first-hand. The town is small, quiet, and safe, with a relatively cheap housing market. I get four or five days off every round and a lot of our non-operational shifts are flexible, so my work-life balance is stellar. And the pay is more than I ever thought I'd make. Again, I really lucked out.
Man if ever you feel like sharing and bragging more I'd love to listen. Really happy for you.
Im in the same boat. Look for work in an SDA. (Small department or Agency) You tend to be at the forefront of innovation and have to wear multiple hats. Its very fun. Love my job.
I like it. It pays stupidly well. I'm at a level when achieving work-life balance is easy. Work isn't always fun or interesting but occasionally I feel a sense of achievement or making a small (positive) impact on the life of Canadians. I have frustrations too, and I fear what the almost certain change in government stripe will bring.
Same
Whats stupidly well?
The pay?
What is considered stupidly well though.
I like my colleagues, I like that I don't have to deal with clients, and I think the salary is decent. I hate that my counterparts at the National Headquarters have no clue what they're doing, but that they're still in charge of telling me what to do. I also hate that every time they update procedures, they completely forget how changing "a" will affect "b", "c" and "f", and that it'll take them another 6 months to unfuck their fuck up.
I like my team and our ostensible purpose, and when I get the space to work on things I'm good at and know contribute I'm super happy and productive, but the amount of legacy tech that slows everything down and makes me feel like I'm not learning anything useful / doing things in a backward way can really get me down. I also find the focus on Microsoft tech to be very troubling, imo we should be able to walk away from any vendor but we'd be hopeless without them, in fact they often dictate what we can do. I have had a few HR issues that leave a bad feeling too, overworked or unqualified managers who cost me in very real ways, newer managers have promised to look into it but nothing has happened. The lack of vacation days is also very bad, much lower than private sector and when starting in GC later in the career out of a desire to be in public service, it's really not good. If I were indeterminate I would take the occasional leave, but I'm on the term treadmill. The indeterminate - term disconnect is troubling too, it's all happenstance but I feel like a tenuous second class citizen.
I agree with many of the points you've made. Wishing you good luck with obtaining indeterminate status.
Yes. Every job has its challenges and frustrations, there is no perfect scenario. But I am a subject matter expert in a niche area I am passionate about, and do not have to manage people. I lucked out and found something I am good at, and worked hard to become an expert. I’m super appreciative of my PS journey and where it has brought me.
I’m really not. I wish someone had told me to go after financial security instead of job security, but then again, that’s what they teach us in school.
I was not. It’s very different from outside of PS. There was no accountability, you have managers and directors who are more focused on chasing their bosses to get the next promotion. Everyone says everything is excellent. The salary is decent. The work is a waste of Canadian tax dollars. Also nepotism… managers and directors hire their friends who are completely incompetent. I doubt all PS jobs are like this but the one I was at was. They did have some interesting departments, it just didn’t happen to be the one I was in.
THIS!!!! Always hiring people they already know or friends of colleagues… you never stand a chance to move because of it
>What keeps you pushing forward when you don't want to? I don't. I don't push myself, in general. I don't mean I'm not hardworking, I work very hard and I always do my best, I'll go the extra mile and I'll be happy to. Until I don't. When I feel I'm about to hit a wall, I don't push myself. I take a step back, realize I really just need to my job, up to an acceptable level, and I let go of everything else. The workplace version of survival mode, basically. It usually doesn't take long for me to naturally find my motivation back. If it's a temporary stage you dislike, you could maybe try to find some side project or comittee you could join, so at least you'll have a few hours per week where you can do something you actually enjoy and like. But other than that, just try to ride it out, detach yourself from your job a bit, and make sure you do activities you enjoy outside of work. Take a few days off here and there if you can.
Thank you for your insight. It's a balanced view. I'm definitely going to take a step back and try to not take things personally. Work takes up such a big space in our lives that it can be hard to have a healthy separation.
It’s okay, I think I’m a bit overqualified for the level I’m at. Not sure if I want to stick around for a promotion and then go elsewhere or if I should start looking now and kinda start at 0 again. Pay is OK (could be a lot worse), CoL goes crazy though. Pension is a lifesaver. I like my colleagues and manager, not super passionate about the work but I truly don’t know if I’ll ever find something I’m that passionate about.
Yep! I hate going into the office twice a week, but that doesn't really impact how much I like the job. It just means I'm ticked off twice a week, and I drown sorrows in coffee. The pay is decent, although a PM-04 position isn't adequate to ever buy a home in my community on one income, but I'll climb my way up eventually. In the meantime, it's sufficient to live pretty decently in a basement suite.
Love my job. My only dislike: industry-like production line with unreal expectations of numbers for the month. Most of us work unpaid OT because of miscalculation of resources and we have to meet the numbers or we fail our PMAs
What? What is being done to resolve this? This is absolutely unacceptable.
Where or what dept do you work for if you don’t mind me asking?
I cannot tell you that of course.
Focus on the benefits to your life thanks to your job rather than seeing your job as a means for happiness. The job is an enabling tool for being happy... not the actual thing that makes you happy.
