Canada Revenue Agency Reviews

Pros

-people are generally nice to work with - professional and strive to do a good job in preserving the tax base
-Exceptional worklife/balance - can usually plan workload so few intense periods of activity, very flexible in booking leave on short notice
-37.5 hour work week and any overtime is paid at 1.5 (seldom)
-Flexible work schedule allows additional days off during the month
-4 to 5 weeks vacation (depending upon years of service) can be taken any time of the year
-Generous defined benefits pension plan (2% per year of service calculated on the average of the best 5 years to a maximum of 70%)
-Lots of opportunities to experience other jobs if you demonstrate desire and competence - up to the employee to apply. Other opportunities include: Appeals, Litigation, Criminal investigation, Electronic Commerce, Scientific Research, International Tax Audit, Tax Avoidance, Technical Advisor/Trainer.
-Lots of professional development courses offered

Cons

-need a thick skin as auditors are not treated with respect. Receiving end of taxpayer dislike of all government policies and legislation even though CRA doesn't set the rules.
-Pay for Professionals has fallen below market. Government gives CA/CGAs a pay increase % that is the same as clerks and mailroom staff.
-Trouble attracting and retaining good staff because of below market pay. Start of a brain drain in the last 3 years as senior auditors and managers are retiring.
-New HR regime based on Competencies is poorly implemented. Competencies poorly defined and HR assessors have little or no clue what the job involves when they evaluate a level of competence.
-Employment Equity is excessively applied. Best candidate may not get job as other factors such as being a women or visible minority come into play. If you are female, minority, or bilingual you have an advantage.

Advice to Senior Management

-Dump the Competency regime.
-Pay the market rate for Professionals or face a shortage of qualfied staff
-Recognize that a retirement disaster is looming and get Government to provide resources to deal with it
-Don't mess with the pension plan, it's the only reason many staff stay for the long term.

Pros

Good work/life balance for its employees. If you have many family commitments, very good place to work for. I highly recommend it.

Cons

Low pay. Career progression is slow so if you are a go-getter ambitious type of person, you may be slightly discouraged.

Advice to Senior Management

Higher pay. Mentoring system needs to be better. Empower employees. But overall, I think the management is doing a good job.

Pros

Very helpful team who take the time to teach you about tax legislation. The team leader took the time to sit down and do detailed reviews to ensure your growth.

Cons

The work got repetitive once you have been doing it for awhile. As a co-op the training was informal and it was a learn it yourself job.

Advice to Senior Management

try to implement a more formal training plan as well as allow more growth and responsibilities for coop students. THis will ensure that co-ops are fully engaged.

Pros

- Great compensation compared to similar jobs in my role and province
- Team Leaders and Managers support work/life balance with flexible schedules, vacation time that can be used as hours and days not just one week blocks and personal days
- As a term employee, having a few months between contracts is a nice break
- If you're ambitious, there are committees, courses and other projects you can get involved in
- Once you have recent and significant experience, there are many opportunities for career growth
- The union is pretty good as far as unions go
- Great benefits once you qualify

Cons

- The environment can be very sterile at times, everyone is always going to be offended about something (a management decision, a union decision, a decoration in a cubicle, a comment made in a meeting etc)
- It was very hard to get my foot in the door due to the very long selection process (it took me a year, some others took 3 years)
- They seem to only hire terms, offer very short terms such as <3mo or <6mo so that you are not eligible for many benefits
- It can take 5 weeks before receiving a full paycheque due to the pay cycle and the 2 week pay backlog
- Once your contract is over, you are never sure if/when you are going to get recalled

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more and quicker to your staff. Learn to trust your staff. We've passed clearances to work for the CRA, you can trust us enough to let us know if there may be something happening that is going to affect our jobs.

Pros

Pension is second to none, can retire at 55 with 60% of your salary minimum for the rest of your life indexed to inflation. Vacation time, benefits are huge. Compressed/flexible work hours are very, very good.

Cons

Competence of senior management is absolutely abysmal. All the red tape of working for the government. Promotion goes to 'pet' employees or visible minorities. White men 30-50 are no longer promoted even if they are the best one for the job. Pay for professionals is significantly below the private industry standards now. Pay however for secretarial and administrative jobs is above the private industry standards still.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize the efforts of your employees more. Senior management really needs to get a clue about what their subordinates are actually doing in their work environment.

Pros

good pay, good hours, etc. all the reasons for working in the Government

Cons

If you are a student and need time off to take an exam or to study even if you fill in all the forms the payroll system doesn't catch any changes from your 'regular' hours so you will get a bill from the CRA once you stop working there. Senior management has known about this problem and won't fix it. So beware of the CRA if you are a student. Save your money because you will probably have to pay something back if you took any time off to write exams or to study. They won't fix this problem. They just stick their heads in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist.

Advice to Senior Management

Fix your problems with your payroll systems. It isn't fair to students who get dinged for a problem of overpayment which they have know way of knowing exists, but you certainly know of this problem.

Pros

Salary is about 1 1/2 times what private sector will pay (29k Private vs. 43k Public), great benefits, management will help you during family emergencies, pension is awesome

Cons

I didn't really have any. If I had to gripe, I'd complain about the parking situation and the fact we have to PAY for parking; but on that salary I can afford it.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to focus on career advancement with your teams and this will keep monotony due to the work (Collections) from creeping in. Keep being supportive on your team members as it certainly kept me motivated to great call reviews.

Pros

-fair compensation structure
-less bureaucracy than other government departments
-good work life balance - support leave with income averaging
-regular performance reviews

Cons

-lack of communication from senior management
-still too much bureaucracy
-lack of information sharing within CRA
-hiring process too lengthy.

Advice to Senior Management

Difficult - as CRA is often at the whim and whimsy of the political arm of government - ensure that more stable leadership is in place.

Pros

They are very flexible with work/life balance. They are more than willing to develop you professionally. All my education/training is paid for. This year they paid over $7500 in training for me.

Cons

You won't become a manager unless you are bilingual/ Ie. you can speak English and French. Bilingualism is more essential than a professional designation such as a CA, CMA or CGA.

Advice to Senior Management

Drop the bilingualism criteria.

Pros

Benefits, flexible/compressed work schedule (off Fridays), pension

Cons

Senior Management incompetence, salary is now below what the private sector pays for equivalent work. Red tape structure.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn to commend your employees who do a good job serving the Public of Canada. Learn to promote people to management positions who deserve the position, not to visible minority persons just to fill a quota even when they are clearly under-qualified for the position.