Category Archives: HR Guide

New featured images – Governance

The Writing Life of a Tadpole
April 18 2020

As part of an update to my website, I am revamping all my featured images (https://polywogg.ca/new-featured-images-astronomy/). Having already tackled a small one (astronomy) and a large one (website and computers), I am turning my attention to a different challenge — governance. I actually have multiple categories that fall into a “governance” theme, although in many ways, “government” might be a better term for some.

I have an actual category specifically called governance, and I tend to write about a variety of things related to running a government. Elections, public administration, audits. I have more of a technical bent to my topics, and if I was completely candid, it seems like public administration would be the more likely heading. Except from time to time I go above that and intersect with policy and politics. The running of a government at a level above. Not often, but occasionally, and usually related to how the two realms — politics and public administration — intersect.  » Read the rest

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Mental Health in the Workplace – My role as a manager

The Writing Life of a Tadpole
November 18 2019

Unless you have been living under a rock, you would know that one of the latest pushes in all management circles — public, private, C-suites, academia — is to figure out how to improve workplaces so that they are supportive of good mental health. But part of that push is recognizing that we are not there yet, and even if we were, life happens outside of the workplace too, and eventually, even the most awesome place to work is going to deal with mental health issues with its employees.

Analysis without resolution

Earlier today, our branch held a half-day management discussion on mental health issues and included a desire for us all as managers to make a personal commitment to what we would “undertake” to improve our support on mental health issues. Some of them range from the obvious (don’t look at your phone while you’re talking to someone) while others are more complex (how to manage performance when there is an undiagnosed but suspected mental health issue on display).  » Read the rest

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Admitting I was wrong – Workplace 2.0

The Writing Life of a Tadpole
May 28 2018

I work in a government office complex, and for the most part, our offices tend to look like they were designed and approved by accountants. Actuarial accountants. And auditors. We don’t have 50 shades of gray, we tend to have three. Light gray, dark gray, and something in between that is probably “light gray that got dirty and will never get cleaned”. Don’t get me started on the carpets. But before I talk about Workplace 2.0, let me talk for a moment about my last 20+ years of office accommodations.

Government accommodations

From 1993 to 1997, I was with Foreign Affairs. Generally, everyone had a closed office, boring off-white metal-like walls, brown doors, small window next to the door (usually, but not always), desk plus computer table, chair, guest chair, bookshelf and filing cabinet. With enough room that you could often have two people squeeze in front of the desk as guests, and have a quick meeting.  » Read the rest

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#50by50 – Dropping some plans

The Writing Life of a Tadpole
April 14 2018

If you’re following me on FB or Twitter, you might have noticed a series of reposts lately, partly as I realized my numbering style for my #50by50 posts were confusing people. Too many subcategories and I would likely not reach 50 items since I was grouping some. So I’ve gone back to numbering them individually where appropriate, and reposting. But with just over two months left, I realized that some of my possible plans are likely not going to happen.

Dye my hair

I put a lot of thought into this, which was probably a mistake. Because that thought was enough to talk me out of it. If I was to dye my hair, I wouldn’t want to look like I was trying to hide grey hair or look younger. I’m fine with the white hairs in the hair on top of my head as well as on my face. I have no vanity about turning 50.  » Read the rest

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#50by50 #04 – Start a new job – Update

The Writing Life of a Tadpole
April 13 2018

The best-laid plans of mice and men sometimes go astray. When I posted the first time about my new job, it was after a pretty extensive internal process for me personally — reflecting extensively on what I had liked about previous jobs, what I was looking for in a new job — and a formal job search across multiple areas.

As I finished that search and said yes to the dress, so to speak, I went with a stakeholder relations job for disability pensions. I liked the way it was framed, there was a formal set of mechanisms in place, not building SR from the ground up, and there was a Round Table that met three times a year that would drive the work cycle.

The interview with the DG had been great, I was excited about the files, and I had touched on things that were important to me in the job search…a chance to innovate, an open management environment, good people to work with, and a solid working relationship with my management team.  » Read the rest

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