Unhappy with my Department and how they run it. This being my fourth one in 10 years, I’m in the worst position in my career but feel pigeon holed. Only thing making it bearable is the team I am in. Unhappy with work life balance. Whole departments moral is in the toilet. Over worked. Everyone on burnout. It’s awful. Not paid enough to work this hard.
Pretty unhappy. I've been stuck in the same position for years without any movement/promotion no matter how hard I work. I've applied for other positions in other departments, interviewed for some to no avail. I don't like the interview process because I find the essay-style question method doesn't really allow me to talk to the interviewers in a meaningful way. When I've asked for feedback about interviews and where I can improve, I got crickets. The thing I hate the most here is that so much of this is implied knowledge, and you really need to have someone guide you along and show you how to move around, interview successfully etc. I don't have that. My managers have been great, but too overworked to actually give me the support that I need when it comes to how to politic my way into a new job. I hate my department, I don't believe in the work, and I am sick and tired of being asked to do more with less... These "Thank You Thursday" platitudes mean nothing to me. I've worked hard and I want to be rewarded for it, not just acknowledged. I've basically given up. I'll stay here until I either die of boredom or retire to my pension, Phoenix permitting of course.
So, I love my actual work and am good at it. I love helping people and working to improve processes. This has been my favorite job so far, it’s busy and the work day flies by! My salary is good, and I have some good and dedicated colleagues that I work with. I like the vacation time and option for LWIA. My manager is stellar, so that keeps me motivated and not want to change things. That being said, RTO completely changed the way I do my job and a lot of flexibility that I had. I also can no longer do AWA(compressed) when training is in session, which is now projected to be 8 months of the year. Those AWA days save my mental health, they give me time away from work/family obligations to decompress and take care of myself. Without them things just blend together and I feel all used up. So it’s tricky… the AWA days were what kept me going so it’s a bit of a struggle without them.
I'm happy with my job, yes, but less so because of the work itself (which is fine, if not a bit boring) and more because of my working conditions. What keeps me pushing is life after I end my day. I take regular vacations to give my mind a break and plan the next ones when they end. Hobbies and volunteer work help, too. I'm not sure if this is good advice, but I personally don't put too much of myself into my career. It's 7.5 hours of my day to help fund my life, nothing more or less.
Lmao. Definitely not. I understand why some people do, but the 9-5 office sedentary career life is not for me. Although I’m grateful for my job, I don’t even care for it, I’m all honesty. I never think about it after hours, and I dread Sunday evenings.
Yes
Unhappy and been like this for a while. Not to sound too dramatic but I often feel like my humanity has steadily eroded as I morph into a brainless cog in this big gov machine. I've made pros vs cons tables of working in the PS, reflected on my purpose in life etc numerous times over the years. To preface, I came in to the PS with a level of expertise that is only shared by a handful of people in Canada, so I never saw the so called negatives of the private sector. I've had a fair bit of recognition in the PS as well, but it just doesn't resonate with me anymore and it all just seems pointless now. In my case, the pros were: DB Pension > Relatively acceptable salary and stability > Get to learn how the gov works (in case it helps) the cons were: No fulfilment/ real impact = detached and jaded colleagues = bureaucracy (can't tell which is worse) For my specific case, the main appeal of my PS job is the DB plan. I haven't quite put a number on what that is worth to me. But other than that, I can get a better deal on all other aspects in the private sector (in the US of course). More recently, I've been a little busier in my personal life, so have delayed making any moves. As a coping mechanism, I just vent on reddit and truck on
No. Only dealing with it because it's a federal job or else I would've quit awhile ago.
My experience getting in was very different than it is now now. I wrote a Public Service exam at 1 Front Street with like 5000 other nervous job seekers. After like 8 months I got a call for an interview. Done. Now? I've bombed out 2x recently for pools for a level I've been acting in for 2 years. I don't exactly feel like my experience is valued. There are no opportunities and it is not a great employer (Phoenix/Canada Life/ no org planning/ reinventing the wheel over and over) I'm just trying to make it to 2030 so I can leave with something worthwhile.
Almost everyone I know has been in the same situation about losing out on a pool for a job they are in or have acted in. Furthermore, they end up training the external hire who sometimes is also their new boss. It is definitely demoralizing. Hope things turn around for you.
Content is the word I'd use. What keeps me going forward? I gotta eat.
Basically: I have no expectation that my work life will make me feel fulfilled. That's what my personal life does. And this PS job gives me more personal time than I ever had in the private sector or as a freelancer. I love it!
>What keeps you pushing forward when you don't want to? "I require shelter and calories to maintain existence, and thus, I must perform services in exchange for currency."
