Hi,
Does anyone still find the work / life balance strange?

It's not unusual for me, hubby or our friends to be 'catching up' with work over the weekend, which are hours on top of our standard 40. It sometime feels like we're always working and have no down time. The 3wks of annual leave get used up pretty quick too. It's a totally different to what we left behind.

Being laid off with no notice also seems normal. It's not unusual for a friend or colleague to be laid off with no notice. Makes you realise why people don't really connect with work mates here like or why everyone wants to work for the government.

Sorry if I'm being negative. There's so many great things about Canada, there's just a few that I can't wrap my head around.

I don't find it strange but, yes, we work the weekends and people work from their vacation spots; Hawaii, Manitoulin, even Bexhill on Sea! It's also usual to disengage workers without notice so long as the notice is paid. Working for the government, as my daughter does, is a strong choice in the other direction, you can take maternity leave but the pay isn't very good so you need a spouse who works in the private sector.

Isn't that just the Dreaded Batter-Pudding Hurler?

It might just be my profession, but I don't find the work environment strange in Canada. If anything, my work/life balance has improved significantly compared to the UK. In London, long hours were the norm as well as long commutes, so no time to do anything during the week. Here, everyone finishes up by 4:30pm so they can go pick up their kids, play volleyball, etc. I was so stunned that people had time to do activities after work. As for layoffs, I think that was pretty normal in the UK too, many times I saw people suddenly given the axe with a payout. Same thing happens here in Canada.

Yes it's strange.

That's something I've seen commented on a lot here and on other forums over the years - that work/life balance is poor for many. It's not really strange here but often par for the course.
I experienced that. I felt compelled to work extra time from home in order to keep my job. I noticed my colleagues were doing it as well.

I had 25 days in the UK and my first job on returning to Canada gave me two weeks that you couldn't take for the first year. However later on I got a job with 4 weeks leave.
You're observation matches my own. In offices here I've never seen anyone go around with a tray collecting peoples mugs to get their coffee/tea like I remember in the UK for example. Occasionally workers might stand around eating Timbits in the kitchen. I wouldn't want to work for the government with their Phoenix pay system fiascoes. I might not get paid for months.

I see you are in Halifax. I have a pretty decent work life balance (nowhere near as good as the UK mind) but what I have found strange about workplaces here is both the commitment to mediocrity and the steadfast refusal to either improve or try new things.

I think that's Canada in general though.

I suppose it depends on your profession and what market you are dealing with. Now a lot is remote but even here in Ireland/Europe I have seen managers work longer if they deal with America due to time difference and others because they want to (for various reasons). If you are on a 40 hour contract Monday-Friday and have to catch up with work over the weekend that either means the business is doing so well that you should get 50% more money, or something is seriously wrong and other colleagues might not be doing their job correctly.

In the UK I had 4 weeks holiday and we got additional weeks for years served, none of that here for anyone I know. I also worked 9-5 and at 5:05 I'd be the only one in the office, not a minute over would be worked by anyone. Here it's normal for me to do the 9-5 and then catch up on emails at night and hours on the weekend. My 40hr week is often closer to 45-50.

I find the more mature of us do the hours and the younger ones don't. The industry I'm in is now starved of people and the younger people have more options so they either don't stick around or work to rule. I don't blame them though as they see that so many companies have no loyalty to employees so they look after number 1.

Given the size of the country I am hesitant to say that - I simply don't know. But in Nova Scotia it is absolutely appalling how widespread and ingrained such attitudes are.

Commitment to mediocrity and the steadfast refusal to either improve or try new things Canada in general?
I think it may be fairly across the board but not necessarily consistent in all matters.

Admittedly most of it in my experience is province related but Service Canada and CRA have been particularly inefficient for me in the last couple of years.

It's not just government either. Despite all the warnings to be aware of Fraud I've received dodgy looking emails from Banks, BellAliant and others that bear all the hallmarks of phishing attempts but turned out to be genuine.

And why do private companies think chatbots are worth the time?

I’ve mostly really enjoyed my work at a post-secondary college here, but I did have to reign in my smutty sense of humour.

I think the younger ones might be on to something.

My first shock about this came before I had moved to Canada. I overheard a man at the airport help desk saying "I have to be back in Canada today. If I am not at work at 8am on Monday, I will lose my job instantly". He then proceeded to pay $2,000 out of own pocket to book a different ticket saying "it's that or my job". It seems there is a North American level of job peril coupled with a European inefficiency at times.