Public servants ordered to work in-office 4 days a week starting in July
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.
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