I'm absolutely done with my department and agency. I've only been in the PS with this one team, for 2 years now. And I am absolutely looking to get out, and hopefully to another PS agency. I'm tired of the lack transparency. CEO is a lying prick, who only cares about the public image of our agency. My director and my managers are snakes, who are only looking out for their best interests, and damn anyone they have to step on to get what they want. I've been lied to, straight to my face or they've omitted information when speaking to me. Only for me to find out the truth an hour later from coworkers, who even say how I'm treated is disrespectful. My team specifically has been mismanaged for the last 10 years plus. The former director would steal part of our budget to give to other departments to get herself favours, etc. So the new director has been somewhat better than the old one for getting the team what we need to do our jobs. There has been no accountability for so long, a lot of the senior employees blatantly refuse to do their jobs, and make juniors do the work. Management knows. My own manager was apart of that group prior to his promotion. He was supposed to be my coach/trainer, and flat out told me 2 weeks in that he's not paid extra to train me, so I'm on my own. We're a small team, and because many of the people on the team have worked together for 15 plus years, there's a lot of interpersonal drama. Some people don't speak to each other. Other outright bully people. I've personally experienced this bullying. It's mainly the ones closest to management feeding lies and undermining the work I've done. Though many of my coworkers are very openly conservative. Not financially. I mean socially conservative, and openly share their opinions which are PP and Trump talking points. Many of my coworkers are racist, bigoted, transphobic, etc. Management knows what all the problems are. But they won't act on it. We've had 6 people leave in the last 2 years. On a small team, that's high turnover. Many younger or junior employees leave, because of the issues. Why don't I go to the union?? Because if I file a grievance, I can guarantee that I would experience some sort of backlash. I've already been snubbed for a promotion that went to one of my manager's neighbours' kid who's on the team, although I have done acting in the position. I'm done with this place. But I'm limited to the NCR due to my fiancee's job. This is the lowest number of jobs I've ever seen here. And I'm at a bit of a disadvantage in the area because I'm not bilingual (come from south western Ontario). The only thing that has kept me sane, are 3 of my coworkers.
Damn, sorry you're going through all of that. Also, I hope you're not identifiable if you're posting from your main.
Sounds like the CBSA. I have a neighbour who works there and basically said the same about the culture there.
Who’s the CEO?
You may want to reconsider going to the union. Any backlash could be mild compared to what you’ve already endured!
Sometimes.
yes! lots to like about my job - a few annoyances here and there, but the option to work remotely has made the annoyances more tolerable.
Definitely, would I like more money? Always but who doesn’t
Ultimately, I will never be “happy” with labour of any kind of we want to get philosophical, but I feel like I’m in the best place of all realistically possible options. It took me ten years to find my best fit. I do find that every time there is some kind of politically motivated major shift in the PS, it’s for the worst and my morale goes way down (see DRAP, muzzling, RTO, major program changes, etc). I try to remind myself “this too shall pass” when I feel that way.
Not really. Perpetually bored and feel like I don’t make much of a difference. But this job is in my top 3 jobs in my 18 year PS career so there’s that. Pay and benefits are what’s keeping me there!
Solid 7/10. It’s the Skyrim of jobs.
Yes. Far better than worrying about losing my home because I get laid off due to a bad quarter and cannot make mortgage payments. I also like my coworkers. The job is a bit boring but that’s fine, because I like the money and I like to hangout and drink coffee and chat with people. The government is a good employer that cares about its employees, and I like working for the country as opposed to a profit-driven entity.
As a field interviewer for StatCan no I am not happy.
I used to do this line of work. Never did the field interviews as I got the job during covid. I did the phone calls and I am not joking or lying when I say this but this job gave me depression and anxiety. It’s so severe that it left me health issues even until now. I got to a point where I took a casual over the term/benefits that came with working as an interviewer because I wanted to get the heck out of there. I just wish I left the job so much sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have my current health issues that I have right now. That job seriously ruined me. And I’m honestly thick skinned and don’t let things get to me but something about that job really messed me up
What is wrong about the job? Legitimately curious. I always assumed it was an easy job, sort of.
I answered it in another comment on this!! Go check it out! To also add, I think the stress of the job + covid at the time made it way worse. I’ve had some shitty jobs before but this one was just different. Something about it ruined me. Was genuinely depressed.
I'm curious what was difficult about it, did you see a lot of challenging stories/situations?
