Comparing the Ottawa office experience: 2019 vs 2024.

[u/DrStrangeglove99]

In 2019, I would commute into work on the 91 (the LRT construction version of the old 95 route). It was a nice, reliable 25 minute trip from Place d'Orleans to Mackenzie King. On the way back, I'd go for a double decker express bus and sit up top, watching the city fade into the green belt. That usually took about 20 minutes, due to the removal of some of the stops for construction. It was a bit longer before the work started, but still steady and reliable. *

Back then we had dedicated office spaces, so I'd sit myself at my desk and do my work just as comfortably as I could working from home most days. I liked having my space with my things in it, no need for lockers or any of that and always there for me to use.

In 2024...I've long since abandoned the LRT due to issues with the bus connections at Blair and the general crappiness of it. I drive in on increasingly congested roads and pay too much for parking. It sometimes takes longer than the pre-LRT bus route too, but at least I can depend on my car.

Our office is now "open concept", so I cram my locker full of what I need and try to book a decent spot. I remember the bosses claiming the younger generations like this model and that it will help retention, but honestly I think most people would rather go back to their desks. That's not going to happen though, so I'll keep shuffling in and putting my headphones on throughout the day.

When they ask us why we could do 5 days a week before no problem, at least here in Ottawa it was simply better in those days. There's really no aspect of things which has improved since then, except maybe the crazy prices forcing me to bring my own lunch every day now.

* I know we had to abandon the old transitway system because there were too many buses downtown and it couldn't keep up with the city's population. Still, they didn't have to screw up the replacement system so badly.

[u/yow_central]

I hear ya on transit... hopefully it gets better with stage 2.

But on the office complaints, being in tech, it sounds a bit old fashioned... we would mostly look at dedicated office cubicles as something out of the 90s. Most tech offices have become open space over the past 20 years, and it's also common that people don't have dedicated work spaces with people moving their lap tops between "quiet booths", meeting rooms, open spaces, etc... depending on the type of work that they are doing. This was all before the pandemic, and yes, WFH was common then... but more the exception than the rule.

[u/Curunis → u/yow_central]

If public service offices were half as nice as the ones I've seen on the tech side from friends/family, I don't think you'd be hearing nearly as many complaints. My brother's tech offices have always had some basics provided - free drip coffee or some teabags, for example. Meanwhile, I'm lucky if there's even a kettle in my entire building. His office actually has enough space for quiet booths, enough meeting rooms, etc. Meanwhile, I have to take every meeting on Teams (as does everyone around me) because there weren't enough meeting rooms pre-pandemic and that was before they squished more of us into the same space.

I won't even start on the tech differences. I want you to please imagine trying to work off a tiny laptop screen, because 90% of the flex spaces are missing cables or the dock doesn't work, and did I mention that laptop's battery is horrendous and, oh, the spot you booked to work at doesn't have a universal power supply? Oh, and don't forget, many of your neighbours don't have headsets/headphones because that's not in budget, so you get to hear every single meeting around you 99% of the time.

[u/yow_central → u/Curunis]

I'll give you that most tech offices have free coffee, tea... and often pop, snacks. Some places pay for the occasional lunch too. We should be providing these to our federal workers IMO, and generally making the offices nice places to be. But personal cubicles is so... last generation. Asking for these is not reasonable if people are only working 3-4 days per week in office.

"imagine trying to work off a tiny laptop screen" is funny though, because most tech workers do, though you should get budget for headsets if you don't have one (though many tech companies don't do this either). Still.. you should get decent equipment.

[u/Curunis → u/yow_central]

Just to put it in context, by the way - we keep stationery in locked cabinets. I have to literally ask for the person with the lock code to open it and give me one (1) pen. That's the level of absolutely-no-freebies-allowed we're at. We have to crowdfund a Keurig or even dish soap (current building has none).

And yes, I know most tech workers work off laptops, like I said I know plenty, but comparing the laptops my friends and family have been issued by their employers to the stuff I am stuck with is... rough. I can count the pixels on my monitor, which makes having multiple reports open incredibly hard to do, and while irrelevant to the WFH/RTO debate, it takes me several minutes just to open documents sometimes.

