Canadian Federal Politics Thread v5

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Locke

In this day and age of security and the fact that agencies like CRA get hacked on the regular, the fact that you're trying to get important work done while some chucklehead is balancing his froot loops while juggling his cell phone and working off some third-rate laptop in his kitchen on his home wifi isn't helping.

You think there are roving gangs of hackers in white vans patrolling the suburbs looking for wifi networks to break into? It's much easier to send a phishing email and let Karen from accounting give you the keys to the domain. And it doesn't matter if her laptop is in her dock in the office or at home on the VPN, the end result is the same

Half of IT security is trying to educate employees not to be brainless monkeys, and the other half is securing the network against those same brainless monkeys because you know the education won't work. Protecting against external threats is just having to remember to update your Palo Alto or Fortinet firmware

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

The thing is they don't have to now, and the benefits of working from home far outweigh any perceived negatives that boomers whine about. If governments were actually serious about climate change, mandating that companies allow WFH where possible would be one of the easiest wins with the highest impact. But no, we have to have millions of people in their cars stuck in traffic puking out CO2 because boomers need to see heads in their office because "That's the way it's always been"

The thing that few people talk about in the return to office conversation is the degree in which it props up industries. When people are forced back to the office then they need to:
- Have a car and use it daily, which is good for the car industry as well as the Oil & Gas industry that is selling you the fuel
- Pay for parking
- Prepare meals that they take to the office or buy food at the shops around the office
- Buy coffee around the office instead of making it at home
- Update wardrobes to office appropriate attire and likely need dry-cleaning to maintain the clothes
- Spend more money to go to the gym at the office instead of the one near (or inside) your home
- Justify the money spent on that big, fancy corporate headquarters and ensure companies are not reducing office space consumption

It is not hard to see how these supporting industries might lobby a CEO to get them to bring their people back to the office. Especially when lobbying a CEO is considerably easier and more acceptable than lobbying a politician.

It is also worth mentioning that a lot of organizations have pretty poor managers and senior leaders that do not know how to lead people beyond making sure their bums are in their chairs for ~8 hours a day. Having everyone back in the office is really important to an organization with 8 layers of bad managers.

[peter12]

I'm fully remote and I love it, but I do see the value in having employees back in the office. It definitely doesn't need to be 5 days a week, but having some kind of in-person rapport with your colleagues is a definite benefit and it takes a special kind of leader to be able to recreate that remotely.

But you're right, the state of corporate leadership these days is atrocious. The vast majority are just idiots who write emails and go to meetings for a living.

[MarchHare]

My job transitioned to five days per week fully remote near the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and has remained that way ever since. I am SO MUCH more productive while working from home (far fewer random distractions from coworkers), and I'm significantly happier not having to waste multiple hours of my life every week needlessly commuting.

I'm also not convinced that there's any real value in having in-person conversations with your coworkers. My colleagues and I regularly meet and converse over both text and video chat, and I really don't see how gathering in a board room would add any more value to those meetings.

[aaronck]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

My job transitioned to five days per week fully remote near the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and has remained that way ever since. I am SO MUCH more productive while working from home (far fewer random distractions from coworkers), and I'm significantly happier not having to waste multiple hours of my life every week needlessly commuting.

I'm also not convinced that there's any real value in having in-person conversations with your coworkers. My colleagues and I regularly meet and converse over both text and video chat, and I really don't see how gathering in a board room would add any more value to those meetings.

Same for me- Instead of 8-4 taking an hour for lunch I'm usually available 8-5 as I have no commute, and only go out for lunch maybe once a week. Much better employee working from home

[PepsiFree]

There is some interpersonal value to in-person work, but that’s entirely dependent on a culture that embraces that value in the first place. Team lunches, beers, bonding over idle chit chat, etc are all things that are easier in person, but I’ve found a pretty high correlation between managers who want to limit those things but also want people back at the office. And of course, you can have all of those things fully remote if you plan time for them.

The two best co-worker relationships I’ve had were with my desk mate and with someone in an entirely different city I only saw in-person once per year. Polar opposites.

