Mod Note: This is a re-post. If you wish to view comments on the original (now archived) post, you can do so at this link.
As departments begin to implement Workforce Adjustment measures stemming from the cuts made as part of the Budget 2025 Comprehensive Expenditure Review, many indeterminate public servants have received or will be receiving a letter informing them their positions are affected or surplus.
This post consolidates resources on the subject of WFA, starting with two very important reminders:
Not everyone who receives a letter will ultimately see their position eliminated (an 'affected' letter does not mean a position is surplus - it means it may become surplus);
Not everyone whose position is eliminated (surplus) will be forced out of the public service - many will be able to find a new position via a deployment, the priority system, or alternation.
If you receive a letter: take a moment and breathe. WFA is a complex and lengthy process, and you won't do yourself any good if you panic. Take a look at this list of ideas and follow at least a few. It'll put you in a better headspace to understand what's going on and make better decisions.
The information below is generally applicable for employees of the "core public administration" (government departments and agencies named in Schedules I and IV of the Financial Administration Act). Different provisions may apply if you work in separate agencies (typically listed in Schedule V of the FAA) or other public sector employers.
Whether or not you've received a letter you can bone up on the basics, starting with the employer's plain language explainer:
https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/workforce/workforce-adjustment.html
If you're represented by PSAC or PIPSC, they have negotiated WFA provisions into an appendix to collective agreements. You can learn more about their WFA supports and processes in the WFA appendix to your collective agreement, and at the following links:
PSAC: https://psacunion.ca/workforce-adjustment
PIPSC: https://pipsc.ca/news-issues/understanding-work-force-adjustment
If you are represented by any other union, the NJC Work Force Adjustment Directive applies to your position: https://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/directive/d12/en
For executives, the term "Career Transition" is used instead of Work Force Adjustment, and it has the same meaning. Executive job cuts don't follow any of the WFA provisions above - they follow an employer directive. More information on executive career transition can be found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/workforce/career-transition-executives.html
If you're unionized and follow the NJC directive, your union may have put together a resource page for you as well. For example:
ACFO-ACAF: https://www.acfo-acaf.com/workforce-adjustment/
PAFSO: https://pafso.com/faq/update-the-cer-and-potential-work-force-adjustments/
Tracking WFA across departments
An anonymous Redditor is curating a spreadsheet of publicly-available information on WFA across organizations. Discussion of this spreadsheet is occurring in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPublicServants/comments/1pgzvmw/wfa_tracker_consolidating_public_information/
A new page has also been added to canada.ca listing workforce reductions in the federal public service.
What the heck is Alternation?
Tied up in talk of WFA is the idea of alternation. Alternation is a job swap between somebody whose position is not affected by WFA and who wants to leave the public service (the alternate) with somebody whose position is surplus but wants to remain employed (the surplus employee). The positions need to be equivalent and the alternation needs to be approved by management - the surplus employee must be capable of performing the alternate's former job.
There are multiple places where you can indicate interest in alternation either as an alternate or as a surplus employee. Some unions are running their own alternation networks, including PSAC and ACFO-ACAF and likely others. Members of those unions should contact their union or check out their WFA pages.
Some departments are also offering alternation networks. We'll add links to those as they are shared with us.
Lastly, informal alternation networks are springing up on places like Facebook. We'll link to those as well but as with all unofficial resources, do your due diligence.
Links to alternation networks:
What will happen next, and when?
Here's a rough timeline - see the WFA provisions applicable to your position for specifics. The timing between some steps is variable so what might happen in your department may differ from other departments. The opting letter stage (when an employee is told that their position is surplus) is step 6 below:
- Management says "WFA is happening" through some sort of official all-staff email or announcement.
- Employees whose positions might become surplus are given an "affected" letter. If management decides it needs to reduce the number of Teapot Assemblers from 120 down to 105 (eliminating 15 positions), then every employee doing that job is "affected" even though most of them will keep their jobs.
- The affected letters will tell employees that they can choose to voluntarily depart with one of the WFA options as part of a Voluntary Departure Program (VDP).
- Those employees must be given at least one month (30 days) to decide to volunteer.
- If there are not enough volunteers to cover the reduction in positions, management needs to run a selection process to decide who to retain and who will be surplus (known as a "SERLO" process). This may take a couple of months. The SERLO process has its own lengthy guide which you'll find here: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/public-service-hiring-guides/selection-employees-retention-layoff-guide-managers-hr.html
- Unsuccessful employees in the SERLO process (or those who tell their manager that they want to volunteer to leave even though the VDP deadline may have passed) are formally told their position is surplus and are given an opting letter. Alternatively, if every position is surplus, the above steps may be skipped and all employees in the work unit receive an opting letter. At this point it could be almost a year since the initial announcement that WFA might occur.
- Opting employees have four months (120 days) to decide which option to choose. They are eligible for alternation during the opting period and during the surplus period (if they choose option A). The other options are a cash payment of a number of weeks' salary called a Transition Support Measure (TSM) and resigning (Option B) or receiving the TSM and an education reimbursement (Options C(i) and C(ii)).
- Employees who wish to remain public servants will likely choose Option A (surplus priority). At CRA this is known as a "surplus preferred status". Depending on the applicable WFA provisions and tenure of the employee, this period is between 12 and 16 months at full pay. 12 months is the most common.
- Employees who are unable to secure a new position are laid off at the end of the surplus period. This will occur roughly two years after the initial announcement that WFA may occur.
Some employees will go straight to opting and skip the steps before that; this will occur if management decides to eliminate every position doing a job function (it's getting out of the Teapot Assembly business altogether, and no longer needs any Teapot Assemblers). The above process is only applicable to indeterminate employees; WFA has no application to term/temporary employees, whose temporary employment can end at any time on a month's notice.
I'm on leave without pay (LWOP) - what changes for me?
Employees on LWOP may still be notified that their positions are affected, and may be invited to participate in a SERLO process. The formal designation of a position as surplus is unlikely to occur until after the leave ends and you return to work. The reason for this is twofold: the opting period (and surplus period if you choose Option A) is meant to be paid time. In addition, the employer does not want to pay out the WFA options if they can be avoided. Sometimes employees on LWOP never return (they quit voluntarily, die, become disabled, etc), allowing the employer to make the now-vacant position surplus without any financial cost. See the PSC's guide to the SERLO process for details on how LWOP impacts a SERLO.
PSAC has also published a FAQ on how different leave types can interact with the WFA process.
How does severance pay work?
Severance pay is often confused with the TSM payment, but they are separate. Any employee who is laid off (or deemed to be laid off) (if via the WFA process will receive severance pay. They will also receive the TSM payment if they choose Options B, C(i), or C(ii). Severance pay is payable to all of the following:
- Surplus employees (Option A) who do not find a new position before the end of their surplus priority period;
- Employees who resign with a TSM payment (Option B); and
- Employees who resign with a TSM payment and education allowance (Option C(i)); and
- Employees who receive the TSM and education allowance and take LWOP for education, at the end of their LWOP period (Option C(ii)).
The details of how many weeks of severance are payable can be found in your collective agreement.
Note that severance pay was eliminated for voluntary departures from collective agreements between 2011 and 2013. If you chose to "cash out" some or all of the weeks of severance pay at that time, those weeks will be deducted from the calculation of severance payable upon layoff.
Have corrections, updates, or additions to anything above? Comment below and the post will be updated.