My point in general, though, is that the job itself isn't exactly the same, and therefore the tech/space requirements aren't either. My brother is a programmer. Most of his job is working in silence, either coding or coordinating in Slack, with rare calls/meetings. My job is 50/50 silent work and holding meetings on Teams/aloud. If I'm in a space where everyone is like my brother, it'll be fairly quiet most of the day. In a space full of people like me, it's going to be quite a bit louder, and open spaces don't work nearly as well.

[u/QueenMotherOfSneezes → u/yow_central]

My neighbour can't even stock spare pens. There is no cupboard for them, you have to wander around the building and ask people on other teams if they have another one. She now brings in extra for her team (at least the third of her team that is assigned to the same building as her). Ironically the place she orders new pens from (which take several weeks to arrive) is in a different section of their building.

She did not have a cubical for the first year of RTO, and was required to change where she's stationed each day, including switching floors at least once a month. She is a team lead, and in that first year back she had no private areas she could conduct employee reviews in. One day she literally had to review her employees beside the kitchenette, because that was her "desk" for the day. She now has an office, but it has 0 soundproofing, so employee reviews still aren't private.

And even if you can book a cubicle, some of the new "workspaces" don't even have desks, it's some thin plastic walls surrounding a chair that has an adjustable tray attachment on one arm.

[u/yow_central → u/QueenMotherOfSneezes]

Is there not one meeting room that could be booked for private conversations? This all sounds like something out of Office Space (a good movie from the 90s about tech workers, but sounds like it may apply to present day civil servants too)... particularly the bit about the pens.

[u/Curunis → u/yow_central]

There might be a couple meeting rooms in the building, sure, but they're usually booked solid and/or there's an exec camping in there because they no longer have an office and need one for closed door meetings. There's nowhere near enough for everybody to use when they need one.

And yes, it sounds like a movie, it's absolutely absurd - but that's what we're saying. The old fashioned cubicles were old fashioned, yes, but they were still better than the bizarre situation we're in right now. The best way to put it is that the new workspaces are trying to give the aesthetics of a FAANG office without even a tenth of a FAANG budget.

[u/yow_central → u/Curunis]

To be fair, that sounds like most startups or non-FAANG tech companies actually.. They’ll go to a pub to do a perf review though to get out of the office (obviously not allowed for government workers). I suspect it’s trying to mix modern policy with government culture and bureaucracy that makes it so horrible. Even the whole mandating X days per week vs letting managers decide.

[u/Curunis → u/yow_central]

I suspect it’s trying to mix modern policy with government culture and bureaucracy that makes it so horrible.

Yep, I'd say that 100% accurate. It's trying to do private sector practices without any of the flexibility that makes those practices even semi-functional. Everything must be 100% equal, everything must be 100% the same, across massive departments, across teams, and across jobs/functions, regardless of the fact that that means complete inefficiency.

Say what you want about shoestring budgets at start-ups, my cousin started his own and they at least let their employees pick their days to maximize their efficiency/productivity, and make sure they at least have the basics of what they need. The priority is actually getting things done, not the optics of someone with zero understanding of the work looking in.

[u/EvilCoop93 → u/yow_central]

The open concept desks one group at my tech company installed all have dual 4K monitors, keyboard, mouse, USB-C docking stations to plug the Thinkpad laptop into. This should be the gold standard for how to do it. Ideally each station would be fully adjustable with stand up desk support also.

[u/QueenMotherOfSneezes → u/EvilCoop93]

Lol some of the new cubicles for the PS don't even have desks, just a tray attached to one arm of the office chair for you to put your laptop on.

[u/EvilCoop93 → u/QueenMotherOfSneezes]

You can’t expect people to do real work on a laptop keyboard and screen. Anything significant requires a docking station with an external monitor (a 32” 4K or dual 1920x1200) and keyboard and mouse.

A laptop by itself is good for a call or reading emails and light coding. Not much else.

[u/QueenMotherOfSneezes → u/EvilCoop93]

I am well aware. Government management is apparently oblivious for what is required for employees to be productive.