Feds won’t rule out forcing public servants back to office for four days a week

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The federal government is not ruling out requiring public servants to be back in the office for four days a week.

Almost one month into the government’s updated remote work mandate, which forced many public servants to be in office for at least three days a week, Christiane Fox, the deputy clerk of the Privy Council, said the government is committed to hybrid work, but did not take the possibility of an increase to workers’ required office presence off the table.

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When speaking to the Ottawa Citizen on Oct. 1, Fox acknowledged that there had been “some hiccups” in the plan’s rollout, including around the availability of employee workspace, but said the government was “fairly well prepared” for those issues.

“I think overall it’s gone relatively well,” Fox said, noting that she worked with a group of deputy ministers to prepare for the rollout of return-to-office over the summer.

The government’s new remote work policy requires all staff employed under the Treasury Board to work on-site at least three days a week. For executives, the expectation is that they work in the office four days a week. The government first brought workers back to the office two to three days a week in December 2022 after they were sent home to work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since May, when the government announced the new rules, unions have been fighting back – holding rallies, filing complaints, encouraging members to submit grievances, sending open letters and launching petitions, with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) promising to launch a $1-million telework campaign. PSAC, which is the largest federal public sector union, also filed a challenge in Federal Court of the new remote-work policy.

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Fox said that while she has heard negative feedback about the updated rules from employees and unions, she has also received positive responses.

“I was talking to a colleague over at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and they were saying their boardrooms have been filled, there’s kind of a buzz in the building that hasn’t been seen in some time, so I think that’s encouraging,” she said.

In dealing with negative feedback about the policy, Fox said the government will prioritize communication, urging managers to listen and be responsive to employees’ concerns. She said it’s also important to be clear about why the government has updated the policy and what it means for the public service to work collaboratively.

“There are people that will remain sort of convinced that they are more productive at home but it is really about, organizationally, how are we delivering, how are we working together and communicating why it is important for us?” Fox said, adding that the government has a responsibility to strive to create positive work environments.

Internal Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) documents, obtained by PSAC through access to information requests, show that the federal government’s decision to send employees back to the office three days a week was partially made to gain the public’s trust and contradicted studies that found remote work boosted productivity. Fox has maintained that TBS conducted no formal studies of productivity before making its decision to update its policy.

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But on Tuesday, she told the Ottawa Citizen that the government is “constantly looking at the performance of our departments and as a whole, as a public service.”

When asked about why the government seemingly prioritized public scrutiny over what internal surveys and studies found about productivity, Fox said it’s also important for the government to consider how Canadians view the public service.

“I think the driver in the decisions to go hybrid was about who we are, the culture we want to create and the work that we do within the public service,” Fox said. “But we have to be mindful of trust and confidence in institutions from Canadians.”

She said there are “a lot of factors at play” when it comes to an employee’s productivity, including what files they’re working on and their level of experience. “When we look at people’s growth and learning by observation, I think we do find more office presence creates better results,” she said.

“We did look at data and in some cases, there is some data to suggest that productivity at home can remain consistent,” Fox said, adding that it’s important to note that many public servants worked in office five days a week throughout the pandemic.

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Fox said she doesn’t disagree with the argument that workers can individually do their work just as well from home as they can in the office.

“But my counter to that would be, well, we actually need you in the office to support younger staff so they can learn from you and learn the trade and be part of something that is about service to Canadians,” she said.

When asked whether an increased return-to-office mandate, which would require public servants work in the office five days a week, is being considered, Fox said the government continues to be “committed to hybrid.”

“We do see benefits in hybrid work,” she said. “We are seeing some good outcomes over the last month in terms of more in-person connections and we’re gonna continuously evaluate how we do our work.”

Fox said the government always has to be “ready to adjust,” as is was when it transitioned to telework during the pandemic. She didn’t rule out the possibility of increased office presence.

“We are always looking at how best we can serve Canadians and that’s something that we constantly evaluate,” Fox said.

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