The new year will bring some big changes to the rules on in-office work for many employees across the country — including tens of thousands of provincial government staff in Ontario and Alberta, who will soon be required back in the office full time.
As of Jan. 5, Ontario provincial government employees will be expected to work in the office five days per week.
Alberta’s public service is also returning to full-time, in-office work in February to “strengthen collaboration, accountability and service delivery for Albertans,” a spokesperson for the Alberta government said.
While several provinces, including Manitoba, British Columbia and New Brunswick, retain more flexible hybrid work rules, others are reviewing their policies.
A spokesperson for the government of Newfoundland and Labrador said the province is looking at its remote work policy.
The government of the Northwest Territories is also reviewing its remote work policy, though a spokesperson said there are no plans to require employees to return to the workplace on-site five days a week.
Plan to come in ‘sharper view’
It’s still not clear when federal public servants will have to increase their office presence, or by how much. Prime Minister Mark Carney promised last month that a plan would soon come into “sharper view.”
Carney said his government will be “engaging with the public sector unions on the modalities” of the back-to-office policy, with details about the plan to be made public “over the course of the next several weeks.”
Carney provided few clues about his thinking on the issue. He did say the amount of time public servants will be expected to spend in the office will depend on individual roles and seniority.
The current rule, in place since September 2024, requires federal public servants to work a minimum of three days a week in-office, with executives in the office four days per week.
Treasury Board president Shafqat Ali told The Canadian Press in December that the federal government hasn’t worked out details of its promised return-to-office plan. He said conversations have been taking place within government, but “nothing has been finalized.”
A return to the cubicle
Several banks — including BMO, Scotiabank and RBC — have already told their staff to increase their office presence to four days per week.
Other private-sector companies are also making changes to their policies. Amazon, for example, is requiring its corporate staff to be in the office five days per week as of Jan. 2.
Provincial and federal public sector unions have pushed back against return-to-office mandates.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents about 40,000 public servants, said in a news release in August that the provincial government decided to order all its workers back to the office full time “without consideration for the realities front-line public service workers face.”
In a statement, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Canada’s largest federal union, said Ottawa’s push to get…
Read More: Thousands of public, private sector workers will be working from the office
