Treasury Board president: 'Hybrid work is here to stay'

The federal government is looking at converting some downtown Ottawa office buildings into housing as thousands of public servants continue to work from home, the president of the Treasury Board said Monday.

“Hybrid work is here to stay,” Mona Fortier told CTV News Ottawa. “We have to look at how we’re going to strengthen our downtown core, and making sure that we don’t keep these offices empty.”

Fortier’s department is launching a “strategic policy review” of the federal public service. Outlined in last week’s federal budget, the review is targeting $6 billion in savings over the next five years.

Fortier said the review will ensure government programs are effective and look at how the government can adapt to a post-pandemic reality. Part of that, she said, is managing the transition to a hybrid workforce.

“We will manage that, and I think that we also have to strengthen our downtown cores and make these offices … available maybe for community living,” she said. “We have to make sure that we have a downtown core that is very strong.”

Many downtown Ottawa office buildings sit largely empty as public servants work remotely. Businesses have suffered, and municipal politicians have pushed the federal government to send more workers downtown.

Some public sector union officials have expressed concern about the strategic review. The Public Service Alliance of Canada accuses the government of burying more than $9 billion in potential cuts as part of the review.

Fortier pushed back against those concerns on Monday.

“This is about a smarter government, not a smaller government,” she said. “It’s about fiscal responsibility … and getting value for taxpayer dollars.”

Last month, Fortier gave federal departments the go-ahead to welcome more employees back to the office. Each department is managing its own plan to increase building occupancy.

In a follow-up statement, Fortier's office stressed that it will take time to review any potential changes.

"While the government has begun to gradually increase building occupancy, some remote work is here to stay. Where it is operationally feasible, federal workplaces are transitioning to hybrid work models. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. And it will take experimentation, with guidance from the Treasury Board Secretariat, for each department to learn what mix of remote and office work best suits their mandate," the statement said.

"While it will take time for this shift to play out, we need to ensure public assets will be used productively over the long-term."

UNION SUPPORTIVE OF KEEPING HYBRID MODEL

One of the major public sector unions in the city says its members are supportive of keeping the hybrid work model in place.

“To hear the minister say that they will go that way will be exciting for our membership,” said Jennifer Carr, President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC)

“Of course, it is all in the details that each department has its own strategy in making sure that it is done in a consistent and fair manner for all public servants, that there aren’t undue requirements put on people preventing them from working from home or a hybrid situation. From an employment equity and diversity standpoint, we have to make sure that people working from home have the tools and technology to do it efficiently”

Carr said she isn’t concerned about potential cuts.

“The words the minister used were reassuring, that she is looking for a smarter government, not a smaller government. Our public servants have shown that they can work effectively and efficiently over the past two years without affecting services to Canadians.”

WATSON 'INTRIGUED' BY SUGGESTION TO CONVERT OFFICES TO HOUSING

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says the idea of converting offices to housing is interesting, and could be a boon to the downtown economy.

“I was intrigued by the minister’s comments about converting some of the office buildings that are not as full as they used to be with public servants,” he said. “I think that’s a really innovative way to keep people in the downtown and support local businesses at the same time, and give public servants that option of the hybrid model.”

Support for local businesses was a major reason for Watson's previous calls to bring federal workers back downtown. He says having more people living downtown could help.

“There is no question that the lack of employees downtown, not just federal public servants but private sector as well, is hurting our commercial base and our small businesses. I really appreciate the minister’s comment about converting the buildings that are perhaps half-empty into residential opportunities because we need more residential, more affordable housing. This gets more people living in the downtown which will help businesses, so it is a win-win.”

Business advocates say the move could be detrimental for some those relying on the thousands of employees working from home to return to the core.

"We need this vibrant downtown, it's important for the city," said Jasmin Guenette, the vice president of national affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "A lot of businesses cannot transform into an online business."

"Think about the convenience store, think about the restaurants, the coffee shop… if those businesses lose federal employees on a daily basis that would not come to work at the office anymore, many of them will not survive."

The chair of the city's transit commission says the city's transit system--designed to bring workers from the suburbs to downtown--will need to adjust, to support people where they're living and working.

“One of the first things I would like to see us do is improve the transit within Kanata, within Barrhaven, within Orléans,” said Coun. Allan Hubley. “If they are working from home, their needs are different.” 

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Katie Griffin.