Public vs. private: Canada’s major employers standardize five-day office weeks

Ontario government employees are now required to work in office five days a week, sparking pushback from workers. John Vennavally-Rao reports.

MISSISSAUGA — Chanting “work-life balance,” a group of frustrated Ontario government workers protested outside their office building in Mississauga on Monday, expressing their disappointment with a mandate to return to the office full time.

Up until now, they were allowed to work from home two days a week. But after years of being hybrid workers, they are now expected to physically be at work every day.

“The hybrid model worked great for us,” said one worker while waving a CUPE flag in support of her union. “I don’t understand why we have to come in every day.”

Bobbette Slater feels the same way. She works for Ontario Health atHome and has been a provincial employee for 17 years. She says working from home a few days a week meant she was better able to balance her family life, and in turn, believes she gave more to her employer.

She doesn’t think being in the office five days a week will improve much of anything, including collaboration.

“When we’re here a few days a week, we still see each other. We communicate with each other as effectively as we’ve always done,” said Slater.

As of Monday, Ontario government employees were required to be in the office five days a week. The mandate, announced by Premier Doug Ford last August, ends the hybrid work models that persisted for more than five years, following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some workers say there isn’t enough office space to accommodate all the workers coming back full time in the office. Ford says that’s being worked on and will get sorted out, calling it “a little bump.”

“It’s great to have everyone back to work, like every other normal citizen,” said Ford. “You know, you go out there, and you show up five days a week.”

Maxine Laing Peart is also a government worker, as well as the unit vice-president of CUPE Local 966. She says some colleagues moved further away from work during the pandemic and will be spending more time in a car instead of being with family.

“I think remote work is more productive,” said Peart.

She said she understands some downtown businesses have suffered because of the decline in office workers. But she notes her office is neither downtown nor near a coffee shop that’s hurting for business. She thinks they should rotate staff, so some are working in the office all week, and others are not.

“One week you have half of your workforce in for five days, the other half just rotate them in,” said Peart.

The return to full-time office work is a trend expected to ramp up in 2026. In February, Alberta’s public service workers are being mandated to return to the office full time.

In the private sector, Rogers Communications is also requiring employees to return to the office, following the trend of many of the country’s major banks, which last year ordered workers to return at least four days a week.

Some critics, including public sector unions, say the full-time return is harmful to the environment by adding to commute times, and was done without consulting the workers or providing evidence to justify the move.

Jelena Zikic is a professor at the School of Human Resources Management at York University. She says employers argue that being in the office leads to more productivity, more collaboration and a better organizational culture.

“We know there is some data to support this rationale,” said Zikic, adding that some data from the pandemic found people can still be productive working from home, and that a unilateral order to return to the office can cause “a lot friction.”

Some employees say they don’t want to lose flexibility and work-life balance.

“There’s a lot of resistance, and what we also see is that some of the best performers are likely to walk out and leave their jobs by being forced back into the office,” she added.

Zikic says there is a tug of war going on and that it’s a complicated issue that requires give and take.

“This really unilateral forced imposition of being in the office doesn’t work for a lot of people,” said Zikic.

She believes solutions could be tailored and collaborative, and that questions could be asked instead of imposing a “one size fits all” policy.

“Do we all have to be in the office on X, Y and Z days? Can we be at the beginning of the project? Or have days when everybody’s back? And when there are certain deadlines?” Zikic said.

“This kind of black and white imposition, I think, will lead to a lot of challenges.”