Unlikely that DM messaging will convince many and the unions risk attracting negative reactions given the prevailing practices in the private sector and setting the stage for even more rocky relations should, as likely, the Conservatives form the next government:
…A 2023 survey by Capterra found that 69 per cent of Canada’s hybrid workers are onsite two to three days per week; about 25 per cent have mandatory in-office days. In the U.S., Gallup found that 50 per cent are structured hybrid, with 22 per cent onsite a minimum number of days and 40 per cent are in the office 2-3 days per week.
But the government is different from the profit-and-loss-driven private sector. A non-partisan public service is built on an attachment to a mission, a public service ethos that Fox argues is best instilled by teamwork and working together.
The issue goes beyond worker and management rights. It goes to the core role of the public service.
Fox worries the sense of mission – which shone in the public service during the pandemic – will be lost if employees aren’t working together enough, raising questions whether they could handle another crisis on that scale.
“I think we do see a gap where people are not spending enough time together. That is big in terms of culture, and you’re not going to see productivity data (showing) how well you’re doing culturally,” said Fox.
The bureaucracy has also grown like gangbusters, with 80,000 people added over the past few years – many of whom haven’t worked in an office and haven’t been introduced to the culture in-person.
“There’s a risk that connections would be harder to establish in a crisis moment without that a basis of relationships and teamwork and things we had done together,” said Fox.
The compliance protocol for the return to office is onerous, with a heavy emphasis on protecting employees’ privacy while monitoring metrics like entry-card swipes at turnstiles and computer login locations.
The burden falls on front-line managers and supervisors, some of whom are not themselves keen on the mandate. Many of them, too, would prefer more freedom and flexibility and now must track daily attendance and ensure employees are where they should be, whether working in the office or from home.
Managers are expected to take daily attendance. The results will be compiled for bosses to monitor. If they spot anything that requires looking at specific employees, a whole process kicks in that can involve union representatives and privacy officials.
And those who fail to comply will face progressive discipline, including a warning, verbal and written reprimands, suspension without pay and, finally, dismissal.
It’s unclear how deep the resistance to the mandate runs. But what is clear is that the kind of workplace they are returning to has changed dramatically. Offices are being retrofitted or have disappeared entirely as the government pushes to cut its real estate portfolio in half.
While some junior employees have never worked in an office, others are going to to workspaces with no assigned seating and personal space. Desks must be booked. Raffles are sometimes held to see who works on what day with their team to ensure there’s office space. Many pack up their equipment as they shuffle between office and home.
It’s a perfect storm for discontent.
At the same time, as one senior bureaucrat underscored, there may soon be a change of government. With Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s argument that the public service is too big and broken, the question won’t be whether they are at home or the office but rather whether they still have a job.
The Conservatives haven’t said anything about where they stand on return to office. They have been content to let the Liberals take the heat. Meanwhile, Liberals are dodging it by saying this is a public-service decision, not a political one.
Experts have also turned the spotlight on the bureaucracy, saying it is bloated, unable to deliver basic services, and is a drain on the country’s productivity.
Next week, Donald Savoie, one of Canada’s leading scholars on public administration, is releasing his latest book, Speaking Truth to Canadians About Their Public Service. He has long argued the public service has lost its way. The book chronicles how that has happened.
“I believe the federal public service is overstaffed; that it is providing a lower level of service to Canadians and that Canadians are losing trust in the institution,” he wrote. “I argue that it is the responsibility of the public service to provide evidence that I am wrong, not the other way around.”
Fox says that while public perception doesn’t factor directly into the return-to-office decision, decision-makers can’t ignore it, either. “It goes to trust: trust in government, trust in the public service, trust we are working to serve Canadians,” she said.
Multicultural Meanderings 