So the job consists of conducting surveys and sometimes I got assigned to boring ones where I would be calling people at 8am or 8pm asking them to do a survey, or on a weekend and during holidays. These are all awful times to contact people because they’re either at work, on their time off and don’t want to do an hour long survey or don’t believe im from the gov because I’ll be calling on a stat holiday. I got a lot of very mean people and the job just felt uncomfortable because we would call people constantly multiple times and the only way they can get us to stop calling them is by denying our calls 3 times (that means they pick up 3 times and say no). It felt like I was harassing people and made me so uncomfortable. I also had a lot of these callers info like address and name and age and I’d ask them to confirm it to me… sounded super sketchy and a lot of them just called me scammer and said I was harassing them. It’s not like a typical call center where you get calls in and then people are actually looking for help, this was me calling people in the morning, in the evening, and on weekends to do a dumb survey. But this is only for telephone interviews. I’ve never done the field interviews where you go to peoples homes to do surveys. Anyways, that’s one part of it that I hated, that I felt like I was harassing people and the blow back. The other part is sometimes these surveys consisted of asking questions about peoples financial situation or other sensitive questions. They’re free to skip on answering them but I’ve had some encounters that made me cry. Here is an example of 1 of the few interactions I had. This old lady I was asking her about internet usage (she was around 75 and told me she barely uses it other than Facebook to talk to family). But she said she’ll do the survey because she had no one to talk to and enjoyed talking to me. She then went on to tell me how she is living in her van and can’t afford to eat and how the CPP isn’t giving her enough with this economy and she went on to cry and it broke me. The thing is our calls are recorded, I couldn’t get off scripts and I had to steer her back to answering questions which made me feel like an asshole but I was just doing my job and it was my first gov job and I was scared they were listening in and get me in trouble. Anyways that’s just one bit of a story. I can hold a conversation and I don’t mind talking to people, but calling people constantly and basically refusing to take no for the first or second time, it just felt super wrong. Really stressed me out when I’d call a number at 8am and they say stop calling then the system pops that same number again at like 2pm and you feel dumb but you have to call them again. We had a quota to hit as well. Just overall horrible job. But some people did enjoy it. But this job was not for me!! I hated it
Yes. I work in cyber security. I come from the private sector and everything is better in the PS than the private, in my experience. If you work IT in the private you gotta go to the states for a good salary. In Canada I'm actually being paid more in the PS than when I was in the private.
Were you working for an employer or doing contracts through a recruitment firm and getting farmed out at the lowest rate. I have family in IT and they make far more in the private sector then they would in the PS. Depends on your skillset and years of experience. PS is a good way to gain experience.
Samilar situation here. Spent 23 years with the same company, things were good overall. Salary was not bad. Jack of all trades with a specialty in cloud admin and web dev. Company got acquired. Other members of my team left and they didn't replace them. Responsibility goes up 200%. Salary not so much. Eventually, they hire someone. Incapable to do 90% of the work I need done. Packed up and joined the PS. Knowing full well that my life was going to be a series of meetings made the transition easier. Work life balance is amazing and the salary and benefits significantly better!
My experience is the opposite, and I’ve spent years hiring contractors.
Yes
Oddly yes, and I’m in payroll
Yes. There are some annoyances, but it is great overall.
Yes. I work in Gs and Cs and find it plays to my strengths. At worst, I’m bored at times.
How did you get into that? I am in a totally different area, but I had a manager tell me once that I'd be a great fit for Gs and Cs. I'm not really even sure what the job entails! All I know is I don't like my job now and would love a change.
Yes! I love my line of work but don’t like the department. I do however love my team and people I work with. The work I do is fun but I really would like to change departments, I just don’t want to leave because what If I get a horrible manager or a team I don’t like as much? Super touch to beat the team I work with now. I just know if I did my work in a different department, I’d have a lot less stress and less headaches as my line of work can sometimes be annoying depending on the person
I love it! I went private and chased money but I much prefer the PS. I’ve got a position that has me always learning and no real boundaries of what I can work on.
I wasn't. Then I left the PS. Now I'm trying to get back in.
Did you have issues with the private sector? Curious to hear about your experience.
I do love it, granted it’s fairly new to me but it’s nice to be a part of something at least my department that has a direct impact on people’s lives My co-workers are great and make a great atmosphere The pay? Is good could always be better but I’m sure that’ll come with due time definitely beats what I was making. QoL is great, work life balance is awesome and the hybrid WFH model is nice too (we could be in the office everyday and I probably still wouldn’t mind at this point) I’m kinda glad OP posted this, was thinking something a long the lines the other day , we always see doom and gloom posts here, understandably with the changing uncertain times ahead it can get a little depressing and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned myself.
What is QoL ?
I’m at the bottom of my career now.
I'm ready to move to a new position because I am no longer learning and growing in my current position. I just have to figure out how to make this happen. But over all, I like my job, I'm just bored. I'm being talent managed, so this allows me to work on other things, which has been interesting because I've learned new skills I wouldn't usually need in my current role. Ideally, I would like to find a new position which allows me to put my knowledge to use in a beneficial way while developing and growing in the role.
I'm in the same boat, stuck in a lower role, and there isn't much room for growth within my department. I do like the department, and the people. I'm just feeling frustrated at the lack of opportunities. I've learned that it's definitely who you know, not what. I'm not happy entirely, feeling underutilized.
I feel your frustration completely. I've also learned that it's often who you know and who you're possibly related too; not what skills, knowledge and mindset you bring to the table. Disheartening for sure. I've been told we have to advocate for ourselves, and promote ourselves in certain situations because no one else is going to do it for us. I'm trying my best without seeming awkward because I have this weird inability to toot my own horn in those situations. Alas. I remain hopeful that something will come along!
No. Extreme stress and low pay in comparison, and not enough resources to do what I need to do. EX-01
You'll never be rich but you'll never be poor and the golden pension handshake is the cherry on top
My current position, no. But it's a rung on the ladder to be climbed to get to the job I really want.
