The Canadian government’s hybrid work model is tipping decisively back to the formal office. Newly posted instructions from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat outline expectations that executive level public servants will spend five days per week on-site in their departments as of May 4, while the remainder of direct federal employees return for a minimum of four days per week, beginning July 6.
“Separate agencies are strongly encouraged to take a similar approach,” states a communique from senior Treasury Board staff. “The Government has put forward ambitious plans to deliver on priorities for Canadians and to strengthen our country. Working together on-site is an essential foundation of the strong teams, collaboration and culture needed during this pivotal moment and beyond.”
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Ottawa called for this kind of action last fall after both the Ontario government and the City of Ottawa announced return-to-office (RTO) mandates for their public servants.
“A thriving downtown supports local businesses, strengthens transit systems, attracts private investment and reinforces Ottawa’s role as a hub for tourism, culture and commerce,” BOMA Ottawa president, Jen Arbuckle, maintained in a letter to Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe. “We can all agree that a convergence of municipal, provincial and federal in-person work standards would enhance mentorship, inter-agency coordination and the shared civic identity that resonates most effectively when public servants can engage face-to-face with each other and with the business community.”
Unions representing federal government workers have not been receptive to that assertion. They contend the new policy will undermine productivity and hinder prospects to realize cost savings from reducing federal office space inventory. They also accuse the government of acting in bad faith at a time when it is simultaneously negotiating collective agreements that address the issue of remote work.
“It is insulting for any employer, let alone the government, to change the conditions of work while its workers are in bargaining,” maintains a statement from the Public Service Alliance of Canada. “PSAC will be fighting this irresponsible decision every step of the way. We are prepared to take any legal action against changes to the in-office mandate.”
Meanwhile, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) cites two discontinuous parts of an observation — “The transition from home to work involves only a few steps from bed to computer… I prefer that” — from Prime Minister’s Mark Carney’s 500+-plus-page, circa-2021 book, Values, as purported evidence of his hypocrisy.
“PIPSC is calling on the government to pause the new RTO mandate, release the evidence justifying it and engage meaningfully with workers and unions before imposing yet another top-down decision that ignores lived experience,” it exhorts.
