Edmonton Construction Part 14 (October 2023)

[YegFan]

Originally Posted by YEG-Urbanist

Have you ever worked in the public sector? Despite all the stereotypes, the compensation is average, with very few perks. I work in post secondary and out of scope employees had a wage freeze for 7 years.

The ability to work hybrid is one of the very few perks city employees are eligible for. If this is a way for the city to maintain its workforce (without increasing taxes to pay for additional salary increases), I see no issues with it.

Mandating the city employees back to the office is not going to fix Downtown's issues.

You think?

- 35 hour work week or less
- every other Friday off
- pretty good pension plan
- good salaries compared to many other employers....

They have it pretty good.

[feepa]

Feds and Prov are both still working from home in many places because the feds and prov gave up a lot of space.

SAME WITH THE CITY.

It really bothers some of you that people can work from home and be very successful in this modern world doesnt it?

[feepa]

Originally Posted by YegFan

You think?

- 35 hour work week or less
- every other Friday off
- pretty good pension plan
- good salaries compared to many other employers....

They have it pretty good.

Sounds like your jealous.

[OilCity98]

Originally Posted by YEG-Urbanist

Have you ever worked in the public sector? Despite all the stereotypes, the compensation is average, with very few perks. I work in post secondary and out of scope employees had a wage freeze for 7 years.

The ability to work hybrid is one of the very few perks city employees are eligible for. If this is a way for the city to maintain its workforce (without increasing taxes to pay for additional salary increases), I see no issues with it.

Mandating the city employees back to the office is not going to fix Downtown's issues.

I have for 6 years (in St. Albert) prior to starting my own business. Sure, compensation is average (not bad by any means) but many are attracted to the security net of those types of positions.

In my opinion, it is ridiculous to not see city administration workers not back in their offices downtown full-time six years past covid now. I'm sure it's great for them to stay at home, but that's not proper representation and that's not a "new normal" I will ever accept. It may work well in other private sector positions, but its piss poor representation and accessibility, as well as hitting office vacancy in a government city.

[feepa]

but its piss poor representation and accessibility

accessibilty to whom? Theres many in the public sector who have no public facing role. And why should the city pay for office space when they dont need it to?

[Big Jake]

Originally Posted by feepa

It really bothers some of you that people can work from home and be very successful in this modern world doesnt it?

I'm retired so nope !!

[feepa]

Originally Posted by Big Jake

I'm retired so nope !!

"Retired, huh? Heh... lucky devil."

Me? I've got about ten more years left in the circus before they hand me one of those shiny gold-plated government pensions for mastering the ancient art of jiggling a mouse and looking concerned in Teams meetings. Thirty years of service they call it... and if we're being honest, maybe half of that was actual work. Cue ominous laughter.

The funny part? I've been working from home since before it was fashionable. Before COVID. Before every CEO suddenly discovered webcams.

Some companies? They're fantastic. They trust you. Judge you by results.

Others?

Ahhh... now those are my favorite joke.

They don't see people. They see occupancy rates. Warm bodies. Spreadsheet cells. The real punchline isn't productivity, it's commercial real estate. Empty office towers make investors nervous. Empty cubicles make shareholders frown. That's the gag.

So they demand everyone march back into the office. Spend more money. More gas. More time commuting. More hours thrown into the void.

And for what?

So you can sit in a cubicle, put on a headset, log into Teams, and have an ONLINE meeting with someone three floors away... or across the city... or across the province... or across the country.

Same meeting. Same screen. Same headphones.

Different parking lot.

And they call that progress.

Why so serious? 🤡

[Big Jake]

^^^you don't want time to go too quickly but 10 more years will go by fairly fast, then you get to put your feet up ! Me, I just retired literally a month ago so it's all new to me, however I was already laid off each summer working for Edmonton Public Schools so I haven't noticed anything different yet but I probably will come September when I no longer have to go back to school.