Three Days a Week?

Retired_Can_Soldier

The End of the Dog is Coming!
Mar 19, 2006
11,770
891
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Alberta
Are you fucking kidding?
Three days a week in the office?
How dare you!
What a bunch of self-entitled assholes. Is there a way to fire them and replace them? Useless. Pariah's on the system?
Nah, I'm just kidding.

 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
112,353
12,490
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Low Earth Orbit
Are you fucking kidding?
Three days a week in the office?
How dare you!
What a bunch of self-entitled assholes. Is there a way to fire them and replace them? Useless. Pariah's on the system?
Nah, I'm just kidding.

Yes, yes there is. Get rid of the outdated Unions.

We have labour laws, it's not 1850 any longer.
 

Jinentonix

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 6, 2015
11,194
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Olympus Mons
Sooo they're whining because they wanna continue being even more useless than they were pre-pandemic? "The senior snivel service doesn't have to earn their paycheques, why should we have to?"
 
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bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
1,351
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Yes, yes there is. Get rid of the outdated Unions.

We have labour laws, it's not 1850 any longer.
Unfortunately you are right about Unions. They have carved out a niche where the bureaucracy pays well and comes first with little accountability to the members. CUPE is a bad one because they work together with government to suck money from the regular guy. There are some very good paying, do nothing jobs for the insiders.
 
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bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
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I have no issue working at home as long as the tasks are completed. Therein lies the problem. These government institutions are so far behind and productivity is in the toilet because many people aren't doing their jobs.
Look at the macro trend to see the transition toward public sector employment. It is exactly how the "capitalist" system works as it gravitates toward easy money, and low hanging fruit. Why have unnecessary risks associated with self employment, never mind employing others to work for you.

As for productivity, government will ask for a report that will not be released until it serves their purpose years later. Working from home is the perfect hiding spot for most of them. All possible because they have unlimited funding. If it is easy people line up.


And the 1 in 1000 that does become an entrepreneur is generally a new Canadian.
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
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I have no issue working at home as long as the tasks are completed. Therein lies the problem. These government institutions are so far behind and productivity is in the toilet because many people aren't doing their jobs.
I had that discussion with a boss once. He said "I don't like telecommuting, because I don't know what you're doing." I answered "Boss, you don't come into my office from one end of the week to the other. For all you know, I could be sleeping, playing games, or practicing my best war dance. You judge what I'm doing telecommuting the same way you judge what I'm doing when I'm in the office. . . by my output."
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Satelitte Radio Addict
May 28, 2007
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Toronto, ON
I had that discussion with a boss once. He said "I don't like telecommuting, because I don't know what you're doing." I answered "Boss, you don't come into my office from one end of the week to the other. For all you know, I could be sleeping, playing games, or practicing my best war dance. You judge what I'm doing telecommuting the same way you judge what I'm doing when I'm in the office. . . by my output."
If you were sleeping in the office he would hear your snoring.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
25,412
9,154
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Regina, Saskatchewan
I had that discussion with a boss once. He said "I don't like telecommuting, because I don't know what you're doing." I answered "Boss, you don't come into my office from one end of the week to the other. For all you know, I could be sleeping, playing games, or practicing my best war dance.
Yep, true enough.
You judge what I'm doing telecommuting the same way you judge what I'm doing when I'm in the office. . . by my output."
Bingo! (No racial profiling parody intended)

That’s the crux of the civil service working from home issue. The Trudeau government has increased the size of the federal public service by 37.9%, or almost 100,000 additional employees, since coming to power in 2015, according to a new study by the Montreal Economic Institute.

The report by the fiscally conservative think-tank says the federal government now has nine employees for every 1,000 Canadians — 25.3% higher than in 2015 and a figure which factors in population growth.

Labour costs for the federal public service increased by 53.2% since the Trudeau government took office, the study says, citing figures by Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux.

“Given such a large increase in the size of government, one might expect Canadians to see a significant difference in the quantity and quality of federal services, but this has not materialized,” Giguere said. “Go Scoreboard Baby!!”

Trudeau said he’s focused on supporting Canadians in tough economic times and growing the economy, which won’t be achieved by “austerity and cuts” advocated by business groups and the Conservatives??

Employment gains in the public sector more than offset losses among Canadian businesses last month, highlighting a labour market that has been propped up by government hiring.

