Premier Doug Ford wants municipalities to get workers back in the office full-time, and people in Ontario have mixed feelings about it.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a lot of change, including the ability for a lot of people to work from home, or at least split their time between the office and home. But Ford is now urging municipalities to enforce a return to office five days a week.
Ford made the comment during an address at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario convention in Ottawa on Monday. During an interview with NewsTalk 1010 last week, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown shared that civil servants in his municipality will return to the office five days a week next year.
“I want to thank Mayor Brown for his leadership and encourage other municipalities to follow his lead,” Ford said on Monday.
“It will help bring the public service in municipalities closer to the people they serve and will revitalize our workplaces and downtowns across Ontario.”
This comes after the province recently announced that starting Oct. 20, public sector employees will be required to return to the office four days a week, and then a full five days by the first week of 2026. Government officials cited decreased productivity as the main reason it was enforcing employees to return to in-office work.
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“I believe everyone’s more productive when they are at work. And how do you mentor someone over the phone? You can’t. You’ve gotta look at them eye to eye, train them, camaraderie,” Ford said last week.
Before the pandemic, provincial workers were required to work in office at least three times a week.
But not all municipalities are following the province’s lead. Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish shared that her city will continue to allow employees to use a hybrid work model, which includes an optional three days in the office and two days remote. But she says working from home is not popular among their staff.
“80% of 8378 staff attend in person 5 days/week by choice, 20% hybrid,” Parish posted to X on Friday. “We constantly monitor to ensure excellent service for residents and positive engagement with our employees.”
UNIONS, PUBLIC PUSHBACK
Many Ontarians wasted no time hopping on social media to discuss Ford’s latest comments on shifting to in-office five days a week.
Many feel that a mandated five days in the office will cause more trouble than good.
“Traffic congestion isn’t bad enough. Let’s force more people to use the already overloaded infrastructure. Needlessly,” one person said on X.
“Watch how many government workers suddenly go on ‘stress leave.’ In this job market, it’s a terrible move—but they’ll still do it,” another person said.
While others feel this is the right thing to do.
“1000000%… Oh, and hold them accountable to actually work,” one X user commented.
Meanwhile, several unions representing over 50,000 Ontario Public Service employees recently sent a letter to Ontario’s Secretary of the Cabinet sharing their concerns about the decision to eliminate hybrid work late last week.
In the letter, the unions, including OPSEU/SEFPO, AMAPCEO, ALOC, OCAA, and PEGO, called on the government to meet with them to discuss the impact of the decision and to collaborate on a solution that supports public service delivery and workers’ rights.
“To make an announcement such as this without consulting with bargaining agents or providing them proper notice cannot be seen as anything other than disrespectful,” the letter reads, adding that employees were repeatedly assured they would not be required to return to in-office work full time.
“Our members delivered time and again during the pandemic and every day since. Workplace flexibility has numerous benefits,” the letter continues, listing pros to hybrid work models, including higher worker morale and productivity, improved work/life balance, greater accessibility for workers of all abilities, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved traffic congestion, and reduced pressure on the public transit system.
