Public servants ordered to work in-office 4 days a week
starting in July
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/public-servants-ordered-to-work-in-office-4-days-a-week-starting-in-july/ar-AA1VLwY5?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=a57c0a5845574936df0a80c0d27dda31&cvpid=284d471806044243d13f1d14aa2403e3&ei=23
OTTAWA - The
federal government is ordering public servants to be in the office at least
four days a week starting this summer, with executives expected to return to
the office full time in May.
A Treasury Board
message to deputy department heads published Thursday said executives will have
to work on-site five days per week starting May 4. All other employees must be
in the office four days a week as of July 6.
The directive applies
to public servants working in the core departments and agencies under Treasury
Board, though the government said other federal agencies, which would include
the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, are
"strongly encouraged" to take a similar approach.
Remote work rules have
been an ongoing issue in the public service since COVID-19 forced most federal
workers to work remotely in 2020. After public health restrictions began to
ease, the federal government moved in 2023 to have workers return to the office
two to three days a week.
The current rule, in
place since September 2024, requires public servants to work a minimum of three
days a week in-office, with executives in office four days per week.
Now we're all supposed to be impressed that public servants
have to come in 4 days a week?
I still can't believe "work from home" is still a
thing. There hasn't been an
"emergency" from the plandemic for over 2 years and there's still
lazy asses that don't want to do come in and do their job.
It said the government
will engage with unions to implement the plan, with discussions to focus on
issues like assigned seating and occupational health and safety.
The message also said
Public Services and Procurement Canada will work closely with departments to
ensure there is enough office space for all employees.
Hang on a second, why isn't there going to be room? Was there was a big hiring spree when WFH
started? If that's true, why was there a
hiring binge? The employees that were
coming in every day before should have been able to all their work from home,
no? I've heard the "I'm way more
productive at home" lie more times than I care to remember. Or was there a big building sell-off, thinking that
this is the “new normal”? That was pretty myopic.
The gauge for me is, if you're on the Sunshine List (it's an
Ontario thing; if you make more than $100,000 a year, your name and wage are
published on the Sunshine List for everyone to see), you should be in the
office 5 days a week. Try and argue
against it. Most of the time, the people
that say they're more productive at home either don't get along with the other
employees or think they're a little too important.
 |
| Canadian Federal Employee, circa 2026 |
Sean O’Reilly,
president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, told
The Canadian Press he finds the government's decision "insulting and
disrespectful."
"I would like to
say I was surprised but I'm not," said O'Reilly, who was made aware of the
move less than an hour before the message went out to employees. "I'm
really beside myself on just why the decision is being made now."
Sean's right, this decision should have been made years ago.
Sounds like Sean doesn't want to go back into the office
every day. I think it's insulting that
public servants think they're entitled not to do a 5 day work week. You can't really serve the public if you're
hiding at home during business hours.
Another rule of thumb I came up with: if you can do your job from home,
someone else can do that same job for cheaper.
"I don't
know how this helps the Government of Canada. It doesn't save them money. This
doesn't increase productivity," he said. "I don't see how this helps
my members or how it helps the Canadian people."
Sean, you were probably quoted while you were "working
from home" or a Zoom call where you got to wear pajama bottoms. I don't see how what you just said helps your
cause. You just made it sound like the
people that are hired are useless whether they're in or out of the office. If bringing back these people to the office
doesn't increase productivity, fire the work-from-home dead weight and hire
some contentious people. It's pretty
simple.
Nathan Prier,
president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, said the
announcement demonstrates that the government has "both a willful
disregard for reality and absolute contempt for its employees and
taxpayers."
"As thousands of
public servants are watching their jobs disappear and Canadians are watching
health and other programs get gutted, this government is committing to making
public servants less productive while wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer
money," Prier said. "If workers needed another sign that this
government can’t be trusted, this is it.”
While that's true the current government can't be trusted and/or expected to
do anything right, Nathan's arguments don't make any sense. Wasting billions of taxpayer dollars would be
keeping on people that don't want to work.
I'm a taxpayer and because of my current day job, I know exactly what
WFH people are like. I'm not thrilled
that Sheila gets paid a good buck to do her laundry, prep for dinner and binge
watch Netflix in the background while she's supposed to be "working from
home". That's called a waste of
money, or for you savvy, business-minded people, it's called a poor ROI.
I found the "willful disregard for reality" a bit
ironic. The reality is there's no need
to work from home any more. There's no
"emergency" and there's no valid excuse why there's still work from
home.
The union said
the decision comes on the heels of a recent ruling by the Federal Public Sector
Labour Relations and Employment Board that telework can be negotiated at the
bargaining table.
Well, that was a foolish ruling to make. They should have thought ahead.
Sharon DeSousa,
national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said the four-day
in-office mandate announced by the federal government is "a slap in the
face" to all federal public service workers.
Well, Sharon, to the public, it's a slap in the face that
it's not 5 days. Sharon seems to have
that "willful disregard for reality" that Nathan was talking
about.
"Prime
Minister Carney has made it clear where his priorities lie, and they aren’t
with workers," DeSousa said.
Sharon, we all knew that before the election. He's too self-centred to care about other
people and/or do a good job. His "deal" with China is a perfect example of that. But that
doesn't matter, everyone should have been back to 5 days a week years ago. Let go of the past and stop having that
willful disregard for reality. That goes
for you too, Nathan and Sean. Grow up
and get back to work.