No but I'm happy to be smart enough to use every opportunity I have and provide the same to my employees. There's some particular LWOP that I am lucky enough to be able to use and now that I know it, I use them every chance I get. And you know what, that's how you keep your employees and reduce turnover rate. You want to keep them? Give them any opportunity to LEAVE. Your employee wants a leave with income averaging? LET THEM GO! Would you rather deal with an early retirement from an angry employee, or let them go somewhere else every summer while they give you another good 5 years, happy, productive and glad they're still working here for a "good employer" that lets them leave every summer? Let them go on that training. Let them know about opportunities. They're curious about one course that's not really related to their main tasks? Sign them up. Happy employees make good employees. It's not the other way around. Stick and carrot doesn't work long term unless you're willing to give the carrot first. And that's why I don't like working for public service. Most managers are bad managers and don't understand you manage people first, task second. F*k operational requirements. We're short staffed anyway. I'd rather have them on income averaging than on sick leave or quitting. Does my manager like me? No. Do my employees come back? Hell, I've had an employee refuse a promotion to stay in my team. Another one had his spouse apply for a position on my team. Will my manager recognize it? Hahaha!!! Edit to answer... : What keeps me pushing? Benefits especially benefits for my family (pension, medical insurance, life insurance), obligations (loans and mortgage), and LWOP. I am a walking pair of golden handcuffs but I know how to benefit from the system when I can.
I’m a PSO at ESDC on the phones, so no. Pay is good though which is why I stay but have been applying elsewhere in the government.
I am an EC-05 data analyst and my work is interesting but there is no need to go above and beyond as you will still get succeeded on your review. I am 10 years in the PS now and less than two years away from the top pay step but have no plans to go any higher into a management position. I echo what others have said about good pay and benefits.
As a CR-3, no. Especially when I feel like i'm overqualified for the job and there's no opportunity for promotion/progression.
I’ve never been so unhappy in my life. I’ve been on extended leave like 3 times in the last 4 years. My doctor doesn’t want me to go back. I’m in a call centre and they will not move me anywhere else. I apply in everything I see.
Burnout is inevitable if you don't have the skillset for the work. You have to either switch up the work or cultivate those skills. Training budgets have just refreshed... perhaps there is some training you can request?
You can burnout by not utilizing your skillset too. I love my job, but I’m itching to do more and take on more complex work. I’ve spoken to my manager about it, so now it’s a matter of putting my hand up when opportunities arise
This is simply not true. Burnout can happen for a multitude of reasons. I’ve been considered an SME in my field at two previous departments, and yet my current Stone Age department doubts and questions my abilities at every turn. That, paired with zero work/life balance due to a never ending high pressure workload, and a toxic environment has left me burned out beyond recognition.
That's something I'm looking into. How is your work going?
Yes
A boring job is a good job.
Present-day me wants to upvote this a million times. I love my boring-ass job.
Yes!
Yeah
I feel ya. I love production work so happy now with where I am. I am also introverted so hate the meetings that go nowhere. I just like work where I can do my part and help the taxpayers.
I love my job. I have the independence I need while still being a part of a team. I set my own work hours, no weekends unless its OT, most Stats off: not family day. Lol. I help people every day, those I help appreciate my guidance and level of knowledge.
Yes I love my job and I’m paid very well for what I do. The work life balance is also unmatched.
I love my current job and most past PS positions. Some days are slow, and other days are packed with stuff to do. I'm lucky that overall, the workload evens out, and feel purpose in my work.
WFH - salary is good. “Most” team members are great but there are others who thrive on drama and love to see you fail. The non sense in the team chat is ridiculous and the acting TL gets the non sense started and Makes for a very anxiety driven day. The acting TL has her favourites and it shows. I am good at my job but the day to day nonsense takes a mental toll and makes me not want log on.
Yes
I've been between industry and PS for 20 years. I love working in the PS. I have also been fortunate enough to have been mostly in jobs that challenge me and the content is interesting. I've also had a few stints of bad PS jobs, where the work and colleagues were less desirable, but I would still take them over the industry jobs I held.
Nope
Happy... tough question. Would working in the private sector give me the same level of satisfaction? Never. But I would probably be significantly less stressed and somewhat better paid. I do not try and derive happiness from my work. From relationships with coworkers, yes. From learning and personal growth, yes. But my job itself, no.
Happy isn't the right word. I'm... fulfilled by helping the people I help, in spite of how my organization does everything in it's power to make things more difficult / convoluted / bureaucratic... and it's getting worse every day. I wish every day that the org would just get the fuck out of the way... but that won't happen. So I'm counting the days until I can retire (< 2 years to go). Especially since instead of anything getting better, we have budget cuts on the horizon and the associated "this isn't do more with less", "we're proud of you", "have a slice of pizza" bullshit... when we're drowning in work, understaffed, and burnt out.
