With tens of thousands of civil servants set to return to the office on Monday, the Ford government says it has finally finished reviewing the space available to work, but won’t definitively say if there is room to accommodate everyone.
During the summer, the province announced it would end remote work options for civil servants and ordered all Ontario Public Service employees back to the office, beginning on Jan. 5.
The mandate sparked protests and complaints from unionized workers, who rallied at Queen’s Park, arguing they were more efficient with the option to work at home, which became the norm during the pandemic.
AMAPCEO and other public-sector unions forcefully opposed the government’s move to phase out remote work, saying it offers benefits such as improved work-life balance and higher productivity.
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A petition launched by AMAPCEO garnered 13,000 signatures in support of a policy reversal.
Questions were also raised over whether or not the government actually had enough space to bring all civil servants back to the office. After announcing the mandatory office return, the government said it was reviewing its space.
The results of that review have been closely guarded, with both the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Treasury Board unwilling to share any details of how many workspaces the government has or if it needs to acquire more for all civil servants next week.
“We have reviewed all government office space, and the vast majority of OPS offices have adequate space for a successful return to office,” a government spokesperson told Global News. “The Ministry of Infrastructure is working with other ministries to address any limited instances of space constraints.”
They said there were 4,200 facilities across Ontario that could support a return to the office.
In response to repeated questions from Global News, however, the government would not categorically say it had enough space to support a return to work for all civil servants.
“Our expectation is that the Ontario Public Service will be back in the workplace five days a week by January 5, 2026,” they said, acknowledging that many had requested accommodations to work from home.
While the government is pressing ahead with its mandate, the LCBO — a Crown agency — has been forced to delay its own return to work, telling staff it doesn’t have the space to accommodate them.
Ford said in August that he thought people worked better at the office than from home.
“I believe everyone’s more productive when they’re at work,” he said. “How do you mentor someone over the phone? You can’t. You got to look at them eye to eye or at the watercooler.”
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