Large number of Canadian public servants breaking remote work rules

OTTAWA — Large numbers of public servants working in the federal government’s three biggest departments aren’t following Ottawa’s three-days-per-week office work rule, federal data shows.

The federal government’s latest remote work mandate, which took effect in early September, requires all staff employed under the Treasury Board to work on-site a minimum of three days a week. Executives are expected to work in the office four days a week.

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The Canadian Press asked for compliance rates from a number of federal departments, including the three with the largest workforces — the Department of National Defence, the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada.

Of those three, Defence, which employs about 28,700 people, saw the lowest rate of compliance with the three-day rule, especially in the National Capital Region.

The department, known informally as DND, says its average rate of compliance with the three-day rule in January was 60 per cent — but just 31 per cent in December.

DND’s reported compliance rate nationally was 61 per cent in November and 72 per cent in both October and September.

Staff in the National Capital Region seemed less likely to meet the requirement, with 57 per cent of DND staff in the Ottawa area meeting the three-day requirement in November, compared with 69 per cent elsewhere. In September and October, 70 per cent of DND staff in the capital region were compliant, compared to 76 and 77 per cent outside the Ottawa area.

Andrée-Anne Poulin, a spokesperson for DND, said the data does not factor in all leave, including vacation, training and sick days.

Poulin said compliance rates only track employees with hybrid work arrangements, adding that about half of DND employees continued working on-site full-time throughout the pandemic and thereafter.

“DND’s compliance monitoring equips leadership with general information needed for oversight of the workforce,” Poulin said in an email. “Managers are responsible for monitoring individual compliance by accounting for the location of employees during working hours.”

The Canada Revenue Agency estimates that 80 per cent of its 59,000 employees met their on-site requirement in December, up from 76 per cent in November and 77 per cent in October.

Benoit Sabourin, a spokesperson for the CRA, said the agency’s transition to increased on-site presence “has been going well” and most CRA employees are working under a hybrid schedule.

A graph shared by Employment and Social Development Canada, which employs just over 39,000 people, estimates its rate of compliance with the three-day rule has hovered at around 75 per cent since September.

Smaller departments and agencies saw varying levels of compliance.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which employs around 13,000 public servants, says its compliance rate was 93 per cent in January, compared with 72 per cent in September.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which employs about 6,800 public servants, says about 60 per cent of employees are front-line staff and have worked on-site since the start of the pandemic.

The agency said the compliance rate among its other workers was 73 per cent between October and January, excluding the holiday period in December.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says managers are responsible for monitoring their employees’ performance and presence in the workplace.

“Managers need to confirm expectations with employees and ensure compliance with the common hybrid work model,” TBS spokesperson Martin Potvin said in August 2024.

A Treasury Board document says penalties for violating the in-office work rule can include verbal reprimand, written reprimand, suspension without pay and termination of employment.

“Before taking any of the above measures, managers should ensure that individual circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis, including human rights obligations, such as the duty to accommodate, or whether an employee has a reasonable explanation for the behaviour,” the document says.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents many federal public servants, says it has not heard of any members being suspended or laid off for breaking remote work rules. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says it does not gather information on those disciplinary measures.

As of 2024, 367,772 people were working in the federal public service.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press