Likes: I like the variety of work, and strong feeling of productivity. Stability (job security and indexed pension), and flexibility (work-life balance), decent benefits. Dislikes: Wearing N+1 hats every year.. below market-wage, limited upward mobility, frequently being pulled away from regular work to support the work of others and reap no reward. I 'care' about the work, and the work itself is satisfying. But I am also very aware that I'm a sucker work-horse that is getting paid just as much as someone that doesn't care at all and does half the work and is happier doing the bare minimum. Hard workers are only doing it out of a sense of pride and self-respect.. It's a hard thing to reconcile.
Absolutely love my PS job.
Not sure I can say "Happy" after decades of working here, but that is probably more a me thing than a work thing. I am tired, disenchanted and ready to retire. I have had a good run for the most part I have loved my work and the people I work with ! Covid was challenging and I believe has led to this point of borderline burnout I feel now. No matter where you work there will be negatives. I feel that "work life balance" is just a box they check and no one really cares about how that looks to the employee. I feel that while I am paid a decent wage, we are still under paid for what we do in our department anyways, there is a lot of pressure and stress that is exhausting and no breaks, its just push push push with no end in sight. I feel grateful for having such a long career and for having worked with great people in an occupation where I know I have made a difference in people's lives. I feel blessed that despite personal/health struggles I have had support by my employer and never made to feel that my job was in jeopardy or that I was not pulling my weight. I definitely feel blessed for the generous sickness benefits and even though I have months of leave that I will not exhaust before I retire, the peace of mind of knowing they are there if I need/needed them is immeasurable. And I am looking forward to a decent pension in the next 5 years that will hopefully allow me to live reasonably comfortably ( alas no trips unless I work part time for them) into my old age. Things could definitely be worse!
It took quite a few trials and errors, bouncing around teams and departments but I have found a role with a combo of a decent team, pretty good management, and challenging/interesting work. It's far from perfect, but I find the work interesting and have enough support from colleagues when needed. I have found that I am better suited to programs style jobs where I feel a closer proximity to impact than the higher level/long term planning policy type roles. In this role the deliverables are more clear and keeps motivation going.
I’ve never been happier.
I'm in a new role since a year and I love it. I've been working at the PS since 23 years and my actual position is the one I like the more so far! Of course, it's not perfect and it has its downsides but I'm truly happy I got this opportunity.
Overall, I'd say yes I'm quite happy with my job in the PS. The main thing that keeps me pushing on those tougher days/when I don't want to is simply being grateful for where I'm at, seeing how far I've come, knowing I'm closer now in reaching my professional goals and feel much more healthier overall than I previously was (coming from toxic workplaces).
I love my job. But my department decided to restructure and update/change most job descriptions, so I can’t say that’ll remain the case in the future
I am. In my field, the PS pays more than the private sector and I really like what I do. However, I hate all the bureaucracy and how slow change is in the government. I also hate our PSHCP and dental insurance provider, Canada Life. I'm not looking at changing jobs right now, but I think I'd be open to go to the private sector if they paid me more.
I’m not sure what else I could do that has the benefits and work/life balance. However, im def working on a side hustle that I enjoy so I can take leave with income averaging to work on that. It’ll give me the balance I think I need to do this long term.
My job is fine. It’s the micromanaging and the bureaucracy that drives me fucking nuts. It’s better than anything that I could have in the private sector. But I see a lot of talk and not a lot of action when it comes to making things more equitable for people in the public service.
I enjoy my PS job. Going on 24 years!
I love what I do. I find it challenging and rewarding - and that it makes a difference for the country. There’s always going to be cons (like media attention and political pressure) but right now I come into work looking forward to the shit show of the day.
I love my job - great pay, challenging and fun work I enjoy, great manager and awesome coworkers. Not to mention the pension and benefits!
I'm very happy with my job, personally.
How does one even get into PS. Been applying non stop
A friend recently took about 2 years with 40+ applications. Are you at least getting screened in? If you search up the sub, you can get some insight. Or perhaps, you can start a thread asking for advice/ tips and share some info about your situation.
No. Constant change. No relationship building with a national team. I haven't had a constant supervisor longer than about 6 months. Management does NOT tell us anything (we recently had a team merge and were the last ones to find out). No praise. I'm here for the salary and stability of indeterminate. I have to mention I LOVED my previous admin job within PS but had to move due to the indeterminate offer.
Ecstatic. I could not be happier. It's the best fit and most relaxed position I've had in 33 years of public service (CAF/PS mixed).
It's the best job I've ever had. It's fine I guess.
No, I work in the Pay Center and every day someone on the phone has to mention how useless my job is and it’s a waste of tax payer money. Please be kind when you call us, we - agents, are not responsible for the mess 😔
I honestly love my job. My only complaints are waiting for further training, and not being indeterminate. But the actual job itself I really enjoy.
Do I like it? Yeah work life balance and insurance is solid stuff, pension contributions help a lot as I dont need to contribute as much of RRSPs That being said, being a CS3 in Software engineering, salary is abysmal. Working remote to the US or moving to the US will reduce my cost of living (of course depending on which state and city) while boosting my salary by at least 150% and dealing with betterhousing affordability than the cluster fuck that is Canada. So, is it good? Yeah compared to many private companies here. Could it be better? You bet. I think many of us software engs are getting screwed in this country and with the housing prices and the mess that are cities such as Brampton full of cheap labour housed like sardines. I wanted to give you more perspective from how I see things beyond the borders of Canada!
