Originally published in the Hill Times on October 7, 2024 in English.
Since announcing the three-day in-office mandate for public sector employees in the spring, the government has refused to share any justification for the decision, only patronizing their workers and Canadians with vague allusions to collaboration and career development. Well, now we know the actual reason: scoring cheap political points.
This decision had nothing to do with improving productivity and workplace culture – in fact, it’s the opposite. Through new information uncovered by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, it’s clear that despite knowing that remote work flexibility improved productivity for employees to the tune of a 4.5 per cent increase, the government made the decision to force in-office compliance solely based on misguided assumptions about “public perception.”
The three-day in-office mandate is another abject policy failure that has further exposed a weak and incompetent leadership. The reality is that workers are more productive when they have the flexibility to work at home. But the government made a cop-out decision to appease an entirely imagined narrative that productivity necessitates an in-office presence. In the glaring absence of any rationale for the in office-policy, many workers are speculating about who this government really serves. Shadowy commercial landlord interests? Peddlers of archaic management theories? Canadian taxpayers and federal workers want explanations, and fast.
It is the government’s responsibility to tell the truth to the public: that the increase in remote work flexibility for public sector employees in the early days of COVID-19 was a boon for productivity and allowed essential programs and services to be delivered to Canadians at a record rate. Willingly peddling falsehoods about remote work is a disservice not only to their own employees, but to all Canadian workers who would benefit from increased availability of remote work – and every taxpayer in the country shouldering an exorbitant bill for entirely optional office maintenance and the rollout of dystopian attendance-tracking technologies.
The Orwellian surveillance methods being used to track attendance are both drawing resources away from necessary work and creating a workplace culture that will drive good employees away. Developing vast tracking systems, having people log their location, and having managers monitor attendance is wasting taxpayer’s time and money. The arbitrary monitoring of employees is proven to increase distrust and disengagement – and decrease performance. So, as the government claims it is ordering employees back to offices to build a workplace culture, it is doing everything in its power to ensure that culture is toxic by design.
Other employers have already figured out that remote work is the default going forward. The governments of British Columbia, Australia and the UK are all purposefully implementing remote work. If Canada doesn’t reverse course quickly, our government will become an unappealing dinosaur, unable to recruit or retain top-level talent – or deliver quality services to Canadians.
If this move is what many fear it to be – an intentional increase in workplace toxicity to drive resignation numbers up ahead of more draconian measures – Canadians should know the truth: that big public sector cuts just feed expensive contractor payrolls. We don’t need more ArriveCan disasters, we need a well-functioning public sector defined by good jobs and strong accountability practices. And that doesn’t mean managers hovering over desks with attendance sheets.
The government has a long track record of obliterating employee morale, so wasting money by forcing employees back into totally optional offices with rapidly declining standards is par for the course. A crisis in the federal workplace has been building for years. The Phoenix pay system has been an epic failure and, eight years later, the government continues to drag its feet to find a solution while its employees are still struggling to receive an accurate paycheck. The Canada Life fiasco placed many employees in financial jeopardy and had real impacts on mental and physical health.
The biggest employer in the country has made enemies of the vast majority of its workers, who are slowly but surely building up capacity to fight back. Cancelling mandatory in-office days is something Treasury Board President Anita Anand could do with the stroke of a pen, saving both her relationship with federal workers and taxpayers’ dollars immediately.
The naked cynicism behind the in-office mandate – which cares about perception more than productivity or the responsible use of taxpayer dollars – is something that all Canadians should be concerned about. Because when keeping up appearances is a higher priority for the government than serving the needs of the country, we’re all in trouble.
Federal public sector employees want to deliver for Canadians. But their employer keeps doing everything they can to distract them from this critical and sacred task.
Nathan Prier
President, Canadian Association of Professional Employees
