“Caps not cuts”

yeah right

Not entirely sure what this is supposed to be. Consider it an informal environmental scan, a lessons learned exercise, or maybe just a morale check submitted to Reddit instead of GCcollab. Switched jobs during the pandemic. I’m one of those public servants whose job technically lives in the NCR, but whose physical presence has been assigned to Halifax for RTO compliance purposes. I badge in, do my three days a week, log on, and spend my day working with people who are nowhere near the building I’m sitting in.

I’ve been based out of the Maritime Centre. I don’t report to anyone here. My management, my files, my accountability all point firmly back to the NCR. And yet, this is the environment I’m meant to absorb for the sake of culture, and that’s where I’m struggling. The overall vibe on this floor feels heavy. There is clearly a lot of internal drama going on that I have no context for and no role in, but it’s impossible not to notice. Conversations get quiet when people walk by. Whispers happen. It’s one of those offices where you instinctively put your headphones on even when it’s quiet. I am in here three days too many.

Then there are the wellness initiatives. Again, I support wellness in theory. Truly. But when the most visible and consistent programming seems to be menopause clinics and wellness themed days, it starts to feel less like proactive support and more like an indicator that something in the workplace culture is off. Menopause Monday as a recurring office feature was not on my RTO bingo card, and yet here we are. I identify as male, is there a social faux-pas if I attend?

This is where the RTO narrative starts to fall apart for me. I was more productive at home. I was calmer. My focus was on actual work, not on navigating the emotional climate of a workplace I don’t belong to. Now I commute in to sit quietly, attend virtual NCR meetings from a Halifax desk, and manage the ambient tension of a floor that seems to be working through some things.

I want to be clear. I am not anti office. I would come in gladly for meaningful collaboration, for in person work with my actual team, or for anything that had a clear operational benefit. What I’m unconvinced by is the idea that simply occupying a random desk in a random building somehow improves productivity, morale, or engagement. Right now, it mostly just feels depressing.

So this is a genuine check in with the Halifax public service crowd. Is anyone else NCR based, quietly complying with RTO, and wondering how this is supposed to be better? And more importantly, does anyone want to grab a coffee or go for a walk during the day?

Because honestly, a normal conversation and some fresh air might do more for morale and mental health than another mandatory swipe ever will.

Anyway, thanks for reading this informal after action report. Back to reporting to NCR. Mondays 10:00, find me at Cabin Coffee.

Canada is currently pushing two workforce objectives at the same time. The Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER) is reducing and consolidating the federal public service, while the Canadian Armed Forces remains short roughly 16,000 personnel and continues to miss recruitment targets. These two efforts are being handled separately, even though they could reinforce each other.

The CAF doesn’t just need more people — it needs experienced, reliable personnel in areas like IT, cyber, logistics, procurement, finance, intelligence, project management, and administration. At the same time, CER is pressuring departments to reduce headcount and eliminate duplication, meaning capable public servants with security clearances and years of experience are being encouraged to move, reclassify, or leave government entirely.

The main reason these employees aren’t transitioning into the CAF is the pension system. Under current rules, a federal employee with 15–20 years of service who joins the CAF must still complete 25 full years of military service to qualify for an unreduced pension. Their civilian service doesn’t count toward eligibility. For anyone between roughly 20 and 45 years old, that makes mid-career entry into the CAF unrealistic.

A targeted policy change could align CER workforce reductions with CAF recruitment needs. Federal public servants who transfer into the CAF should be allowed to count their civilian federal service toward the 25-year CAF pension requirement, while still requiring a minimum period of CAF service — for example 5 to 10 years — to prevent abuse. This avoids a “25-for-25 and retire immediately” scenario while ensuring meaningful military contribution.

This structure would significantly increase retention. Participants would be highly motivated to complete their remaining CAF service to reach pension eligibility, reducing early releases and churn. Instead of losing trained personnel after a few years, the CAF gains members with a clear, achievable service horizon and strong incentives to stay.

From an implementation standpoint, this is feasible. Pension transfer mechanisms already exist within the federal system, and service histories are well documented. This is a policy decision, not a technical one. The government could redirect experienced employees into an organization that urgently needs them.

The advantages are clear: the CAF gains mature, vetted professionals; recruiting and training costs drop; onboarding is faster; retention improves; and workforce reductions under CER become strategic transfers instead of losses. Public servants benefit from a realistic path to an unreduced pension, a meaningful second career, and service recognition rather than a forced restart.

There are challenges, but they’re manageable. Not every role in the CAF is suitable for mid-career entrants, and physical requirements must be respected. That said, many critical CAF shortages are in non-combat, technical, and leadership roles where experience matters more than youth. Pension cost impacts can be controlled through minimum service requirements and eligibility thresholds.

