{"id":457755,"date":"2026-02-06T14:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457755\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T14:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:48:14","slug":"ottawa-orders-public-servants-to-start-working-in-office-4-days-a-week-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457755\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa orders public servants to start working in office 4 days a week &#8211; National"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The federal government is ordering public servants to be in the office at least four days a week starting this summer, with executives expected to return to the office full time in May.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/treasury-board\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Treasury Board<\/a> message to deputy department heads published Thursday said executives will have to work on-site five days per week starting May 4. All other employees must be in the office four days a week as of July 6.<\/p>\n<p>The directive applies to public servants working in the core departments and agencies under Treasury Board, though the government said other federal agencies, which would include the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, are \u201cstrongly encouraged\u201d to take a similar approach.<\/p>\n<p>Remote work rules have been an ongoing issue in the public service since COVID-19 forced most federal workers to work remotely in 2020. After public health restrictions began to ease, the federal government moved in 2023 to have workers return to the office two to three days a week.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The current rule, in place since September 2024, requires public servants to work a minimum of three days a week in-office, with executives in office four days per week.<br \/>Thursday\u2019s order updates that rule.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\" alt=\"Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n<p>Get the day&#8217;s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Government has put forward ambitious plans to deliver on priorities for Canadians and to strengthen our country,\u201d said the Treasury Board message. \u201cWorking together onsite is an essential foundation of the strong teams, collaboration and culture needed during this pivotal moment and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Return-to-office rules for public servants set to kick in. What to know'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WORK_FROM_THE_OFFCIE_D_OM00ZEXI_thumbnail_1280x720.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:03<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReturn-to-office rules for public servants set to kick in. What to know\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The message was signed by Treasury Board secretary Bill Matthews, chief human resources officer Jacqueline Bogden and associate chief human resources officer Francis Trudel.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11652994\/mcmorris-crash-olympics\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770389294_202_b892bedcca413e336742af00a4ce4f0b48b0e637ea9eccaf9ddbc35fd0f2cd0e_d5fd6e.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tMark McMorris crash overshadows Canada\u2019s opening curling win at Olympics\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11655114\/humboldt-broncos-bus-driver-jaskirat-singh-sidhu-refugee-request-rejected\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770389294_140_e3846a1ded46f534784b5f21a74ac5a14e65092b07ea86ce68bb09076a6ce7f5_88a81e.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tSemi driver who caused Humboldt Broncos bus crash loses refugee bid\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It said the government will engage with unions to implement the plan, with discussions to focus on issues like assigned seating and occupational health and safety.<\/p>\n<p>The message also said Public Services and Procurement Canada will work closely with departments to ensure there is enough office space for all employees.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Sean O\u2019Reilly, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, told The Canadian Press he finds the government\u2019s decision \u201cinsulting and disrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to say I was surprised but I\u2019m not,\u201d said O\u2019Reilly, who was made aware of the move less than an hour before the message went out to employees. \u201cI\u2019m really beside myself on just why the decision is being made now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Reilly said he\u2019s skeptical about the discussions the government will have with bargaining agents, adding that his union will be \u201cvocal\u201d about the issue and push back on the government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know how this helps the Government of Canada. It doesn\u2019t save them money. This doesn\u2019t increase productivity,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see how this helps my members or how it helps the Canadian people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The message to employees said more information will be shared \u201cin due course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Canada<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government is ordering public servants to be in the office at least four days a week&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,94181,44,714,109316,187502],"class_list":{"0":"post-457755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-federal-workers","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-public-service","14":"tag-treasury-board"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}