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The federal government expects its employees to return to in-office work for a minimum of four days a week starting this July.
A letter posted on the Treasury Board of Canada’s website says it “will be engaging with bargaining agents to seek their input on implementing this plan.”
Government executives will also soon be returning to the office for the full five days, the letter said.
Civil servants currently only have to come into the office three days a week — a rule that was put in place in September 2024 as government employees were for the most part working remotely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WATCH | Public sector work force facing cuts:
Public servants face uncertain future as job notices go out
Last year’s budget called for a reduction of the public service. As the CBC’s David Fraser reports, the federal government is offering buy-outs, early retirements and voluntary departures to public servants.
This move follows a mandatory full-time return to the office for Ontario and Alberta public servants. The City of Ottawa also has a similar measure in place.
The new in-office rules will kick in for executives on May 4, while the four-day expectation for the remainder of the civil service will start on July 6, the Treasury Board letter said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney had indicated that changes to the hybrid work rules were coming in December.
“There will likely be different levels of return depending on seniority, depending on role and obviously depending on capacity,” Carney said during an event with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
Unions have been pushing back against return-to-office orders and are saying the government blindsided workers with Thursday’s notice.
“We’ve seen this pattern over and over again. We have, this time, half an hour’s notice on a massive change to our workplace policy,” Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), told Radio-Canada.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, told Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe in December that an updated return-to-office policy for public servants was in the works. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)
“This government does not want to have a conversation about this. They are not interested whatsoever in all of the benefits of telework.”
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) — the country’s largest public sector union — is currently in a round of collective bargaining with the Treasury Board. The union’s national president, Sharon DeSousa, said Thursday’s announcement was “a slap in the face to all federal public service workers across this country.”
“It is insulting for any employer, let alone the government, to change the conditions of work while its workers are in bargaining,” DeSousa said in a statement.
She said the union is currently examining all options, including legal action.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), which represents more than 80,000 public sector professionals, said it had also been “kept in the dark” about the government’s plans.
“This mandate isn’t about performance, collaboration or service to Canadians,” PIPSC president Sean O’Reilly said in a statement.
“It’s about optics, imposed on a workforce already dealing with layoffs, budget cuts and a workplace already in chaos.”
For his part, Ottawa’s mayor has voiced support for a return to the office to help downtown bounce back from the pandemic.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how [return-to-office] plans roll out,” Sutcliffe said in December. “We want to see our downtown thriving and prosperous. It’s been a challenging time over the last few years.”
News of the updated in-office policy comes as the federal government is looking to axe approximately 40,000 jobs — a 10 per cent reduction from the peak size of the civil service in 2023-24.
More than 23,000 workers at 24 public organizations have received notices since December that their positions could be targeted by cuts, according to a new online tracker on the federal government’s website.
In the last year, the size of the civil service has already shrunk by 10,000 jobs.
