Why are some government workplaces better than others?

By Karl Salgo, Associate and Executive Advisor

Published on November 3, 2025 in the Ottawa Citizen.

Karl Salgo in front of Langevin block in downtown Ottawa. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia

The countless layers of process and rules within government can make anyone who comes into contact with the federal bureaucracy roll their eyes in frustration.

Well, it looks like even bureaucrats are happier with less bureaucracy.

I’ve written before about the underlying frustrations many federal public servants have, despite being seemingly happy in their jobs, according to the most recent Public Service Employee Survey (PSES). These frustrations often have come in the form of red tape, too many approval stages and constantly shifting priorities in the federal government.

And despite having a favourable view of their immediate managers, many public servants were disenchanted with the senior ranks.

No one wants to be a cog in the machinery of government.

While these observations are based on the overall public service, there is also a need to compare survey results across government organizations to find out how they stack up against each other.

This newspaper is now doing just that, using the PSES and other data to rank public service job satisfaction in more than 80 government departments and agencies. Despite clichés about inherently disengaged bureaucrats, this ranking is evidence that the happiest public servants are in workplaces where they can focus on a mission they care about under less distant and impersonal management.

If we look at the top third of organizations in the ranking, it’s striking that there are no line departments. With the exception of two central agencies — Finance and the Privy Council Office (PCO), which I’ll come back to later — all are agencies, boards and commissions. That means they aren’t directly led by a minister and have some level of day-to-day independence. Even if we look at the top half of the rankings, only a few of the roughly 20 listed line departments make it in.

This is not a one-time result. Four of the bottom five organizations scored well below average on the 2022 PSES when employees were asked if they strongly agreed with whether their department or agency was a great place to work.

What do the top organizations have in common? It’s not that they have different formal employment regimes.

To my surprise, so-called separate employers, which aren’t subject to the full swath of Treasury Board controls, are roughly equally represented in both the top and bottom ranks. Speaking broadly, the top scorers tend to be smaller organizations with specialized missions — agents of Parliament, technical specialists in science, finance or energy regulation, researchers, and human rights experts.

It’s true that some small agencies don’t fare well, but large ones like the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) are overrepresented in the bottom half, along with line departments.

Despite clichés about inherently disengaged bureaucrats, this ranking is evidence that the happiest public servants are in workplaces where they can focus on a mission they care about

They are sometimes flatter organizations, with fewer layers of risk-averse approval to go through. In the best cases, employees choose these organizations because they, too, are mission-driven and take satisfaction in what they’re doing. Conversely, it can be hard to feel empowered in a department whose staff number in the five digits, and whose senior managers are focused on constant demands from the centre.

If this is so, what should we make of the high(ish) rankings of the Department of Finance and PCO — the pressure cookers of the public service?

Those departments are not places of contemplative repose: politics and issues management loom large while shifting priorities are a way of life. But in both cases, the sense of mission is strong and the opportunity for impact, not to mention career advancement, is significant. Given that roughly half of PSES respondents weren’t happy with their department’s attention to career development, many ambitious public servants will find the centre of government appealing despite its demands.

I haven’t mentioned remote work, though it weighed in the Citizen’s methodology and is popular with employees, because frankly, I think its days are numbered.

Following Tolstoy’s maxim that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, it’s a bit hard to say what the lowest-ranking organizations have in common. Compensation is undoubtedly a problem — low-ranking organizations like Global Affairs and CBSA have long complained about poor wage parity. We also know that CBSA’s union representatives have decried outsized, ham-fisted management and a toxic workplace culture. And I suspect that Correctional Service Canada has distinctive work environment problems of its own.

What are the takeaways for those who ranked poorly? Big line departments will never be niche actors, but they can delayer, foster more people-oriented leadership, and adopt less rigid and impersonal workplace cultures.

No one wants to be a cog in the machinery of government.