As a major snowstorm caused travel chaos, serious weather alerts, highway closures and school cancellations, some working for Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation were told to head into the office.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, with more than tens of centimetres already on the ground, a manager within the civil service emailed their employees to point out the Ford government’s office mandate.
“Just a reminder that we have a 5-day a week in person requirement,” the email, seen by Global News, said.
It added that the snow meant staff could arrive late and leave early as long as they made an effort to attend.
“Otherwise,” the note concluded, “please take a vacation day, which some … staff are doing today.”
The message was sent after schools in Toronto had announced they would close for the day, and while emergency services and Environment Canada were urging people to avoid all non-essential travel.
“Allow extra time for travel,” the weather agency wrote. “Non-essential travel should be avoided.”
About an hour after telling workers to head into the office or use a vacation day, the directive was revised.
“We are now being advised that if you have your equipment, you may work from home,” the follow-up, sent at 10:35 a.m., said. “Staff to decide for themselves if it’s safe or possible to drive in today. Please use your best judgment and prioritize safety.”
The contradictory messages to some in the Ministry of Transportation are part of a broader pattern of confusion which appeared to play out across the civil service on Thursday.
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At the beginning of January, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decree for civil servants to return to the office full-time came into effect, despite there not being space available for all civil servants.
The premier acknowledged early issues with the plan, but maintained it was paramount that public servants return to their desks.
“I think we have room for the majority of people,” Ford said during an appearance at Queen’s Park on Jan. 5.
“We’ll get through this. There’s a little bump; we’ve been working on this for the last little while.”
Thousands of civil servants also submitted requests to work from home or on hybrid schedules, which the government appears to still be assessing.
Thursday’s snowfall, however, presented a new hiccup for the office mandate.
Individual departments appear to have been given discretion to decide for themselves if the snowfall was a legitimate reason to stay at home. According to social media posts from civil servants, some told their staff to stay home, while others ordered them in.
Global News asked the Ford government if others had been told to brave the snowstorm to make it to the office. They did not respond to the question.
Instead, a spokesperson suggested there had not been any central decision on the snow day.
“As part of the OPS in-office standard, managers can approve ad hoc, occasional or temporary remote work requests to provide short-term flexibility for various extenuating circumstances — including inclement weather,” they wrote in a statement.
“As such, an OPS directive was not issued today because local managers already have the discretion to offer this flexibility.”
The office mandate was first announced in August, sparking 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 COVID-19 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.
A petition launched by AMAPCEO garnered 13,000 signatures in support of a policy reversal.
Ten days after the return officially took place, the government is still refusing to say how much office space it needs to accommodate all civil servants, how much it will cost and if it needs to lease new buildings.
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