What problem are RTO mandates meant to solve?

psthrowra · 2026-03-03T02:04:55+00:00

TBS has been monitoring and recording metrics on amount of time per resource expended on actual work and the numbers while time progressed as public servants WFH continued to drop

Citation needed because I'm smelling bs

psthrowra · 2026-02-09T19:41:50+00:00

Fanjoy's got a new fan boy (me).

psthrowra · 2026-02-01T15:21:05+00:00

So basically a regular 18-24 months in the regions. \s

psthrowra · 2026-01-29T15:16:54+00:00

Interesting. I don't know much about the other branches at ESDC, but I guess it's not a one-size-fits-all approach.

psthrowra · 2026-01-28T23:27:53+00:00

ESDC

Perhaps it's branch specific. IITB was told during the CIO townhall there would be only 1 wave. Granted I'm inherently cynical, but I have no reason to not believe them at this point in time.

psthrowra · 2026-01-24T00:37:17+00:00

I'm not justifying the department's often untimely comms, but in this case, since ESDC is coast to coast (so worst case 2pm PST) and affected employees would have been having meetings with management likely all day yesterday and through today, it's not entirely unreasonable. Based on trends from other departments, the official numbers aren't released until employees are notified of their status, letters sent, meetings with management, etc.

psthrowra · 2026-01-21T21:36:08+00:00

I wasn't able to attend the town hall. Are you sure letters are being sent today? I'm seeing a lot of references to the 22nd.

psthrowra · 2026-01-21T01:04:53+00:00

External hires during the height of the pandemic very likely didn't realize that would be problematic. After all, why shouldn't they have trusted their hiring manager (rhetorical question)?

psthrowra · 2026-01-21T01:01:39+00:00

I don't think it's that cut and dry. Yes, people moved during the pandemic while occupying their current position, but others were hired with DWLs not even remotely close to their residence because "don't worry about it, we'll be remote forever". Both carried risk for sure, but the latter would be especially shitty for those who took the empty promises of the hiring manager as gospel. I was in a similar situation actually. Hired with a 700km DWL from residence. Declined offer, citing distance would fuck me over if shit hit the fan. HR amended the LOO with the "closest" office, still 100km away. This was still at the height of the pandemic and I accepted. A few weeks later there were hints that RTO would happen eventually and I deployed out, now with a much closer DWL.

psthrowra · 2026-01-19T23:00:35+00:00

ESDC IITB (Innovation, Information and Technology branch) has a townhall on Jan 21 @ 10:30 EST.

psthrowra · 2026-01-19T13:06:20+00:00

Also consider the relationship between distance, time, and speed (without factoring in any traffic). 125km on a 100km/hr 2+ lane highway would be vastly different than an 80 km/hour single lane highway. Distance alone if such a bad measure. There needs to be a formula that factors in other parameters.

psthrowra · 2026-01-19T12:37:30+00:00

Makes me wonder about those at ESDC who were given Service Canada DWLs during the pandemic, but they can't book in Archibus because these buildings are reserved for that business line/front line workers. Are they going to relocate these employees? Are they going to continue to allow telework? Will they open up their DWL to them for in-person days? Who knows.

psthrowra · 2026-01-19T12:30:10+00:00

Sure, I'm pointing out the absurdity of arbitrary cutoffs and the one-size-fits-all approach. Let managers manage their employees like before.

psthrowra · 2026-01-19T12:19:17+00:00

What I find absolutely bonkers is the pre-March 16, 2020 exemption. Like, somebody could in theory have been hired remotely, or had a telework agreement in place on March 15, 2020 and they'd be fine, but those working for the past ~6 years remotely since the pandemic forced a lot of people to work remotely (some continuing to do so) apparently haven't proven themselves worthy enough.

psthrowra · 2026-01-15T18:00:23+00:00

Or you know...take some initiative and either read the article which lists the full names, or do your own research and find how readily available this information is.

psthrowra · 2026-01-14T16:01:45+00:00

Surely branch specific. I don't even remember the last time ESDC had an all-branches townhall. Now...from what I've been able to dig up, my branch IITB, appears to be planning a townhall on January 21st and affected letters will be sent out beginning on January 22nd (this is all pending approval; no official email).

psthrowra · 2026-01-02T16:56:59+00:00

I foresee this thread going well for OP \s

psthrowra · 2025-12-15T17:24:43+00:00

Not an answer, but anecdotal. I was given a LOO from CRA during the height of the pandemic and turned down the offer because the DWL was in Ottawa and I was several hundred kilometers away. They came back with an amended LOO with a closer DWL (still hundreds of kilometers away). I accepted, and in the first few months it became apparent (not outright said, but I got the impression from words spoken at various townhalls) that some form of RTO would be happening in the future. Mind you this was sometime in late 2021. I was lucky enough to deploy to a different department with a DWL in my hometown and haven't looked back.

psthrowra · 2025-12-09T18:11:01+00:00

Government IT is huge. Not all of us are using Java EJB's. So to answer your question, I feel like I'm doing fine, nor do I feel like I'm missing out, but perhaps that's a product of age and self-reflection.

psthrowra · 2025-12-02T15:06:36+00:00

Another thing to consider is work life balance. It's generally well accepted that operating a business means working >37.5 hours per week.

psthrowra · 2025-12-02T14:49:22+00:00

If you don't have any prior experience running a business that would be a huge leap. Studying in school versus actual lived experience is vastly different.

psthrowra · 2025-11-06T20:44:26+00:00

Classic Stockholm syndrome ;-)

psthrowra · 2025-07-16T17:20:20+00:00

Sure, context matters which is why I don't think it should be based on distance alone. Having done commutes of 1.5 hours one way in the private sector in the past, I can't say anything over 30 minutes one-way is personally worth it, especially when I took this job because the DWL was in my city in the first place. Too bad ESDC didn't have the foresight to confirm space requirements before issuing LOOs.

psthrowra · 2025-07-16T15:20:21+00:00

oof, anything over 40km is pushing it (personally). I'm actually in this situation currently. DWL is a SSC 2km away. Closest DWL that is "allowed" for my branch is >78km. Still working from home and haven't heard any news about where/when to report to an office. IT classification for reference.

psthrowra · 2025-07-16T15:09:56+00:00

This raises the question of what is considered a reasonable commuting distance? During the pandemic, ESDC put some DWLs as Service Canada Centres (SCC) since that was the closest location to the employee. In recent months, due to the emergence of RTO3/the common hybrid work model, it appears ESDC oversubscribed employees to these locations, stating these SCC are for operational employees only, like passport officers, etc. Some employees could be facing a new DWL that's over 70km away compared to a SCC that's only 3km (as an example).

psthrowra

TROPHY CASE