spouse of scouse

Obviously the 'high ups' in your company don't care about getting the best person for the job. Pisses me right off, apart from anything else it's just not good business sense.

dbd33

It's routine though. In the public relations document there will be waffle about "supporting" or "building" the local community. That means hiring from within the community and that means hiring your children. The people I feel for are the children of nepotism, maybe they'd be good at something but, in Canada, they'll join Big Corp as a summer student because Big Corp is where Mum and Dad work and then, in university, they'll intern at Big Corp, Big Corp will have a place for them whether they graduate or drop out. It's like being in a white collar pit village.

Siouxie

It's exceedingly common here - not just in office situations either. A family member was "gazumped" out of a job as a Power Engineer as one of the senior managers had a cousin in Alberta who wanted to move to Ontario, and was given the position... never mind that they had 20 years less experience nor that they had lower/fewer qualifications.

Paul_Shepherd

Unfortunately Siouxie is right, thats the way it is here....not what you know its very much who you know. I love living in Canada, but this and the pathetic vacation are two huge minus's about Canada. Especially if you lose your job....then thats it you have lost your vacation too! So ridiculously unfair, its one thing I really hate about Canada/US. Even Canadians complain about it!!

scrubbedexpat091

Its the Canadian way. My last job everyone above Supervisor was a friend or former co-worker of the main manager, no way to get into a higher position without being the main managers friend, positions were even created just to give friends jobs.

It's not what you know in Canada, but who you know.

Years ago, around 2006 I was working at a hotel in Edmonton as a night auditor and new owners bought the hotel, slowly housekeeping department started to let people go, and slowly came in family and friends of the owner, by the time I left everyone working at the hotel was either a friend or family member of the owners, only myself and the relief auditor were not family or friends of the owner, but it was graveyard shift so likely only reason we were kept around.

SchnookoLoly

I worked for a Big4 accounting firm awhile back, both in Canada and the UK.

In Canada, when I joined as a grad, I started with 3 weeks of vacation and 2 personal days (17 days), plus the 9 required stat holidays, plus Civic Holiday, so 27 days off total. I would be awarded a 4th week once I'd been there for 5 years, 32 days off total.

When I moved to the UK with the same company, I got 5 weeks, plus the 8 bank holidays, so 33 days off.

I left that company when I moved back to Canada. Starting at my new job, a private healthcare company, I started with 4 weeks vacation, 2 personal days, and the 9+1 statutory holidays, so 32 days off total.

So with the move, I only lost one day off per year.

My husband was in a similar boat. He had the same 33 days off in the UK. His current job he has 4 weeks, 11 stat holidays (banks get Remembrance Day, but he is allowed to bank the day and take it whenever as they still need at least one person from the team in the office). He doesn't get the personal days, but his boss gives discretion for a day leeway here or there as the team's normal work day is about 9-10 hours. So 31 days instead of 33, but with more flexibility for part-days or extra "unofficial" days.

Neither of us has ever had any issues taking time off, provided that there is adequate coverage across the rest of the team. My team has a shared calendar in Outlook, we all just book whatever time we want, as long as no one else has the time booked off it's automatically approved. My boss will occasionally mark certain days as "ask first" (if we have big deliverables or deadlines or whatever) but no one's ever been turned down, we just have to check first. If someone else already has the time off, then again it's an ask first and no one has been turned down. (We just had 2 people off the same 3 week period, but because they work on different things boss said it was fine.)

Both husband and I have the same policy around carry-over time - a max of 5 days, must be used by 31 March.

My brother (working in Toronto) had a slightly different experience working in Engineering. He started with 3 weeks, but his manager was a real grumpy man and didn't like approving holiday. He did it anyway but he did it quite begrudgingly. (When I got married in the UK, my brother asked for a week off to come for the wedding and some time to do a mini-trip afterwards. His boss said to him "why does your sister need a week to get married?". He approved the time but he wasn't happy about it. Then again, this guy never took any holiday time at all.) My brother changed teams a few months later and his new manager had zero issues granting holiday time. So definitely just a function of a grumpy manager as opposed to company culture.

His current company (another engineering firm) as the "unlimited" setup. In writing he has 4 weeks, but in practice he can take a bit more as long as it isn't taking advantage and his work is still done. (He said generally people only take an extra 1-2-3 days, usually just to accommodate a long weekend, or flying back on a Monday instead of Sunday for better prices, or whatever.)

So it can vary greatly from company to company.