Every year, Ottawa takes the temperature of its vast public service through the Public Service Employee Survey. It’s meant to be a snapshot of how federal workers feel about their jobs, their bosses, and whether they’d recommend their workplace to others.
This year, the results tell a troubling story one that should concern not only those inside government but every Canadian who relies on it.
Two of the country’s most sensitive and visible organizations, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), came in at or near the bottom when employees were asked a simple, telling question: “Would you recommend your department as a great place to work?”
At CBSA, just 46 percent of employees said yes the lowest in the entire public service, tied only with Indian Oil and Gas Canada. CSIS fared little better, at 48 percent. By contrast, the overall public service average was a much healthier 67 percent.
That gap matters. A workplace where fewer than half of employees would recommend it to others isn’t just struggling with morale it’s sending a warning flare about dysfunction that affects the services Canadians depend on.
Union leaders aren’t surprised. Mark Weber of the Customs and Immigration Union says CBSA is “usually dead last” in morale surveys, pointing to heavy-handed discipline, endless grievance fights, and a management culture that feels bloated while frontline workers remain stretched thin. Add to that a forced return-to-office mandate and creeping automation at the border, and it’s no wonder staff feel disillusioned.
CSIS, meanwhile, tells a more complicated story. While fewer than half would recommend it as a workplace, 84 percent say they’re proud of the work they do, and 77 percent still like their jobs overall. Pride in the mission, however, doesn’t erase frustration. Employees have pointed to unequal treatment between unionized and non-union staff and delays in implementing a collective agreement. For an agency that relies on secrecy and loyalty, morale this low is no small issue.
Of course, there are bright spots in the survey. The RCMP External Review Committee and the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada scored a perfect 100 percent, while a handful of other small agencies cracked the 90s. But these outliers only underscore the uneven reality across government.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: CBSA and CSIS are not just any agencies. They sit at the frontline of Canada’s security guarding borders, gathering intelligence, and carrying out work that requires the public’s absolute trust. If the people inside those organizations feel unsupported, overdisciplined, or unheard, that trust is at risk.
Morale is not a soft issue. It is directly tied to effectiveness, retention, and ultimately the quality of service Canadians receive. When employees are too frustrated to recommend their own workplace, leaders cannot dismiss it as griping. They need to fix it.
Until that happens, Canadians should take little comfort in knowing that while many CSIS employees may be proud of their mission, pride alone doesn’t make a workplace healthy or effective. And at the CBSA, the fact that workers describe their employer as consistently “dead last” should be setting off alarms in Ottawa.
If the federal government wants a public service that delivers, it must first build one that its own employees believe in.
