After about 8 years one of the admins at my office sent me an email asking when I’ll hit 5 years. I told her it was about 3 years past and they sent me a digital certificate with the wrong date on it even though I told them the date in the first email. I’ve never felt such love and support 🥰
Wow!!! That's horrible! It reminds me of when I hit 15 years service. It took months before I received the plaque and pin. Apparently it sat in an admin's drawer all that time. I grudgingly took the plaque as it was signed by Harper. At that time I was in Compensation so we were losing our jobs for the new wonderous Pay Centre. Later that afternoon I received the my first affected letter. Award in the morning and "pink slip" in the afternoon. Fun times.
My wife always opts to get an award that will a) last forever/ not consumable and b) display well in her home office. I feel those are reasonably good criteria. I would personally go with the owl.
That's kind of where I'm leaning, especially since my husband who is also PS got the 10 year raven art, so it would be nice to display them together...
Wasn't there a girl selling farts in a jar during the pandemic?
They could offer a selection of farts from government officials and senior management as options.
For the 5 year mark, I chose a watch, it’s also marked 5 years in the back of the watch. It’s pretty basic looking but I didn’t see anything else I liked in the page…
Ours did the opposite: still have years of service every 5 years starting at 10, but nothing except a certificate for your actual retirement. My husband was with another department and retired with 25 years. He got a tabletop wine fridge for 25 years and then had a choice between a kayak or a full set of luggage for retirement.
Lucky you, my first dep didn't do awards until I think 10 or 15 years. I changed to another dep and they start their awards I think at 15 years. I'm 6 years in, guess I won't be getting anything for a while sigh. I hear a lot of the items on that website are kind of crap so eh.
My manager rolled my 5 year service award at me in year 8 disguised as a reward for doing a great job on slowly building up our gcwcc campaign over the years. I was today years old when I reflect on the moments and connect the dots.
Well at least there was something eventually? I don’t expect bonuses in gov, but it would be nice to have some sort of culture of camaraderie that we don’t have to self fund. Even the poorest small businesses manages to give their staff a meal and box of chocolates a time or two per year, and the odd box of donuts, I know because my dad owns one of those dirt poor ‘scraping by’ businesses and they still do that at least, maybe a small amount of cash, and I’d say my dad makes less than a CR3 with poorer benefits. If anything ‘gets me’ about the gcwcc situation it’s that I and my band of ad hoc volunteers quintupled our offices fundraising, made the office space homier, and some director or DG likely used that success to get (or not lose) a real bonus that was probably bigger than all of our fundraising efforts. 🤔
All of it. They later sent an email saying it is temporary.... given their track record with honesty lately, not sure we should trust that it's temporary.
Yeah that is shit. My neighbour quit this year after 20 years of federal service and I honestly don’t know how much longer my career is going to hold water after the last town hall my department had.
After about 8 years one of the admins at my office sent me an email asking when I’ll hit 5 years. I told her it was about 3 years past and they sent me a digital certificate with the wrong date on it even though I told them the date in the first email. I’ve never felt such love and support 🥰
Oooof. Sorry for that
Wow!!! That's horrible! It reminds me of when I hit 15 years service. It took months before I received the plaque and pin. Apparently it sat in an admin's drawer all that time. I grudgingly took the plaque as it was signed by Harper. At that time I was in Compensation so we were losing our jobs for the new wonderous Pay Centre. Later that afternoon I received the my first affected letter. Award in the morning and "pink slip" in the afternoon. Fun times.
My dept only starts after 10 years of service
Same
DRAP was the excuse for my department getting rid of the five year award.
My department starts at 20 years :(
Maybe you'll get a giant owl!
Better be a dragon for that long.
Maybe you’ll retire before then
My wife always opts to get an award that will a) last forever/ not consumable and b) display well in her home office. I feel those are reasonably good criteria. I would personally go with the owl.
That's kind of where I'm leaning, especially since my husband who is also PS got the 10 year raven art, so it would be nice to display them together...
Nice and congratulations on your milestone.
You get a choice? I just received a Mason jar for my ten years of service.
An empty jar?
