Hundreds of federal public servants seek support amid return to office: union

A union representing federal public servants says hundreds of its members have asked for help navigating challenges posed by the government's return-to-the-office plan.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada says more than 1,100 of its members have reached out to the union with various concerns about the plan, which mandates federal employees return to office work at least two days a week.

"As we feared, we are now living with the logistical nightmares created by this hastily-implemented return-to-office policy," PIPSC president Jennifer Carr said in a news release Monday.

"Many departments and agencies were wholly unprepared for the practical realities involved in this government order."

The government instituted its new hybrid work model across the public service last month, requiring employees to work in the office two or three days a week.

Many employees had been working remotely since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift is happening gradually, with all departments required to have the new hybrid work model in place by the end of March.

Public sector unions have strongly opposed the plan, calling it a one-size-fits-all approach and saying it's adversely affecting productivity.

"We have people who are rightly concerned that their productivity is going down, and they are less efficient and less productive in an open environment and they are not seeing the return that they want to give to Canadians by doing their best and their most effective work," Carr said in an interview with CTV News Ottawa.

One key issue, they said, is that many federal employees no longer have dedicated offices to which they can return.

Carr said some workers have no desks to work on, or lack proper equipment when they arrive to the office. She said the way the government rolled out the mandate is creating chaos.

"I have been telling Treasury Board that we want to be at the table, we want to address some of these issues because they want a consistent return to office, but they left the logistics up to each department and each agency and that is creating a logistical nightmare," she said. "There is not enough space, some of these departments lost complete buildings or floors. So how do we return everybody back to a safe work environment where they can do the work on behalf of Canadians?"

PIPSC, which represents more than 72,000 employees, says its members have raised concerns about workplace safety, availability of office equipment, network capacity, breach of work agreement, accommodation issues and child-care availability.

"We have people who have trouble sourcing before-and-after school because those decisions should have been taken in September and this mandate didn’t take this into consideration," said Carr.

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier has said the return-to-office requirement is designed for consistency across all departments, and rooted in fairness and equity.

She has also said the location of work is up to the employer.

Carr said the work is more important than where it's performed.

"If I can do my work in an efficient and effective manner, it doesn’t matter where I do it from, it should be more important about the work I produce and not where I do it from." 

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Leah Larocque.