Federal workers’ forced return to workplace not sitting well with PSAC vice-president

As of Monday, federal government workers are supposed to start heading back to the workplace.

It’s the first day of a phased transitional period for federal workers that will see them being more visible in their workplaces at least two to three times per week by the end of March.

Most federal workers started working from home when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 and some haven’t been back since.

While to some on the outside the move back to the office makes sense and feels like it’s long overdue, Marianne Hladun — the prairies regional executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) — says it’s not that easy to force everyone back into the workplace.

“Members are totally confused. We have employees that were hired being told they could live wherever they want and now all of a sudden they’re being told you may live Camrose … but you report to Ottawa,” she told Gormley on Monday. “How are they supposed to go in for two or three days a week?

“It’s absolutely ludicrous and for no specific reason. That’s the issue.”

PSAC represents more than 175,000 workers and Hladun says right now, a lot of people are sitting around trying to figure out what to do.

According to Hladun, it doesn’t make sense trying to bring people back into the office especially when they’re completing the same tasks at home.

“Some people want to go to the office five days a week and some want to do a hybrid. Some people, for their own situation, they prefer to work from home and concentrate better,” she said. “If there’s no reason for them to have to be in an office, then why would you mandate that?

“We have members right now that are being told they have to come into the office. They come in and try to find a desk and they end up sitting at a desk doing Teams meetings with the rest of their team members and end up doing meetings anyways. What’s the point of bringing them in?”

Hladun noted she has heard instances from people she represents who have been able to complete more work at home than at the workplace.

She says while managers still have the right to manage, she thinks they should be open to having a conversations with their employees about working from home if it works better for them.

“(The employees) should be able to have that conversation and if they can prove that it makes sense and they’re able to achieve the targets they have to, then there’s no reason to send them into the office and do virtual meetings with everyone else,” she said.

March 31 is the official deadline imposed by the federal government to have its workers returning to the office two to three times per week.