From Ontario to Alberta: Return-to-office mandates are not the answer

Would you rather work from home or the office? 

For Ontario and Alberta’s public service workers, there wasn’t much of a choice. Earlier this year, thousands of employees across both provinces were ordered to return to full-time in-office work.

Last summer, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in-office work increases workers’ productivity and supports small businesses that rely on downtown foot traffic.

However, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said the mandate is a relic of a past era and doesn’t make sense due to challenges such as long commutes and inadequate office space.

Workers and the union were also not consulted before Ford issued the order. This lack of dialogue has consequences — when workers feel excluded from decisions that directly affect their daily lives, morale suffers. In the long term, so does trust in leadership.

At the time the order was announced, the OPSEU said about 10,000 requests for alternative work arrangements had yet to be reviewed by the province, CBC News reported.

Alberta’s public service returned to full-time in-office work in February. An Alberta government spokesperson said it would increase collaboration, accountability, and service.

Despite changes across the country, B.C. has stuck with its flexible hybrid work structure, as have Manitoba and New Brunswick. These choices show a clear divide — some governments are pushing to bring work back a pre-COVID work culture, while others are adjusting to how people actually work today.

Statistics Canada reported last year that 78 per cent of Canadians only work outside of their homes. Benefits Canada found that 80 per cent of full-time Canadian workers prefer a hybrid work model.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 83 per cent of Canadians worked in the office at least five days a week. In late 2025, it was just 34 per cent.

This suggests that full-time in-office work no longer aligns with how many employees believe they work best.

During the pandemic, governments were forced to adapt to a new reality by shifting thousands of public servants to remote work. Organizations continued to operate, and some even showed improved performance.

Instead of responding to how work has changed, the return-to-office policy reflects an effort to maintain older workplace models in a post-pandemic world.

Ontario and Alberta’s approaches highlight the belief that physical presence equals efficiency and productivity. However, for more than two years, public service employees from across the country delivered essential services remotely, showing high adaptability and resilience. While some downtown small businesses were forced to slow or shut down operations, government services did not collapse — they adapted to the new reality.

A return to in-office work is also a sensitive topic because it affects gender equality and workers with children, particularly working parents. Benefits Canada reported that hybrid work has created more opportunities for over half of women across the country that they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

This finding supports the idea that hybrid models can play an important role in supporting women’s employment and workplace equity, while making public service work more accessible and inclusive.

Prime Minister Mark Carney hadn’t provided much to indicate his thinking on the issue, instead saying the amount of in-office work public employees do depends on their role and seniority.

Does this mean that employees in more senior or privileged roles could have greater flexibility, while others may face stricter in-office requirements? If so, this could lead to an even higher imbalance between leaders and their employees.

Hybrid models, where employees split their time between home and the office, allow for focused individual work, while preserving opportunities for collaboration. A five-day return-to-office mandate ignores the nuance of different roles, applying a one-size-fits-all solution to a workforce that proved it can function otherwise — even amid a global pandemic.

Policies that treat all employees the same prioritize control over actual effectiveness. People work best in different ways, and our productivity is shaped by personality, focus needs, and motivation rather than a single physical location.