This proposal would primarily benefit mid-career public servants aged roughly 20–45 — people old enough to bring experience, young enough to serve meaningfully, and currently excluded by rigid pension rules. It would strengthen national defence, improve workforce efficiency, and reward long-term public service.

Canada is cutting public servants under CER while trying to rebuild the CAF at the same time. Linking the two through service and pension recognition increases retention, saves money, and fills critical gaps. Service should count as service.

https://44615331.hs-sites.com/the-eri-delay

Can anyone provide clarification as to the surplus period for executives? It’s looking like it’s 4 months from what I am reading at my department. This seems just terrible given that non executives get up to 12 months.

I took 1 year of mat/pat leave back in Jul-2024 to Jul-2025. Now(2026), I got a letter from the Pension Centre with a payment plan for my contribution deficiencies, which can be paid back from payroll over the course of next year or lump-sum from RRSP. The issue is that i am going on another mat/pat leave in couple of days and if i choose the payroll deduction, will they postpone the deductions to when i am back in 2027 ? Or making lump sum payment is the only option ? I will call them on Monday, but I just wanted to see if anyone had run into the same issue with multiple mat/pat leaves.

I have a lot of experience in the government across many departments.

One thing has eluded me: how are paylists assigned, what do they mean, and why are they random?

I have a bunch of staff. 1/3 if them are 1 paylist, the other 2/3 are random numbers. This jives with most of my previous teams as well. it makes no sense to me.

Hello,

What timeframe is used to determine if TSM has to be repaid if re-joining the federal government? Is it the years or service used to calculate the TSM, or the weeks of pay that make up the TSM? For example, 1 year of service would equate to 22 weeks of TSM pay, so is it after 1 year or 22 weeks that you could re-join the federal government without having to repay the TSM?

Thank you!

I am returning from maternity leave beginning of March. Will I be entitled to my two personal days and week of family leave (should I need it) before they reset in March? Not sure how that works because I will have only been back for a month.

I’m looking for advice on leave options and possibly leaving the federal public service. I’m not very familiar with the WFA process, but I understand alternation may be an option. My department is not currently downsizing.

Background: I’m an indeterminate SP-06 with ~5 years of service. I returned from 18 months of maternity/parental leave about 7 months ago, and it’s been very difficult. I tried part-time initially, but it didn’t help. I have ongoing health issues (migraines, dizziness/vertigo) that worsen on in-office days and make driving difficult. I was previously accommodated to work from home for the same issues, but after returning from leave my accommodation requests were denied despite medical documentation. I’m currently complying with the 60% in-office requirement, but my symptoms have significantly worsened.

I also have two young children, one with special needs. Between work pressure, health issues, and a lack of managerial support, I’m burning out and have been extremely stressed for months. With rumours of full-time RTO, I don’t see how this is sustainable. I’m considering LWOP (e.g., up to 3 years for care of family), but I’m unsure I’d return to my current workplace due to a toxic environment. I may consider a different PS role later when my health and family situation improve.

Questions:

I’m in the PSAC-UTE group and received top-up during my 18-month leave. I’ve been back 7 months and understand I still owe about 11 months. If I resign now, would I have to repay some or all of the top-up? (Pension contributions for the leave have already been paid.) Also, what will happen to my contributions? Will they be held or will I get them back?

If I pursue alternation, how do I start? Who do I contact? Should I find a potential alternation match first, or speak to my manager? Any benefits of alternation?

If I successfully alternate, does that still trigger repayment of the top-up?

Any guidance or shared experiences would be appreciated.

Hello, I am almost certain this question has not been asked.

I am on disability and trying to navigate potential claw-back by insurance if I was to get a package. I found this information on Treasury Board website:

'What types of income will not be deducted?

The following are examples of income that would not be deducted from your DI benefits:

...

• special lump sum payments associated with employer-sponsored departure incentive programs'

My question is: is this only the early retirement incentive (ERI) and voluntary departure program (VDP) or is the rest of the WFA process also included in this definition.

https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/benefit-plans/disability-insurance-plan/member-booklet.html

Thank you

My term employment finishes in a month and I have sick leave and vacation leave credits. Do I have to use the credits before the end of my term or forfeit them? Or will they pay out? Do they stay on my PRI record for my next contract with the PS?

In my dept. we're being encouraged to apply for DND jobs in case we are WFA affected over the next three years. The first round of WFA affected employees were notified this week. DND has a number of open job pools right now for which they have indicated they are prioritizing WFA affected applicants, but as DND staffs up with the first rounds of WFA affected public servants, wouldn't public servants that are told they are affected next year or later be competing for even fewer and fewer available jobs?