In February, public-sector roles rose by 18,800 positions, while the private sector lost 16,400 jobs, Statistics Canada data showed. Over the past year, employment in the public sector has grown 4.7 per cent, versus 1.2 per cent in private industry.
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Average public sector wages were more than nine per cent higher than those of their private sector counterparts at the outset of the pandemic. On top of wages and comprehensive benefits, 88 per cent of government workers were covered by a pension plan, compared to fewer than 23 per cent of private-sector workers and a higher percentage of those public sector pension plans are richer, recession-proof, defined-benefit plans.

Exacerbating the inequality, the public sector is more immune to layoffs because of weak-kneed governments fearful of having strikes on their watch. The irony is that lower-paid private sector workers are paying for the higher wages and benefits of their public-sector counterparts.

No one benefits other than (generally) overpaid civil servants and the governments looking for votes.
“Was there a bureaucrat shortage in Ottawa before Trudeau took over?” said Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Last month, the National Post reported federal executives received $1.3 billion in bonuses between 2015 and 2022.

As well, 89 per cent of federal executives earned bonuses between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 fiscal years.

More federal workers are also receiving bonuses compared to previous years, with a Canadian Taxpayers Federation investigation earlier this year revealing around $200 million in bonuses were handed out to public servants last year, despite performance goals having been met less than 60 per cent of the time.
You judge what I'm doing telecommuting the same way you judge what I'm doing when I'm in the office. . . by my output."
That represents an increase from the $171 million in bonuses handed out in 2020, despite only meeting established performance metrics less than half of the time…& what was happening in 2020 with civil servants regarding office attendance?
Ten years ago, the Montreal-based Institute for Research on Public Policy published an article in its Policy Options magazine titled, Fixing the Bureaucracy, which quoted a retired deputy minister who claimed that Canada’s civil service was “seriously overstaffed.” If we were seriously overstaffed with bureaucrats in 2013, what would the former deputy minister say today?

According to the 2013 survey results, Canadian CEOs said that “inefficient government bureaucracy” was the number 1 problem they faced — one of the highest levels of complaint of any country in the world.

More bureaucracy means more taxes that Canadian taxpayers and businesses have to shell out to pay for the costs associated with maintaining our mammoth bureaucracy. That alone is a strong argument for why we need to get a grip on the out-of-control growth of Canadian government.

Simply put, bureaucracy poses one of the greatest dangers to our society. Bureaucracy is like a cancer. If left unchecked, it will grow and spread, eventually eroding the economic health of the nation.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
57,573
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On an absolute scale, that don't sound too bad. That'd be about a third of a million. We have 2,264 million (excepting uniformed Armed Forces), for about 7 per 1000.

But the rapid rise is concerning.
 

Retired_Can_Soldier

The End of the Dog is Coming!
Mar 19, 2006
11,770
891
113
59
Alberta
I had that discussion with a boss once. He said "I don't like telecommuting, because I don't know what you're doing." I answered "Boss, you don't come into my office from one end of the week to the other. For all you know, I could be sleeping, playing games, or practicing my best war dance. You judge what I'm doing telecommuting the same way you judge what I'm doing when I'm in the office. . . by my output."
I think Veterans Affairs Canada just took down its PANDEMIC SLOWDOWN sign last week. Ron nailed it; the public service, like Trudeau, is living on borrowed time. There will be major cuts, and then they can stay home.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
25,412
9,154
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
While the size of government grew by 42%, the population growth rate was only 14%. Inexplicably, at the same time the size of government grew, so did the number of outside consultants hired to do government work.

The feds are on track to spend a record $21.6 billion on contractors, according to the PBO. That’s up from the $18.6 billion it spent on consultants in 2022-23 — up from $17.5 billion in 2021-22 and $14.7 billion the year before. Surely this isn’t how it should work. If the government hires more consultants, it should cut down on full-time staff. And vice versa.

It also raises the question of accountability. At the heart of the scandal surrounding the excessive amount of money spent on the ArriveCAN boondoggle are questions about how the government awards contracts to outside companies.

Companies run by two consultants at the centre of the ArriveCAN scandal have received over $100 million in government contracts since 2011, according to a new government tally.

Taxpayers’ money isn’t an all-you-can-eat buffet.

As it is, we have the worst of all possible worlds — a fat-cat bureaucracy and an army of outside consultants all supping at the public trough.
…became prime minister in 2015. Once undecided voters are removed, the number of people who want a slimmer bureaucracy rises to 56%.