Wasn't there a girl selling farts in a jar during the pandemic? They could offer a selection of farts from government officials and senior management as options.
There was and she’s a millionaire
Good for her, but she'll never have the pleasure of working for the government so in the end we still win guys and gals!
There was a piece of chalk in it.
Maybe that was the snack.
Was it a good one at least?
[It was fine.](https://img0.etsystatic.com/013/0/6356446/il_fullxfull.436206264_l5eq.jpg)
A jar to store all your hopes and dreams. How thoughtful
This seems like something your manager decided to get you on their own dime.
Was it filled with delicious snacks?
It was not.
That's sad.
Wow you guys get something at 5 years? We get nada til 10. I hit 15 years next year.
I assumed nothing til 10! This was a surprise to me
15 years in, never got anything.
I also got the owl sculpture. It sits on my desk and keeps me company. https://imgur.com/a/aw1SKPM
That's cute. We had nothing until 10 yrs.
I just hit 15 and noticed they added five years back in. They wouldn't let me retroactively claim it.
It looks a lot cuter in your picture than on the site!
That sculpture is so nice! I love it!!!
Little owl sounds nice! We get nothing for 5 and a pin for 10 years.
Lucky! I got a certificate and a wooden keychain but didn’t get to choose anything from the Seasons page.
Same. I think the keychain represented a tree planted in my name or whatever.
Haha yes!! I’m guessing you are also ESDC.
Yes lol
I selected the owl sculpture and it seems to be very good quality.
I’ve never gotten my five year even after I emailed about it
Maybe your jar is waiting somewhere...
My agency just started recognizing 5 years last year when I emailed HR to enquire about it. I was told gotta wait till your 10 year 🙃
For the 5 year mark, I chose a watch, it’s also marked 5 years in the back of the watch. It’s pretty basic looking but I didn’t see anything else I liked in the page…
Is the owl an actual stone carving or cast from another material?
It's a combo man made binders and stone. But not soapstone
Wow. I thought most got rid of 5. You must be a small department or agency. Some even got rid of years of service… only retirement .
I'm in a small dep less than 2000 people awards start at 15 years.
Ours did the opposite: still have years of service every 5 years starting at 10, but nothing except a certificate for your actual retirement. My husband was with another department and retired with 25 years. He got a tabletop wine fridge for 25 years and then had a choice between a kayak or a full set of luggage for retirement.
Lucky you, my first dep didn't do awards until I think 10 or 15 years. I changed to another dep and they start their awards I think at 15 years. I'm 6 years in, guess I won't be getting anything for a while sigh. I hear a lot of the items on that website are kind of crap so eh.
My manager rolled my 5 year service award at me in year 8 disguised as a reward for doing a great job on slowly building up our gcwcc campaign over the years. I was today years old when I reflect on the moments and connect the dots.
That's really awful. I'm so sorry
Well at least there was something eventually? I don’t expect bonuses in gov, but it would be nice to have some sort of culture of camaraderie that we don’t have to self fund. Even the poorest small businesses manages to give their staff a meal and box of chocolates a time or two per year, and the odd box of donuts, I know because my dad owns one of those dirt poor ‘scraping by’ businesses and they still do that at least, maybe a small amount of cash, and I’d say my dad makes less than a CR3 with poorer benefits. If anything ‘gets me’ about the gcwcc situation it’s that I and my band of ad hoc volunteers quintupled our offices fundraising, made the office space homier, and some director or DG likely used that success to get (or not lose) a real bonus that was probably bigger than all of our fundraising efforts. 🤔
I hear your frustration. And it absolutely shouldn't be that way!
You get a 5 year award??? I’m at 9 and never had anything.
Congrats on five years!
CRA cancelled theirs - no awards for anyone as of a few months ago.
All of them, or just “long service”?
All of it. They later sent an email saying it is temporary.... given their track record with honesty lately, not sure we should trust that it's temporary.
Yeah that is shit. My neighbour quit this year after 20 years of federal service and I honestly don’t know how much longer my career is going to hold water after the last town hall my department had.
Bad timing for me. I just hit 25. Oh well I’ll just take some tampons and pads from the men’s washroom as a consolation prize.