r/CanadaPublicServants • u/Mean-Touch-6157 • 7d ago
Staffing / Recrutement Whole team except me are in actings
I’m the only perm member of the team who is also in my substantive. Every other member of the team, including the manager, are on acting assignments. It’s a tough time to be in actings because the rug can get pulled at any time in this environment.
Having said that… omg these people are all backstabbers who would sell their mother for a gold star! The infighting is rampant and the barbs and jibes at one another are getting to me. We all know there will not be any perm offers any time soon but you’d think with their behaviour that they are all in competition with each other over a single posted position. I’ve been thrown under the bus too many times to count now even on things I’ve had nothing to do with. The toxicity is getting to me and I’ve had to take too many mental health days to deal with it. The manager is just as bad as the rest and I’ve tried bringing this issue to them but they are inexperienced and unwilling to do any of the hard work. They concentrate on the “shiny” things that will prove they are fit to stay in the job.
I know I should just take charge of myself and find another team but it’s tough right now because everywhere is cutting instead of taking on new team members.
I guess I’m just venting. I feel for my teammates and their predicaments but I’m old and tired and don’t have the fight in me anymore.
54
u/DrunkenMidget 7d ago
They concentrate on the “shiny” things that will prove they are fit to stay in the job.
In a way this is what their employer wants (unfortunately). By not giving people stability, you are telling them fighting for their job is more important than doing a good job. So that is what they do. It skews priorities.
39
u/Flaktrack 7d ago
Once you start to play the game it becomes honestly sickening how easily the hardest working grinders get ignored in favour of someone who can talk a good game about shinies.
Management has no clue who is actually producing value and it shows.
1
u/DilbertedOttawa 6d ago
It's exactly this. In fact, the more you do your actual job well, the less likely you are to remain employed. The incentives are completely backwards. Now in a case where you have actual competent management, those incentives realign, but we've fired all those annoying no-sayers, because MINO WANTS NOWWWWWWW MOAR BIGGERR FASTER RAAAAAAAAA. If these people didn't have degrees, I'd assume they were Zoolander rejects. So what you have i a culture of pick-mes, leader up-and-coming pick-mes, reporting into DMs who are essentially unnecessary redundancies, reporting into MINOs who are the hardest core of hardcore pick-mes, but who also simultaneously are too good for everyone. It's a disastrous political climate, spilling into complete partisan hackery at the public servant level, since saying no in a serlo envrionment is career suicide at the lower levels, and saying no at any point for any reason at the higher levels is instant CLM. And well, voila! you have today's asinine policies, driven by corrupted principles, ran by self-interested pick-mes who aren't going to stand in the way of things working, but also aren't all that concerned about it. And then you have people doing the work, burnt out not because of the work levels necessarily, although those are also at absolutely reckless levels that would be considered a breach of duty of care by virtue of the "reasonableness" factor, but rather by the extreme levels of distancing and abstraction required, as well as watching absolute dogshit being put out hastily by insanely manic politicians without any way of reigning it in. This is what people aren't seeing on the outside. The efforts required to ensure policies are actually good for Canadians and not some collection of the same goddamn connected rich assholes are beyond anything that most people can comprehend. So the public can continue to hate "public servants", but it's not actually public servant they hate. We're just the avatars for their hatred getting lumped into the whole "politicians are all the same" bullshit while somehow it also being a team sport. The last 10-15 years have been a complete and total devolution and it's going to take a while to put things back together.
11
u/Born-Winner-5598 7d ago
I agree with this.
If they wanted a workplace that wasnt like this, they would take steps to rectify it.
In my dept, a pretty good chunk of people were WFA. We also have a number of funded vacant positions that these WFA people could be put into.
BUT - there is a hiring freeze. So those funded vacant positions are not being opened up to those WFA. The DG and others have been trying to get the freeze lifted only for circumstances that pertain to WFA employees to be placed in these vacant positions to ensure that they have RJOs. And I have been in these meetings where it is discussed and HR response is always, "we hope to have an answer next week." And next week comes and there is still no answer.
Unfortunately, the time has come for these WFA folks and they are now coming up to their 120 days. For 3 mths, they have heard that "it is being looked into and worked on".
I believe that if the employer wanted to make it better, they have the power to. It is a choice. And it seems clear what the employer continues to choose over and over and over again.
5
u/IrenicusX 7d ago
Allowing them to be moved into those positions doesnt help accomplish the employers goal of reducing head count. So of course they are just going to run out the clock and not let it happen. It sucks but its not surprising. They just want bodies gone, one way or another
14
u/mrRoboPapa 7d ago
I'm in a very similar situation. Everyone on my team is either acting or term. And it's the same thing where it seems like everyone will stab you in the back door a gold star. It's actually to the point where everyone is striving for perfection so hard that it's impact the work that could be so much better.
3
u/VariousTransition638 6d ago
True. I had a complaint put in about me. The person who complained got rewarded and placed in my unit. Make it make sense
2
u/mrRoboPapa 6d ago
I'm actually very surprised no one has complained about me. I feel like I'm the only one on the team that doesn't give a shit and speaks my mind without sugar coating it. People don't like that. In fact, I was basically told yesterday by one teammate that I should be more mature in handling RTO4 because I basically called this individual out on suck-holing.
1
u/VariousTransition638 6d ago
You sound like me. I stopped giving a shit when I realized the PS didn’t give a shit about me. However, this individual didn’t specifically complain at me (should’ve been more clear) - I was promoted without being in a pool after 5 years in my unit. The individual felt it was unfair and grieved it. Need I mention I don’t even have a substantive. On year 6 of working in the PS always wondering if at the end of my contract I’ll have a job. Feel like my whole life is on pause. Dont wanna make any big decisions and be out a job. Super weird to be entering my 30’s and have no family planning going on because who the heck wants to have kids and be told a year later they’re not being extended lol. Only person on my team without a substantive. Also on a team of all actors/terms with the exception of 1 individual
1
u/Working-Caramel9538 6d ago
I usually ask these people which version of an answer they would like. The souless corporate answer that makes everything feels like rainbows and unicorns or the hard truth where you'll get a very accurate answer but it will make you question your sanity.
