Flexibility to be made available to some employees needing accommodation
Nova Scotia has ordered workers who have been allowed to work from home to return to the office full-time starting Oct. 15, according to a CBC report.
The provincial government informed workers of this change last week.
"Our [non-union] employees are a critical component of the structure of government — many have supervisory duties, lead teams, manage complex files and issues and provide support inside government to ensure policy and programs function effectively," read an internal message provided to government departments, according to CBC.
"Starting Oct. 15, to support a culture of service excellence for Nova Scotians, provincial excluded employees will be generally expected to be in the workplace for the full work week."
However, the government did not explain the rationale for the sudden decision, according to the report.
A previous report noted that the federal government will require workers in the public sector to be in the office three times per week starting this fall.
Do employees have to return to the office?
The mandate from the NS government covers all workers who have been given the option to work remotely starting the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 16, 2020, an email from within the province’s Department of Health to "officially roll out the Flexible Working Arrangements (FWA) program" was sent out to staff.
The mandate, however, also covers those who have been enjoying this flexibility for almost a decade through the FlexNS program, according to the report.
"In 2015, FlexNS was launched by the Public Service Commission as a voluntary program that departments — or units within them — could adopt at their discretion," Geoff Tobin, government communications adviser, told CBC. "Across government, departments or units may have adopted the program at different times.
"Data that is currently collected corporately does not specifically demonstrate whether an employee works remotely. However, we estimate that roughly 50% of employees are in some kind of flexible working arrangement."
The decision to bring workers into the office five days a week came as a result of "difficulty in terms of managers managing folks from different places,” said Twila Grosse, the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, in the report. It will also help new employees in the orientation process by developing relationships and getting to know their colleagues, she said.
Nearly six in 10 (59%) of Canadians support federal government workers spending more time in-office, according to a previous report from Angus Reid.
Accommodation for some workers
There will be some flexibility for NS workers who will not be able to return to the office full-time, said Grosse.
"Each manager will discuss it with their employees, as necessary," she said in the CBC report. "Each situation has to be judged or looked at on their own merit."
Those accommodations, however, are likely to be rare, according to Tobin.
"If an employee has risks to their health that can only be mitigated through a flexible work arrangement, the employee should speak with their manager," Tobin told CBC. "If an employee has a documented and approved accommodation on file with the Public Service Commission that includes provisions of flexible work arrangements, those accommodations will continue to be evaluated through the accommodation and return-to-work process."
NDP, Liberals push back against RTO mandate
The NS government, however, is seeing pushback from stakeholders.
NDP Leader Claudia Chender called the move "strange" and said it could lead to the government losing “valuable employee,” CBC reported. Also, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said the government should provide sound, scientific behind calling workers back into the office full-time.
"If they're going to require staff to do this, there needs to be some clear evidence to suggest it's going to improve productivity," said Churchill in the CBC report. "That's what taxpayers want. That's what the public wants."
Earlier, the return to office journey of Department of National Defence (DND) employees faced a challenge as the employer moved roughly 1,000 staff members to a new location, according to reports.
