The OPS\u00a0consists of people who work in the ministries and agencies directly controlled by the province. Roughly half of that\u00a0workforce has had the option to work remotely up to twice a week since at least April 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic waned and Ontario’s return-to-office plan kicked in.<\/p>\n
Taking away that option is stirring up a debate about its merits for productivity, employee well-being and attracting talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eliminating remote work has a particular\u00a0impact on the\u00a0union\u00a0AMAPCEO, which represents 14,000\u00a0professional and administrative staff, many of whom opted for the hybrid model of splitting their time between an office and home.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer\u00a0says the Ford government’s decision will affect both recruitment and retention in the OPS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dave-bulmer.jpg\")
Dave Bulmer is president of AMAPCEO, the union that represents around 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service. (CBC)<\/p>\n
“I represent professionals, highly educated people who can choose where to work in the market, the best and the brightest,” Bulmer said in an interview with Radio-Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Nobody’s going to come to an OPS that doesn’t have hybrid work,” he said. “We have lots of people who are with the OPS who are probably going to move on now.”<\/p>\n
‘Attracting, developing, retaining top talent’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bulmer argues the government’s move runs counter to its own official human resources strategy, dubbed the OPS\u00a0People Plan<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The chief goal stated in the plan: “Attracting, developing, and retaining top talent that reflects Ontario’s diversity.”<\/p>\n Maria Gintova, an assistant professor of political science and public policy at McMaster\u00a0University, has researched the impact of flexible work arrangements on public sector employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those employees generally viewed mandatory work-from-office rules as “government going with their idea of how things should be done, without any kind of consultations, and not listening to the public service,” she said in an interview with CBC News.\u00a0<\/p>\n WATCH |\u00a0Ford government orders public servants back to the office full time:\u00a0 Ontario’s public servants will be back in office full time as of 2026<\/p>\n Ontario Premier Doug Ford is ordering the province’s 60,000 public servants back to the office full time starting in January. CBC’s Mike Crawley has the details.<\/p>\n Gintova, who previously held policy jobs in several Ontario ministries, says\u00a0allowing people to work remotely helps boost diversity in the workforce\u00a0by opening up jobs to a geographically wider field of candidates.<\/p>\n “Remote work is a key for improving work-life balance,” Gintova\u00a0added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office<\/a>, Gintova\u00a0says there’s no evidence to suggest that’s accurate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mulroney spokesperson defends move\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney, the cabinet minister who oversees the OPS,\u00a0says moving to a standard of five days per week in the workplace reflects what’s happening in workplaces throughout Ontario.<\/p>\n “Our standard is also aligned with other provinces, cities, and organizations across Canada,” Mulroney’s director of communications, Andrea Chiappetta, said in an email to CBC News.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We are confident in our ability to attract and retain top talent into the public service,”\u00a0Chiappetta\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Provincial data\u00a0puts\u00a0the turnover rate<\/a>\u00a0in the Ontario public service at six per cent. The OPS People Plan includes a target of reducing that to 4.2 per cent by 2026.<\/p>\n The province also wants to boost\u00a0another measure of the lure of an OPS job:\u00a0the number of applicants per vacancy. It has averaged 28.4, and the government’s target is 42.8<\/p>\n Scrapping the option to work\u00a0remotely neither helps attract talented people to the public sector nor helps keep them there, says Marion Nader, CEO of Nexus Strategy Group and a former senior advisor with the Ontario NDP.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It\u00a0shuts out a huge labour pool because people now want that flexibility,” said Nader in an interview with CBC News. “People want the flexibility to be able to at least work from home a couple of days a week.”<\/p>\n Nader believes the Ford government has an ulterior motive with the plan: reducing the number of public service jobs through attrition.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The return to the office policy isn’t about productivity. It’s more about a downsizing strategy for the OPS,” she said. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n John Fraser, the Ontario Liberal Party’s labour critic, says the Ford government needs to take a more thoughtful and balanced approach to the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Telecommuting has benefits for our economy, families’ lives, and our environment,” Fraser said in an email. “The reality is this is where the world is going.”<\/p>\n City of Brampton follows suit\u00a0<\/p>\n The Ford government’s move has already prompted at least one other public sector employer in Ontario\u00a0to follow suit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said Friday he plans to follow\u00a0the province’s lead<\/a> and require city staff to return to full-time in-office work on an identical timeline.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755347892_745_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Sign](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/macdonald-block-ontario-government-office-building.jpg\")
‘Attracting, developing, and retaining top talent that reflects Ontario’s diversity’ is the chief goal of the provincial government’s official human resources strategy, dubbed the Ontario Public Service People Plan. (John Sandeman\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"Five](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/brampton-city-hall-rrl.jpg\")
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, centre, says city employees must return to working from their offices on the same timeline as provincial government staff: four days a week beginning Oct. 20, and five days a week starting Jan. 5. (Saloni Bhugra\/CBC)<\/p>\n