The idea that the value of in-person work can’t be achieved remotely is held primarily by older generations who find it difficult themselves (hard to blame them, they know no other way and it’s hard to learn, but not impossible) and a subsection of younger (under 50) managers/owners/etc who are genuinely terrible at managing people and are kind of awful to be around in general, in my experience.

I have no issue putting in effort and showing up for the former as long as there is some mutual understanding there, even if unspoken. But the latter are losers.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

I'm also not convinced that there's any real value in having in-person conversations with your coworkers. My colleagues and I regularly meet and converse over both text and video chat, and I really don't see how gathering in a board room would add any more value to those meetings.

That works well if you have established relationships with those coworkers. One reason WFH during COVID worked relatively well even for collaborative teams was that you had existing relationships that could be leveraged over Teams / Zoom etc. I found that onboarding and integrating new employees was very difficult until you were able to start meeting in person and establish those personal relationships. Most humans are social creatures, and relate better that way.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

That works well if you have established relationships with those coworkers. One reason WFH during COVID worked relatively well even for collaborative teams was that you had existing relationships that could be leveraged over Teams / Zoom etc. I found that onboarding and integrating new employees was very difficult until you were able to start meeting in person and establish those personal relationships. Most humans are social creatures, and relate better that way.

After the success of WFH during Covid, my CEO decided to fire my entire accounting staff and outsource them to Eastern Europe. I had to lose my entire team of established relationships and train an entire new team who not only were on an 8 hour time difference but also English was their second language. I won't say it was easy, but within a year the team was running as efficiently as the one who worked in the office.

Every anecdote is going to have their own specifics and what works for one team, may not work for others. There will definitely be roles that would benefit from collaboration in person, but the assumptions that we need to support in person because it is "better" or that all WFH are slacking are just lazy.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

That works well if you have established relationships with those coworkers. One reason WFH during COVID worked relatively well even for collaborative teams was that you had existing relationships that could be leveraged over Teams / Zoom etc. I found that onboarding and integrating new employees was very difficult until you were able to start meeting in person and establish those personal relationships. Most humans are social creatures, and relate better that way.

I changed jobs to a new employer in August 2021. I didn't meet my boss or my other colleagues in-person until nearly a year later. It wasn't an issue at all for any of us. We have also since onboarded another team member with no problems.

[Sylvanfan]

So, anyone care to guess how having 214 candidates on the ballot in Battle River-Crowfoot by-election will bit into the % of votes for Polievre?

I think it was close to 80% in the previous election. I'll say he falls to 70 here. A few protest types might show up. But this is pretty staunch Conservative ground.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

So, anyone care to guess how having 214 candidates on the ballot in Battle River-Crowfoot by-election will bit into the % of votes for Polievre?

I think it was close to 80% in the previous election. I'll say he falls to 70 here. A few protest types might show up. But this is pretty staunch Conservative ground.

I am cheering for Bonnie.

As much as people blindly vote for their party, you have to wonder how many of them are considering the fact that they will never see PP in their riding for the next 4 years. He has no ties to the region, doesn't care at all for local issues, and is only interested in the blind support that his party receives from the riding.

Bonnie has done a great job of highlighting how little he cares about the people and stressed that she is only there to represent her neighbours.

I would hope that a lot of people hear her and reconsider their vote.

[getbak]

How close does the spelling need to be on the write-in ballot?

The 200+ candidates should have all registered with names that are very close misspellings of Pierre Poilievre, similar to what Dave Foley did with Jon Hamm in the last season of Fargo.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

There is some interpersonal value to in-person work, but that’s entirely dependent on a culture that embraces that value in the first place. Team lunches, beers, bonding over idle chit chat, etc are all things that are easier in person, but I’ve found a pretty high correlation between managers who want to limit those things but also want people back at the office. And of course, you can have all of those things fully remote if you plan time for them.

My company is moving to hybrid model next year. They were adamant how they have "researched" a bunch of studies saying how employees are more productive in the office (while conveniently ignoring the studies that say WFH is just as productive), under the guise of needing to rebuild social relationships.

