Ottawa orders federal employees back to the office 4 days a week

Ottawa announced that all federal employees who have been working remotely must return to the office at least four days a week. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS files

Article content

Article content

Prime Minister Mark Carney had signalled in December that such changes were forthcoming.

Article content

Article content

In its announcement, the Treasury Board said that federal executives will be required to work onsite five days per week starting on May 4, while all employees are to work onsite four days a week as of July 6.

Article content

Article content

“We will be engaging with bargaining agents to seek their input on implementing this plan,” said a letter signed by the Treasury Board secretary, Bill Matthews. It said those discussions will focus on elements such as the potential allocation of assigned seating and addressing occupational health and safety standards.

Article content

Article content

Many federal public servants are already onsite full-time due to the nature of their work. The government said increasing onsite presence is “an essential foundation of strong teams, collaboration and culture needed during this pivotal moment and beyond.”

Article content

Public Services and Procurement Canada, which manages federal office space for roughly 100 organizations, said it will work to address the new onsite office space requirements. It said it will identify potential solutions for locations where sufficient space is not available.

Article content

The federal government said separate agencies are strongly encouraged to take a similar approach.

Article content

As of Oct. 2025, 357,965 employees worked in the federal public service, 279,396 of whom work in core public administration, while the rest work for separate agencies.

Article content

Article content

Over the past months, many organizations had began mandating their workers back to the office, with a number of them expected to return this year.

Article content

Article content

As of this week, all provincial employees in Alberta have returned to the office full-time, after the Alberta government announced the end of its public service hybrid work policy back in October. That change went into effect on Feb. 2.

Article content

Nearly 12,600 of the province’s employees, or approximately 44 per cent of the public sector workforce, moved to hybrid work in August.

Article content

On Jan. 5, Ontario’s public service and employees in provincial agencies, boards and commissions returned to the office full-time, as announced by Ontario Premier Doug Ford‘s government last August.

Article content

Ontario’s return-to-office mandate was gradual. First, employees who had been going in for a minimum of three days per week were ordered to show up four days a week instead, starting on Oct. 25. That mandate has now been increased to full time.

Article content

The Government of Ontario employs more than 60,000 public servants in the Ontario Public Service (OPS), which includes ministries, agencies and such Crown corporations as the LCBO.

Article content

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents over half of those workers, said the back-to-office announcement in August was made “without consideration for the realities frontline public service workers face.”

Article content

Article content