HR Guide – The Writing Life of a Tadpole

Why I hate “inventories” in Government of Canada HR

June 20 2020

There are processes in GoC HR called “inventories” and they are often done in one of three instances, all of them generally bad for the applicant:

A. They are hiring for LOTS of different categories

You’ve likely seen these, as it will say “Come work at Transport! We’re hiring AS-01, AS-02, AS-03, AS-04,…” and they then list 7 levels of AS, 5 levels of PM, 7 levels of EC, etc. It’s called a “cattle call” and it is basically the equivalent of having a large drop box in front of their building that says “drop your resume off here and maybe someone will look at it”. There are no specific jobs identified, just an open lazy-ass HR process that screams “We have no idea what we’re doing but we need a lot of people and it’s easier to do this than a real competition where we tell you in advance what we want. » Read the rest

New featured images – Governance

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

Mental Health in the Workplace – My role as a manager

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

Admitting I was wrong – Workplace 2.0

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

#50by50 – Dropping some plans

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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