City of Ottawa staff to return to office 5 days a week

Starting at the top of next year, all City of Ottawa employees will need to return to the office five days a week, a memo to council reads.

According to Wendy Stephanson, the city manager, over 85 per cent of staff are onsite or in the workplace each day; however, senior municipal leadership have decided to mandate a return to office five days a week to “help strengthen the organizational culture and build confidence and trust in the city’s ability.”

Stephanson writes that this new mandate creates cohesion between the city and other public sector employees.

Only weeks ago, Premier Doug Ford said the province’s public workers will be returning to the office full-time in January, including Ontario Public Service and its provincial agencies, boards and commission public bodies will be returning to the office.

The government says over half of the Ontario Public Service employees are already required to come into the office full-time.

Starting Oct. 20, workers who have been coming into the office three days a week will have to increase their attendance to four days a week. Ford said he believes employees are more productive when they work in person.

“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said at an unrelated press conference, in mid-August.

Backlash from councillor

Jeff Leiper, Ward 15-Kitchissippi Councillor, took to social media to voice his “disappointment” with the new city mandate.

“It is a short-sighted decision that serves no one well in either the short or long term,” he wrote on X. “Office workers get to spend more time with their families without long commutes. Taking that away weakens our neighbourhood main streets and undermines communities that have finally started to thrive.”

Data from the Angus Reid Institute shows three in five Canadians would prefer to spend the majority of their time working from home, while 79 per cent say they want a schedule that allows for some remote work.

Leiper said the decision goes against the city’s official plan, which is to build complete communities and bring a vibrant downtown.

“I’ve been struck when visiting Ottawa’s suburbs at how vibrant local businesses have become serving work-from-home customers,” the councillor said.