project officer

agent de projet

coordonnateur de projets

agent de programme

project coordinator

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

An organisation with an interesting and important mandate. Despite claiming it's apartisan, a lot of employees have a background working in politics for one party (or its officials) in particular and you'd better be of the same political orientation to have a career with them. Staffing and work processes in general are unreliable and inefficient or needlessly convoluted, in contradiction with the organisation's pretense to be people-centered. Too little effort is put into tapping into the employees' best talent or crafting and updating thoughtful policy and research. Converserly, too much effort is put into comms and public relations activities and products that repeat over and over again platitudes. Senior leadership is made up of too many unfriendly and uncollaborative  employees whose competence is questionable and who have mistaken their managing roles for that of  "leaders" or elected officials, representatives. They got their spot making shady online deals so that explains how they got there and why they're allowing themselves their attitude. Some of the socializing activities offered to staff consist in sewing little bags with plants put in them and one of their new work space is decorated with lots of greenery. I'll let you come to your own conclusions about what that might mean about the organisation's hidden workings... Municipalities and their tax payers deserve so much better than the organisation as it is to defend its interests and work on their issues.


Knowledge is hoarded by leaders and those with seniority who ensure you won't be invited--or even aware of--key meetings.

Typical month:
A beloved employee with over years of experience was let go suddenly--a very capable person--by a very new manager. This person was a good friend and helped me so much when I joined. It was shocking.

Projects are completely bogged down in irrelevant minutiae (changing fonts and colors) with an excess of people weighing in. Meanwhile large projects were "managed" by non-technical people and languished in analysis. I worked long hours with my team to change this and was thwarted and undercut by managers and "analysts" at every turn.

Virtue Signaling and Toxicity
The crux is that employees are not empowered or trusted and are micromanaged to the point of surrender by insecure management.

Beware of companies that tout their "culture." There is much lip service and fake hype around building morale but there is very high turnover in employees because they don't know how to motivate and manage people.


If you work for a support function, such as Finance, IT, etc, you can expect to have much heavier workload than your peers in programs. Support function employees are not respected. While programs, particularly GMF, expands with additional funding, programs employees enjoy much better career growth since support functions are seen as overhead and there are almost no opportunities for growth unless somebody leaves a job and they don't hire an outsider. The organization talks about equity day in and day out, however there is not much equity of employment and opportunities to say the least across departments.

Salary increases are below the market and the inflation rate. Salary bands remained the same in the last 3 years.  There has been exponential growth in headcount while FCM gave the same raises before the pandemic and didn't adjust wages according to the inflationary environment.

GMF is the best department to work in now as there are plenty of opportunities of growth and movement.

The job culture is all about the art of bsing your cohorts, and making excuses for meetings that have long pauses, little substance, and waste time, electric, and time needed to work on what they're going to push you forward to do. Human resources is inept at knowing how to properly hire, screen candidates. The truly good hearted people here are little to none. Rampant misdirection, miscommunication, or overly redundant communication about the same typical things make this organization claustrophobic. For the expected work you are anticipated to produce will never equate to the salary.  The real money is in executive leadership where you will see 130+ yearly and connect with policy makers to further your own political aspirations if you possess that desire.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Summer Fridays off. Working from home

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The culture promoted and the reality was opposite so we could not openly discuss what could be improved

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment was toxic in some department. Many would compare it to a cult.  follow the lead otherwise you are out. We saw it happen time and time again

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Sign in, back to back meetings that run over the next. Going to washroom can be a challenge. No employee performance done therefore difficult to prioritize

This organization has become a terrible place to work. Avoid the Policy and Public Affairs department at all costs, especially communications. Senior leadership is incompetent, disorganized, constantly changing direction, making unrealistic demands on staff, and they will not listen to staff who are experts in their field. Questioning and criticism are not allowed, anyone who is not a “yes” person will be excluded, if not let go. 

There is a constant turnover of staff because of burnout.  Expect to be constantly gaslighted by management and HR claiming they put people first, while having to work tons of overtime, getting little to no recognition and absolutely no respect. 

You deserve better. 

It depends which team you are in but since the new CEO’s leadership, FCM’s culture has changed so much for the worse. Senior leadership, especially within PPA, is extremely toxic, expecting staff to deliver miracles without even trying to understand what they actually do in their jobs. If they’re not satisfied with the results,  they blame it on individuals or teams without providing them with the support or resources they desperately need. This has been going on for years with many exceptional people having left or been fired. They pay a lot of lip service to being a people first org but it’s a sham. Avoid esp for a position that must deal with senior leadership.

Meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Some people are brilliant, they mostly have hobbies and have interesting outside lives.  The culture is do more *but no pressure*
They keep hiring cuz there's no one who is smart enough to get overworked. Everyone at this moment is looking for a new job or left.  At least 7 to 16 people leave every year thata being generous. Ce9 is leaving to pursue elected official. Manager is dating a younger employee since his divorce and can't help but trying to destroy properties in meetings.

Consistently observed individuals with less experience and education being deliberately promoted, a practice that seemed widespread. The workplace was riddled with prejudice and favoritism, creating an unfair and discouraging environment. Despite frequent discussions about anti-racism, the management lacked diversity, and most units were not inclusive either. Additionally, the organization held numerous unproductive meetings. Overall, I strongly advise against working here!

This company used to be a great, enjoyable place to work. The company honestly cared about you, and wanted to make sure you were happy. As the company has grown over the years, company culture has changed, letting a number of things slide. Management doesn't seem interested in listening to employees, and only value their own opinions. They put on a good show talking about safety and healthy habits but that's all it is, a show. Advancement is mentioned in reviews, but when you try - there's zilch. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Project officer 13 salaries reported	$78,601 per year
Agent de projet 18 salaries reported	$79,267 per year
Coordonnateur de projets 12 salaries reported	$60,647 per year
Agent de programme 11 salaries reported	$71,308 per year
Project coordinator 8 salaries reported	$60,191 per year

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