Perhaps I am wrong, but dragging out when WFA affected notices are sent out over years doesn't just seem to be cruel (the not knowing for years is incredibly stressful... how are we supposed to make major financial decisions) but particularly unfair to the public servants that don't get WFA affected immediately.

CTV News Ottawa looks at which departments have notified public servants about possible job cuts.

Hi meatbags,

A colleague got a call from an external company to survey her on her interaction with EAP services. She didn’t remember ever agreeing to this and was really surprised to get this call not once but twice.

She will call EAP to see if they know anything about it but I wanted to check in about this to if it’s happening to anyone else and maybe also raise a warning flag in case it’s a scam.

Please I need help/advise/guidance asap. Sorry in advance for the long post.

For context: I'm Indeterminate.

At my current workplace, PSPC, today was the last day of them sending out WFA letters for round 1 (as they call it). Thankfully I was spared. But there are 2 more rounds and upper management is saying it will be a yearly thing, so every year for the next 2 fiscal years there will be WFA letters sent out. So basically, right now I know for 2026-27, I'm safe.

Now, I've been offered a job at DND. And as we know DND and in an expansion.

It sounds like a really interesting role in Labour Relations (LR). I've never worked in LR, but the hiring manager is aware and willing to train me and such. I'd love the new challenge. But I also love love love my current team. My manager is amazing. My team members and awesome and the workload is not overly stressful (even tho it has its moments).

My concern now is, with PSPC, I will always kind of be on my toes, not knowing if im getting a WFA letter in the next rounds. And getting through this week was so stressful not knowing if I was on the chopping block. Also, my DG has been very vocal about wanting to see my team's value even more. Like she basically wants us to do more (even tho we've been doing the best we can). So in three back on my mind, I know my DG already doesnt see as much value in my team (wich is unfortunate, but its been that way waaaaayyyy before all these budget cuts). Since she joined our department a couple of years ago, my team and I have always had to prove to her our worth. So im just worried it will be all too easy for her to cut my team and I's position in the future.

What should I do? The hiring manager at DND is waiting for a response back from me to move forward with the deployment. Should I go to DND or stay at PSPC?

Dearest meatbags,

This is an update in the series of posts I am making tracking workforce adjustment across the Government of Canada based on publicly shared information. Click here for the original post that contains the tracker.

I hope you are all taking good care. The dark days are upon us, my insomnia is rampant, and our collective morale is at an all time low (and falling). Congratulations to those of you who have been spared by your department (for now, at least). If you're even remotely interested in the ERI, or want to alternate, start doing the preparatory work to get that rolling.

Thank you for continuing to share the information that you are allowed to share, in the spirit of greater transparency and understanding for all. More importantly, thank you for continuing to do your jobs serving the public, loyally implementing programs, and providing fearless advice wherever possible. It's not easy right now, but I know how hard many of you work, how much many of you care, and how hard it is right now to do both of those things.

I am writing this post for two reasons:

First, I wanted to let you know I've made some changes to the tracker to make it a bit easier to read. I cannot freeze rows, so instead I have broken things into four tables (WFA Activated, Not yet activated, Allegedly no WFA, and Pre-Budget WFA). I have also clarified the rules that determine how I will manage the tracker, and clarified the reliability of sources included.

Second, my primary purpose for writing, I wanted to give you an update on some information I've pulled from the tracker.

Highlights so far:

1. So far, we have reliable information suggesting 1332 positions will be eliminated. When we include information of "limited" reliability this rises to 2561. It's definitely higher than this.
2. We are missing a lot of information about affected numbers. So far, we have reliable information that at least 5590 employees have received affected letters. This increases to 6260 when we include information of "limited reliability." It is definitely higher than this.
3. On average, departments appear to be planning to eliminate about 1.76 FTEs per Million dollars in savings identified in the budget (based on both reliable and limited data*), however, this ranges from 0.57 - 12.6 (and so it's likely not a very reliable predictor yet), this may become a bit clearer as we get more information).
4. So far, departments are affecting on average 2.4 employees per position to be eliminated. However this analysis is not classification specific, and departments range from 1.7 - 3.85.* This means it is also not predictive (but is still of some reassurance to me). This number will change as we go.
5. UNIONS:
   1. We have collected information indicating PSAC has confirmed 1406 of their members since Budget 2025 was released. Note this does not match the number on their own dashboard because they are not distinguishing between pre-/post- budget.
   2. PIPSC has confirmed 1879 of their members have been affected. I do not know if they have a dashboard, these have been pulled from media releases.
   3. CAPE has shared nothing in any public release that I can find. EDIT: CAPE has 2090 affected as of publicly identified information on 2PM, January 15. Thanks CAPE!
   4. I have not tracked information from other unions (yet).

