Ottawa fails to meet target in first month of full return-to-office implementation

In the first week – starting Sept. 9, 2024 – of the full implementation of the rule 81% of ESDC employees were compliant with the RTO rules that calls for a three-days-a-week presence in the office, according to the report.

However, compliance rates dropped to 73% by the end of the month. By late October, compliance had improved slightly to 76%, still below the department’s target.

_{Source: Ottawa Citizen}

Meanwhile, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat – responsible for enforcing return-to-office policies – recorded only 70.82% compliance among its own employees in September.

Most Canadian workers are OK with heading back to the office – but employers may not be ready to meet their needs, according to a previous report.

The compliance reports – compiled by ESDC’s chief data officer branch, used a system that tracked employee interactions with ESDC devices – such as logins to virtual private networks, according to Ottawa Citizen.

HR among worst offenders of return-to-office rules

ESDC’s human resources branch – tasked with helping implement the policy – recorded some of the lowest compliance rates. Internal reports showed that during the first week of the new rules, compliance in the branch stood at just 67%. By the week of Sept. 30, compliance within the branch dropped to 56%, before recovering to 69% by the end of October, reported Ottawa Citizen.

“Looks like our compliance is not only the lowest, but it is declining,” assistant deputy minister Réa McKay wrote in an email to colleagues in late September, according to the report. On Oct. 18, McKay noted some improvement but stated: “We are going up, but still not where we want to be.”

Meanwhile, other branches within the department saw compliance rates ranging from 63% to 98% during the same period.

Who’s responsible for implementing the return-to-office mandate?

Managers are responsible for ensuring their teams meet attendance requirements, said ESDC spokesperson Mila Roy, according to the Ottawa Citizen report.

She noted: “ESDC has reinforced with its managers their responsibility to ensure that employees who directly report to them are compliant with the in-person workplace attendance requirements.”

Roy explained that compliance is tracked through a custom dashboard that integrates data from internal systems and device usage. She emphasized, however, that the dashboard is intended to support managers and is not a substitute for active oversight.

A Treasury Board guide for department heads outlined potential consequences for non-compliance with telework agreements. These include verbal and written reprimands, suspension without pay, and termination of employment, depending on the circumstances.

Roy stated that ESDC is continuing to address compliance issues, saying, “Compliance rates are being closely monitored and progress continues to be made as we work to achieve the expected compliance numbers in the new year.”

Previously, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) and the Canadian Association of Public Employees (CAPE) urged the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) to conduct a thorough investigation into the federal government’s RTO policy.

In a letter to the committee, Jennifer Carr, PIPSC president, asked that the committee look into the impact of the RTO mandate on the following: 

• Employee well-being: Assess the mental health and job satisfaction of employees under the current return-to-office policies, with a lens towards equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Productivity and policy effectiveness: Evaluate the effectiveness of existing and alternative mandates in promoting productivity and employee morale while accommodating the diverse needs of the workforce.
• Best practices: Identify and recommend best practices from organizations that have successfully implemented flexible and inclusive telework strategies.
• Stakeholder engagement: Consider the extent to which employee and union feedback was solicited and incorporated into the development of government mandates.
• Health, safety and inadequate office workspaces: Assess the extent to which existing office environments affect the health and safety of public service employees. This includes looking into space allocation, cumbersome booking systems, poor ventilation, sanitation, pest infestations, and other problems identified by employees and their union representation.

One challenge for employers calling workers back into the office after they had been allowed to work remotely for the past few years is finding the space to accommodate these workers. And that’s the case for several federal government offices, according to a previous report.