I got a degree from Douglas College in programming and business management. I understood the business side more and was better at that than at being a coder.
"For the first time, a rigid office attendance mandate has been broken and replaced with a more sensible, flexible approach based on what actually works," General Secretary Fran Heathcote said. "This has been a long campaign and reaching a deal members could accept reflects the determination of PCS members at ONS, the hard work of their reps and the value of trade unionism."
What started as a casual indulgence became a shared ritual. And without intending to, Grease Wednesdays began to change our department culture. We all began to get to know each other as individuals, with pets and families and hobbies. The ritual also smoothed tensions between departments, built friendships between unfamiliar teammates, and helped us realize we hadn't felt all that connected before.
Estefania Angel noticed that while her company helped other enterprises set up AI, it did not use those systems internally. She began using AI apps in Slack, Outlook, and Google to track assignments, which garnered attention from her superiors.
My daughter, Ivy, recently joined a swim club. As a former competitive swimmer, it's been a delight to witness. Every time I take her to practice, I feel a wave of nostalgia that reminds me of all the many years I spent in the pool and all the many teammates I collected along the way. It excites me to think that she, too, will have her own experiences and life lessons, just as swimming taught me.
Workplace noise isn't just a nuisance. It's also a stressor and productivity killer, according to a Jabra study from 2024. As someone who likes working in quiet zones, I understand. That's why I recommend leaders spend time considering how their workspace design affects the noise level for their employees.
The union is great, don't get me wrong, but one side effect of having it is that there are massive, sometimes arbitrary and annoyingly vague, lines around what I can and cannot do in my role. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem, if most of the time the things I'm not allowed to do are required to be done by managers. Managers who are overworked, undertrained, and underpaid, and so don't have the time or brain space to address things I bring to them.