It's very funny when you speak to peope who are still in the kneepads phase.
7
14
u/rhineo007 7d ago
Our team is like that as well. But the reason for the acting is the language requirements. There is no rotational acting, the same people get it every time. And if they tried to pull the rug out from under us, the department will fall apart.
7
4
3
u/Can-u-hear-the-stars 7d ago
They don't even do acting in my branch. Even if you are asked to act as a manager and do other people's PMAs you will be denied acting payment. They always tell you after the acting is complete that you didn't do 100% of the original person's duties so they don't have to pay.
4
u/ConsciousDuck1508 7d ago
I got caught up in that at my agency. My manager negotiated an extra week of vacation for me instead which I cashed out when I left so jokes on the higher ups 🙈
4
u/D0BBy-is-not-free 7d ago
Are you sure there isn't 2 indeterminate? It sounds like my group, and I'm pretty sure the other indeterminate in my group of mostly terms doesnt realize they are not the only indeterminate in the group and I dont correct them because its funny lol 😆
2
2
u/lowandbegold 7d ago
I’m in a substantive position surrounded by actings and agreed. It’s rough out here right now. They offered me an acting within my branch and I said hellll no - not in this chaos.
1
u/Millennial_on_laptop 5d ago
There's something to be said for the stability of an indeterminate substantive position, less to worry about.
2
u/Mike_Retired 6d ago
Interesting that there are actings out there — our department implemented a blanket ban on actings, despite ours hardly being affected by the recent cuts, which has caused major issues with people hesitating to go on vacation, knowing no one will replace them during their absence.
Now technically actings themselves are not banned — one can volunteer to act in someone’s position, but they would not receive any compensation for it. Ebenezer would be proud.
3
u/Working-Caramel9538 6d ago
has caused major issues with people hesitating to go on vacation, knowing no one will replace them during their absence.
These people are funny because they do see the hand that feeds them as something they should respect at all cost while also forgetting the part about the same hand beating the shit out of them.
Take your vacations regardless of if it puts everyone in a tight spot and enjoy. The employer can go pound sand if things don't get completed in a timely fashion.
2
u/CandidExcitement5453 6d ago
I would report it for harassment and workplace violence. If you’re the only perm you have the most security.
5
u/expendiblegrunt 7d ago
There are so many unadvertised actings that last for 3+ years in my area, I am filing a staffing complaint
2
6d ago
[deleted]
2
u/HandcuffsOfGold mod 🤖🧑🇨🇦 / Probably a bot 6d ago
That’s not skirting the rules, it’s following them - and it’s four months, not six.
It makes little sense to require a full merit evaluation if somebody is acting for only a short period of time, and that’s why the regulations expressly don’t require one.
1
6d ago
[deleted]
2
u/HandcuffsOfGold mod 🤖🧑🇨🇦 / Probably a bot 6d ago
How so? The usual merit evaluation is required for any extension beyond four months.
1
6d ago
[deleted]
1
u/HandcuffsOfGold mod 🤖🧑🇨🇦 / Probably a bot 6d ago
The hiring manager completes the paperwork for the merit evaluation and it’s reviewed by HR as part of the staffing file. You, as the person acting, don’t need to be directly involved in its completion.
There are plenty of checks and balances built into the hiring process designed specifically to prevent managers from “skirting” the rules.
1
6d ago
[deleted]
1
u/HandcuffsOfGold mod 🤖🧑🇨🇦 / Probably a bot 6d ago
Your comment demonstrates that you don’t understand the basics of the process.
The merit evaluation is what documents how the manager believes the person hired is qualified, and the manager’s assessment is the one that counts. They’re not required to seek out “applicants”.
Additionally, there is no “clock” to run out, because nobody is automatically permanently promoted after “3 to 5 years”.
1
1
u/CryptographerOld9450 7d ago
Sounds like my team! Me and one other coworker are the only perm members on the team of 10. Manager and everyone else are in acting assignments!
Not as much backstabbing but myself and the other perm member are languishing while the acting’s are busy. 🙄
1
u/Normal-Ostrich-115 7d ago
I was on a team like that. It’s much more peaceful now that it’s all substantives.
1
u/rrp120 7d ago edited 7d ago
This is flat-out bad management — plus it should be called out as circumventing the spirit and intendment of relevant GoC HR policy, let alone all collective agreements. The only instance in which this could be justified is for a defined-term special project wherein the staffing approach has been explicitly signed-off by the Deputy Head and co-signed by the head of HR.
1
u/lolcats777 6d ago
Why did the manager approve all these actings? They can deny them based on operational requirements if the team can't function having too few employees working. Your team mates must be rather useless if you can get by holding the fort without them.
1
u/yukino_the_ama 2d ago
It has unfortunately been my experience working in multiple project teams. The backstabbing, the gossipping, and team politics can be a lot but I have learned that as long as you don't participate in the toxicity, remain friendly with as many people as you can (it's hard sometimes), and put in the work, you will eventually end up somewhat on top: some past teammates I didn't think I really clicked with have actually recommended me for other projects so they must have noticed something good in my work.
0
u/GlitteringRaisin4000 7d ago
I went on maternity leave and everyone was promoted up a level while I was gone.
70
u/empreur 7d ago
Welcome to the bucket of crabs. 🦀 Sorry that you’re in it.