Several federal buildings aren’t ready to welcome back public servants

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Starting this week, three-quarters of federal public servants are expected back in their offices at least three days a week. But due to a lack of space, some buildings aren’t ready for them.

While Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) would not share a list of which federal buildings aren’t currently able to accommodate the directive, nine federal departments and agencies have confirmed to the Ottawa Citizen that they can’t yet welcome back their workers as required.

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They include the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC), Employment and Social Development Canada, the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), Statistics Canada, the Canadian Space Agency, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Pacific Economic Development Canada.

The new remote work mandate, which took effect Monday, requires all staff employed under the Treasury Board to work on-site a minimum of three days a week. For executives, the expectation is that they work in the office four days a week. As of June, that included more than 282,000 workers, of the over 367,000 working for the federal government.

Unions have criticized the new return-to-office rules for being a “one-sized-fits-all” policy, but the lack of desk space for several departments and agencies has created somewhat of a patchwork across the public service.

Véronique Robitaille, a spokesperson for the CHRC, said the department got an extension during the last round of return-to-office changes in 2023 to adjust its workspaces and make “major improvements to technologies and safety tools.”

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“While some of these adjustments have been made at the Ottawa headquarters, some of the regional offices had to undergo major preparation and are not ready to receive staff yet,” Robitaille said. “Even with all the preparations being implemented, the Commission will need additional time to ready all the workplaces and implement the return to the office for 3 days a week and hopes to be fully compliant with the Hybrid Directive by year end.”

In the meantime, Robitaille said employees within 125 km commuting distance from the Ottawa office are required to work on-site at least two days per week or 40 per cent of the time unless they have an approved exemption.

Other departments and agencies have said they’ll have to stagger employees into the new requirements, with some saying they won’t be able to accommodate all their workers for three days a week until the week of Oct. 1. The CRTC has said it simply doesn’t have enough space in several buildings in Ottawa to increase staff working on-site.

Steve Cloutier, a spokesperson for HICC, said its offices at 180 Kent St. and 427 Laurier Ave. don’t have enough room to fully implement the new rules because the department has experienced “significant growth.”

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While executives are already on-site four days a week, Cloutier said all other employees  will continue working on-site for at least two days a week until more office space is secured. Cloutier said no timeline is in place for when more space will be available for employees in the National Capital Region (NCR).

And the office-space woes extend beyond the National Capital Region (NCR). Jasmine Emond, a spokesperson for Statistics Canada, said the agency can’t meet the directive as there is a lack of desks at its Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal offices. She said employees in those regions will continue to work on-site 40 per cent of their time “until further notice.”

A guide prepared by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) on the implementation of the directive said departments are “expected to comply” by Sept. 9. But TBS spokesperson Rola Salem said organizations were able to adjust their implementation dates.

“While each organization has unique needs and circumstances, and a few will be implementing on different timelines, all organizations are pursuing the same consistent approach to hybrid,” Salem said.

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Michèle LaRose, a spokesperson for PSPC, said the organization was working with federal departments and agencies to ensure it provides enough office space to support an “up to three days per week in-office presence.” At the same time, LaRose said PSPC was working to “optimize and reduce” its office portfolio, as outlined in the government’s 2023 and 2024 budgets.

As Canada’s largest landowner, the government has promised to cut its office portfolio by 50 per cent. PSPC has more than six million square metres of office space and around half is underused or vacant.

Some federal workplaces have adjusted by creating more workstations and adding audio and video equipment. However, many still require public servants to book non-assigned desks, hauling their laptops and personal items between their homes and the office.

Kathleen Moxley, a public servant who has an accommodation due to anxiety and depression to come into the office once a week, said it’s hard working in person without having a reserved space in the office.

According to Moxley, public servants can book a space 14.5 days in advance, with the system opening at noon. Last week, on Labour Day, she said she went online to grab the first available space and saw that 50 per cent of desks were already booked by 2 p.m.

“Within two hours on a holiday, people are taking the time to stop and have to go fight for a desk,” Moxley said, adding that it’s a struggle to have to carry a 40-pound bag every time she goes to work, spending the beginning of her day re-adjusting her booked seat, desk and monitor. “I will come back in four or five days a week if I get parking and a desk.”

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