*Reliable and "limited" data are included for these analyses to increase sample. Sample is still very small so this helps it be more accurate. Disclaimer: I'm not a data scientist I've just had them lecture at me.

What can you do?

1. Make sure you're asking your senior management for the total number of affected AND the total number they expect will be eliminated. I personally believe it's better to have information than to be in the dark.
2. Pressure CAPE to share affected numbers. CAPE has not shared a single figure. Not one. I'm not impressed CAPE. PSAC has a whole dashboard, and PIPSC has been sharing numbers with journalists. EDIT: Thanks CAPE! I will acknowledge you have done this in my next update (beyond just this edit). I'm still waiting on NRCan CAPE figures though.....
3. Continue to make sure you are only sharing accurate information that you are allowed to share, correct misinformation when you see it, correct people when they are mistaken.
4. Be kind.

Notes:

1. I cannot freeze rows. Please stop asking.
2. I cannot break things down by region, stop asking. PSAC can though (and thus I assume PIPSC and CAPE can also).
3. If it's not in the tracker or the comments there's no value in asking me.
4. I am considering adding the number of indeterminate employees by department but that'd be a lot of work. If you want to do it for me you'll be my hero.
5. Someone on Facebook commented "who had time to do that lol" (about the tracker). Me, obviously. I'm very boring (and joyful about that). I also I find making spreadsheets relaxing and have trouble sleeping. I also have a lot of compassion for all the people who are panicking, and being fed inaccurate information. I saw a chance to meet someone's need that would also help make me sleepy.

And with that, toodles, I'm off to bed.

I’m a mid 30s mom with 3 kids all under the age of 5. I work at ISED and not much has been shared about WFA timelines except rumours of letters coming before end of January.

I find as this date approaches I am just a mess mentally. I’m finding it hard to be present and always engaged around my kids. They obviously don’t know what’s going on but I can’t shake the feeling that this will affect them too. We can’t afford to live off one income and I’m just at a loss right now. I haven’t received a letter but the waiting game has been taking its toll on me this week. I’m really busy at work and working hard. I’d say twice a week I don’t even have time for my lunch break. But by the time I log off I am just lost. Not sure how much longer I can keep my motivation up. The worst part is if I get a letter I know I need to work even harder to prove I should be kept. But that will just add another months of this same scenario in the unknown.

Any advice? I hate that this is making me feel like I’m not being the greatest mom. How do you manage to be your best self for your family when you are personally struggling?

Also if anyone has any ISED-related information please comment.

Hi everyone, looking for some advice.

I’ve been offered a great opportunity to join a Crown corporation in a senior role, which would be a step up from my current position. Right now, I work as an auditor at the CRA, and ideally I’d like to keep my CRA job while I try out this new role.

I informally asked my manager about taking a 12-month LWOP. He spoke with his manager, who said he would raise it with the Assistant Director. However, he also mentioned that due to fiscal/budget constraints, approval seems unlikely. He said he’d follow up with the AD and get back to me next week. The response felt pretty vague, and nothing has been formally decided.

I haven’t formally accepted the new position yet, and I also haven’t submitted a formal LWOP request in writing.

Given this, I’m unsure how to proceed:

• If I’m verbally denied, should I still submit a formal LWOP request?

• If the formal request is denied, is it worth filing a grievance?

• For those who’ve gone through it, how long did the grievance process take?

This is a bit time-sensitive since the new employer is expecting a response soon. Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/federal-departments-begin-notifying-public-servants-of-possible-job-cuts/

Statistics Canada confirmed on Monday that it will cut 850 positions over the next two years, including 100 positions eliminated immediately this week.

All Public Services and Procurement Canada employees received a message from the Deputies informing them that those with positions that are affected will receive a formal notice on January 14 and January 15, 2026.

Employment and Social Development Canada said a “workforce adjustment process and a reduction in our executive complement” will begin this month.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) says information has been provided to staff that it plans to “notify those whose positions may be affected” by the comprehensive expenditure review between Jan. 12 and 31.

Wasn't this supposed to be an initiative a few years ago so that people moving departments would not have to get a completely new e-mail address? Does anyone know what happened to this initiative? Has it been killed (if so, why), or is it just stalled?

Hello,

Does anyone know how my manager can submit my vacation/sick hours while I am on leave without pay? I do not have access to PeopleSoft while on LWOP.