Civil servants can no longer serve as an “anchor tenant” for Ottawa’s downtown and yesterday’s back-to-office mandate does nothing to change that, according to at least one local observer.
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The federal government can no longer serve as an “anchor tenant” for Ottawa’s downtown and yesterday’s back-to-office mandate does nothing to change that, according to at least one local observer.
At the same time, another expert says the revised mandate for federal civil servants does not go far enough.
In an announcement yesterday, the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) said public servants in the core public administration who are eligible for a hybrid work arrangement will be required to work on-site a minimum of three days per week. The new directive will take effect by Sept. 9, 2024, the federal government announced.
Currently, public servants are required to be in the office a minimum of two to three days a week, or 40 to 60 per cent of the time.
According to Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, the revised return-to-office mandate is a “political” announcement meant to “placate” local stakeholders who are arguing for more workers in the core.
In the view of Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, the new directive falls short.
“The federal government’s new directive is an encouraging development, but it falls short if Ottawa wants to be a world-class city. Canada’s capital can be a vibrant place full of energy and life. We can’t achieve that working from home,” Hyder said.
The revised directive should not ease ongoing initiatives for downtown revitalization — rather, Lee said, it should motivate them further.
“I have said repeatedly, the federal government has been the anchor tenant of the downtown and it simply can no longer play that role,” he explained. “We still have to re-envision and reimagine the downtown, because it won’t be grounded in the large presence of the public service.
“I’m not saying the government will vanish, or that there won’t be (civil) servants there, but a large federal sector coming to work downtown five days a week is behind us. It’s over.”
Lee said he looks to American cities such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland that rely on entertainment and sports.
“The new announcement doesn’t fix the core at all. We need to go the route of concerts, sports, multifaceted entertainment centres and festivals,” he explained. “It’s just my view, but I think that will be the future, because I can’t see what else it will be. It won’t be the Government of Canada, so something else has to be the anchor.”
Lee said he was “puzzled” by the announcement, citing recent news that the government is fast tracking the sale of surplus office properties.
“In this situation, ‘A’ contradicts ‘B,’” said Lee. “They’re saying more people are going downtown, but they’re getting rid of the buildings, so there’s nowhere to place them.
“It’s a mixed and confused message. I’m relying more on the announcement that they’re terminating leases and accelerating the downsizing of those buildings,” said Lee. “There’s a contradiction between what they’re saying and what they’re doing, and what they’re doing is leaving.”
In its announcement yesterday, TBS said, “This updated requirement also aligns with the government’s commitment to reduce its office footprint by 50 per cent. Departments and agencies continue to work with Public Services and Procurement Canada to ensure workplaces can accommodate the common hybrid work model, namely by implementing unassigned workspaces.”