At the same time, there are no more team lunches for birthdays, work anniversaries or team building. Almost no social events, outside of a random lowkey luncheon when a VP decides to fly in and spy on us. No more team building field trips to fun places. Even the xmas party is lame.

In the past when we had more of these events and lunches, those are the team building events I remember the most. Those were the social events that got me excited to hang out with my co-workers and see them in a more social setting. I miss looking forward to going for a colleague's birthday lunch somewhere and enjoying a few hours on the company's dime. I miss grand xmas parties that we still talk about years later. If the executives are so damn worried about us being friends with each other then maybe those the kind of social connections we should be building.

I remember nothing while chatting with Bob at the copy machine, or random chit chat with the receptionist. I don't build true connections with my colleagues when we sit beside each other in the cubicles. I find it pretty dumb how the company insists we all sit together in the office to bond with each other, yet something simple like sharing a meal with your team is infinitely more beneficial and memorable then sitting beside each other at a desk with headphones on and there's never money for that.

[the-rasta-masta]

I think the type of job is also relevant, but you'll never convince me productivity for a team as a whole is the same for a full WFH in comparison to a hybrid or full time in office setting, especially in Sales. There's more ability to collaborate and share ideas with coworkers around different files/customers when you're in the office together.

I think it's obvious there are some people that can be productive and motivated in work from home situations, but the overall team productivity is lost with those that do the bare minimum and take advantage. The office setting and face to face with superiors and coworkers in my opinion probably is more impactful in bringing up the low performers than the high.

[PepsiFree]

Low performers doing the bare minimum is not a WFH issue, nor is it even their issue. It’s a sign of really poor management, from poor people skills to crappy processes and systems.

It happens in the office just as much. Terrible managers just think it isn’t because they check a box when someone is sitting at their desk and don’t ever turn in their brain.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Low performers doing the bare minimum is not a WFH issue, nor is it even their issue. It’s a sign of really poor management, from poor people skills to crappy processes and systems.

It happens in the office just as much. Terrible managers just think it isn’t because they check a box when someone is sitting at their desk and don’t ever turn in their brain.

100%. If you have people who are doing #### all at home, that’s a leadership issue. I’ve never been more productive at a desk job than when I led my team from home for 3 years after Covid.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

I changed jobs to a new employer in August 2021. I didn't meet my boss or my other colleagues in-person until nearly a year later. It wasn't an issue at all for any of us. We have also since onboarded another team member with no problems.

I joined a company based out of Montreal 3 years ago. I've never met anyone I work with in person, but we're always talking and collaborating on projects together on Teams

[Mightyfire89]

Originally Posted by Wolven

I am cheering for Bonnie.

As much as people blindly vote for their party, you have to wonder how many of them are considering the fact that they will never see PP in their riding for the next 4 years. He has no ties to the region, doesn't care at all for local issues, and is only interested in the blind support that his party receives from the riding.

Bonnie has done a great job of highlighting how little he cares about the people and stressed that she is only there to represent her neighbours.

I would hope that a lot of people hear her and reconsider their vote.

I know Bonnie and more-so, her dad. She’s a good human.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Locke

So Government employees have to actually go to work. Like they always used to.

Do we need to start a letter-writing Campaign to Amnesty International to free of these poor and unfairly imprisoned souls?

Commuting sucks. So does life. It is an endless sequence of one miserable state of suffering to the next. Deal with it.

There’s a long tenured Flames fan!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

There’s a long tenured Flames fan!

Damned straight.

There are chuckleheads that complain about the brutal task of either reading my signatures or the nearly herculean feat of scrolling past them, I know, its no 'slaying the Hydra' or anything but they make it seem like it. They know who they are.

But it should be noted...

If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

I put that in there before the season even started. And we missed the playoffs...despite having more points than some teams in the playoffs.

Life sucks. Then you die. Some people have to drive to work? Let me call the Hague for you and see if we can get the 'Crimes Against Humanity' panel rocking and rolling.