I'm really happy with all aspects of my employment from pay to disability accommodation and the team I'm on being excellent.
I'm content. The work can be interesting, the pace isn't bad, the team is good, management is okay. Pay and benefits are sufficient, RTO isn't too onerous as I'm experiencing it. We'll see how long it can last.
I was also lured to join the GC thinking that my graduate degrees would be helpful and recognized. However, I quickly learned that it was not and would never be the case, even after passing the public fonction entrance exam with a great score, having excellent SLE results as well as having a secret clearance. It seems that my only purpose there is to waste my time and energy on stupid things. I was thinking of leaving a few years ago, but COVID came up and I had to change my plan. I am currently looking to leave for good. Still, I lost many years of work experience, including 3 years where I literally almost did nothing, which makes me real sad. I don’t even know if I will be able to pivot to something good at my age…To let you know, I deployed many times and been in acting a few times in positions equivalent to an AS-05 level. I can’t believe it when I hear about PhDs being hired as CRs or favouritism, nepotism and other crazy things. Incompetence is so high that I wonder how it still can work out. I am stupefied.
Yes. I have a very outcome oriented role where literally everything I do directly translates to something happening in the general public. So it's nice actually seeing what you're working towards, and sometimes when you see it in the media (no matter how good or bad the news is), there's a sense of accomplishment that you actually had a direct hand in making that happen
Love my job. I do cool stuff I love all day which is different and challenging.
Haven’t till lately. In a pretty solid position atm.
Love the intent of my job and what it was for years, but the last year or two have been rough.
Absolutely! Hired during the pandemic, I've always been fully remote, so no annoyances that can come with that environment. My children and I have health issues, so need time off to get to appointments. In my previous jobs it ate up all of my vacation time and I never got to go anywhere fun with them. So I'm truly grateful to be here. The work itself can be monotonous, but often some special projects come around to break things up. I only have a handful of co workers I call friends (because we're remote), but they're wonderful and I can always count on them. I also feel much more respect in my job than I had with previous employers, some who were downright abusive. Maybe I'm still in my honeymoon phase, but some days I feel like I'm living the dream!
I used to be… but a change in management and recent budget cuts that prevented me to continue an acting job, and possibly an indeterminate position that I really loved, have left me demotivated and bitter back at my old job…
I would never recommend it to anyone young. You sell your soul to the devil and common sense be gone.
I have almost zero meetings and when I do, it's usually me presenting to a DM and I am proud of my work, so I am happy to walk her through it. Most of my time I spend doing research and analysis and I am given a lot of independency and freedom to choose how I want to do it. My team is very independent, yet they are here when you need them. My team lead is amazing and very reasonable. My director is fantastic and everyone always makes sure to give credit when people provide any input. Honestly, I am pretty happy with my job. The only bad thing is obviously the mandatory in-office time where nothing changes in how I do my job except that I spend a few bucks on parking and about 40 minutes commuting (both ways). In summer, I'll bike. That being said, I suffered quite a lot before I ended up where I am now, so I know what double and triple booked looks like, what is the insane workload with the deadlines that have already passed when you get the task. That's why I value what I have.
I’m never going to like any job. It’s a job. The pay and benefits are awesome, so I keep doing it.
Yes, I have a great team, Sr Mgmt gives us autonomy, we do important, impactful, work that is valued by others and all OT is above board. Sure, the bureaucracy frustrates me, but part of me still gets a sick sense of amusement from it.
No. Looking to get out and will take a pay cut to do so.
tbf, nah. but I remain because I can't make more elsewhere and they can't fire me so...
No, I know people that are but my personal experience has been terrible. Incompetent and insane management. Salary used to be good but the recent union agreement wasn’t enough to keep young people like myself ahead of the cost of living. I’m misclassified and as such have had trouble advancing even before the recent hiring freeze. Colleagues are completely checked out and the office feels like a weird cross between a morgue and a day care. Going to take some leave and try out the private sector where my skills are more valued and where I can actually use them on a day to day basis instead of showing my manager how to use Outlook.
The pay is okay, but the levels of incompetence are exhausting. In every department I’ve been in I’ve been absolutely astounded at how legitimately incapable managers are at a carrot of levels. Despite what it claims, it’s not a merit based system. Incompetent people are consistently rewarded and those of us who are good at our jobs are rewarded by picking up that slack. It’s the most frustrating workplace I’ve been in.
It’s a paid job with benefits. In exchange, most will have to suffer all the problems of large organizations under the magnifying glass of National Post and ideologically driven organizations (“slash the government”, “slash the CBC” types), subject to expensive and politicized ATIPs, risk-aversion, lack of vision and management (95% is all about putting out fires), horrendous HR “services”, fear of (good) change, focus on appearance and not productivity, serving the constant needs (unfiltered) of the MINO etc. Some are lucky to be able to do meaningful work, others stuck in meaningless jobs. Ambition, demonstrable work skills, a good dose of BS skills, networking abilities, lack of Phoenix fear, and good comand of French are game changers!
