Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time

Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.

It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.

The announcement came Thursday from Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney. It says employees of the Ontario Public Service and its provincial agencies, boards and commission will “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026.

At an unrelated news conference in Pickering Thursday, Ford said he believes employees are more productive when they are in the office. 

“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” he said.

Ford also suggested having workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies. 

“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t see the flow of traffic.”

Move follows mandates from big banks

The news follows on the heels of moves by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall. 

It also comes just two weeks after AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service, ratified a new collective agreement.

Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.” 

“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.

The union says access to working from home was a key issue in bargaining and the province was “determined to eliminate” flexible work provisions in that bargaining.

Federal government employees are subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.