Document outlines objectives, requirements, exemptions
The federal government is officially calling public service workers back to the office at least three times in a week, starting in the fall.
Ottawa has released a Direction on prescribed presence in the workplace document, stating that deputy heads must implement a minimum requirement of three days per week in the workplace for all public servants.
The federal government is making the move to attain the following objectives, it says:
- Deliver services to Canadians and strengthen their confidence in the public service.
- Establish a consistent approach to hybrid work to ensure fairness across the public service.
- Continue to encourage hiring the best talent across Canada.
- Align with and support our diversity, inclusion, and accessibility objectives. It is imperative that our workplaces are barrier-free and inclusive.
- Continue to build an evolving public service culture of excellence and modernize our business models.
Full implementation of the directive must be in place no later than Sept. 9, 2024, according to the federal government.
What are exemptions to the return-to-office mandate?
The directive applies to all core public administration employees (indeterminate, full time, part time, term), students and casual workers (Schedule I and IV of the Financial Administration Act).
Ottawa also recommends that separate employers (Schedule V of the Financial Administration Act) adopt a similar strategy, “to ensure a coherent approach for the whole public service”.
However, some employees are exempted from the rule, including:
- employees hired to work remotely prior to March 16, 2020
- Indigenous public servants whose location is critical to their identity to work from their communities
- employees who, with the permission of their ADM, are working remotely 125km or more from their designated worksite
- exceptional exemptions on a case-by-case basis, on a time-limited or longer-term duration (for example, short-term operational requirement, extenuating circumstances)
Department heads must implement ways to verify workers’ attendance using “turnstile data, existing attendance reports, and/or Internet Protocol (IP) login data to collect aggregated departmental data,” according to the Direction on prescribed presence in the workplace.
Departmental ADM-level compliance and coherence committees should be in place to monitor data trends and ensure coherence in deeming exceptions.
“Prior to implementation, managers should proactively discuss with employees any barriers they may encounter including, those linked to accessibility, harassment and discrimination and define solutions that will help address these barriers in the hybrid workplace,” says the federal government.
Managers should consider individual circumstances on a case-by-case basis, including human rights obligations, such as the duty to accommodate, or whether an employee has a reasonable explanation for absences from the designated workplace, such as illness, family care obligations, or compliance with COVID19 self-isolation protocols, according to the federal government.
“Managers seeking to ensure compliance have tools available to them, including several administrative actions. Managers should discuss with their labour relations teams and ensure that individual circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis,” says the federal government.
Previously, Ford called on the federal government to bring federal workers back to the office in Ottawa at least three days a week to help boost economic activity in the city.
In 2023, more than 155,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members working for Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) held a strike after the Treasury Board required workers in core public administration to be on site at least two to three days each week, or 40% to 60% of their regular schedule.