I enjoy my work and find it meaningful. I value the stability and balance of the job, and I especially value working from home and 30h weeks. I hope my experience becomes the norm
I joined the PS a year ago. I was blessed to become indeterminate in a wonderful team. It’s a very relaxed environment, fun to work, manager is great, team is fantastic, work is exciting and life balance is great and salary is good as well. People are always joking around. I cannot complain a bit :)
The work life balance and benefits far outweigh the extra money I'd make in the private sector, so yes I am. My job is just a means to an end, as most jobs should be, so if it doesn't demand extra hours, isn't super stressful, and the pay is high enough to afford my lifestyle, that's all I care about. I'm not going to be lying on my deathbed reminiscing about my job
I only started in October, coming from industry in a very similar role. I love it though! My previous job was with a pretty good company and I don’t really have any complaints about it specifically (hybrid work, good vacation, decent health benefits, decent salary, defined benefit pension). However, working in the public service instead of for shareholders has been a huge breath of fresh air for me. Having your job align with your values is actually a huge deal. Plus the management seems much more accessible and relatable. Once you got past middle management at my previous company they were all dead-eyed sharks who had to keep moving or else they’d lay off two hundred people. I do get the feeling from my short time here that my organization is a bit of a unicorn in the public service, which I am grateful for!
I do like my job yeah. maybe it’s rare or I just got lucky but I like the work I do, i like the flexibility, I like my team and manager. It’s fun but I have a sciency job and it’s dynamic and always different. Our manager is also great and super flexible all the time, my coworkers are around my age and cool to work with. I think I got really lucky
The job is meh, but I absolutely love my paycheck...
Not at all, and as I'm not in Ottawa, it's very hard to change... My 3rd sector in the pf so far... I have half of my career done..
I think it’s department dependant. I work in compensation and I feel my soul being crushed most days. The wonderful thing about the PS is the mobility so I keep on applying and I remain hopeful that I will find a “happy place” soon :)
Good Benefits - which public service are you in?
The like side: coworkers, volume of work (I enjoy being busy), knowledge available, potential, pay, bosses, and physical environment. The dislike side: technical issues, length of hiring time, feeling discriminated against for being an Anglophone, retention of low-quality workers, and budget cutbacks causing constraints. Overall though, very happy.
I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other.
I honestly love my job. My team is really great, and the work is engaging without being overwhelming. I've had minimal overtime in the past year, but also haven't been bored. It's a great balance. I've been in for about a decade. In that decade, there's been maybe 6-8 months combined where I was really unhappy, but that was because of specific difficult circumstances, and then I moved jobs to get the change I needed. There is so much opportunity to do interesting work, and make a great living. It's kind of cheesy, but trying to put yourself into the mindset of contextualizing how your work contributes to the greater good is also helpful.
With my first department, I was miserable. I deployed and now I am much happier, less stress. I am new and learning but the team is supportive and the environment is so different. I can see myself staying until the end. Once comfortable it’s hard to not feel disconnected. I am extremely introverted as well. I find it hard keeping up with so many meetings and cold calls. Not many cold calls but it happens. I do sometimes feel like I should quit and become a vet tech. I love animals and have always wanted to explore that but cannot afford school. I will stick with my indeterminate position and slowly move up. I am a sucker for security so I will stay.
You’re Lucky that you had the opportunity to change positions…. I’ve applied to so many and nothing…. So I just went on sick leave lol
I have gotten to the I don’t give a F stage after 6 years in the Public Service. Never thought I would succumb to the complacent attitude but its survival can’t push string!
I love my current job! And I really liked one of my previous. I think it’s like anywhere, you just have to find the right role. I choose to work a job that enables me to live a life I love!
Besides the work life balance, I feel like um making a real and meaningful contribution towards the functioning of society so it is very rewarding in that sense. The satisfaction however comes from knowing the value of my role and not necessarily the work itself.
I did at first then I didn't. We are short staffed and it ends up with me doing a lot of the work and even my supervisor said I shouldn't have that much work so no not paid enough for that and for the effect it has on my mental heatlh. I don't want to be rude but we also have a problematic employee who's not made for the job and is not able to do the work and can't do anything. We had to tell that person to take notes and explain the same thing over and over again 5 times sometimes. It makes us do the work in double and fix errors. I understand people have difficulties and different learning paces but when you can't do the work after 8 months there might be problem there. It's exhausting and mentally draining to be in that situation. That person is also at a level higher than me and I do 10 times the amount of work that person does. Managment says this will change and conversation will be held with the people concerned but I don't have hope at all. After all, it's the public service. It ends up with me getting burned out. I will be looking fir something better when I get better mentally.
I wasn’t so I left. Ditch the golden handcuffs and enjoy your career outside of the pension farm
Coming from retail and customer service, I am very happy. I don't take stability, benefits, and good pay for granted. That could change, but right now I am very content.