Question Period Note: Hybrid Work in the Public Service

Is the government going to require all public servants to return to the office full time?

• Working together onsite supports the teamwork, collaboration and culture needed to effectively deliver services to Canadians.
• The current hybrid model, which requires public servants to spend the majority of each work week in the office, remains in place.

Following the Clerk of the Privy Council’s June 2022 message encouraging departments to explore hybrid work models, federal organizations began testing various approaches to support service delivery to Canadians. The Chief Human Resources Officer collected data through three questionnaires between Fall 2022 and Fall 2023, revealing a wide range of hybrid arrangements and a need for greater consistency. In response, the Treasury Board Secretariat introduced the Direction on prescribed presence in the workplace in December 2022, requiring eligible employees to work onsite 2–3 days per week by March 2023, with time-limited exceptions for certain groups based on specific work models (for example, call centre employees). Further refinements to the Direction were made in May 2024 to increase the minimum onsite presence to three days weekly starting September 2024, with executives expected onsite four days, and previously exempt groups required to comply by September 2025.
Bargaining agents (BAs) have continued to express their dissatisfaction with the May 2024 update to the Direction in a variety of ways, including launching unfair labour practice complaints, grievances and a judicial review of the decision taken by the Chief Human Resources Officer. At the end of January 2025, the three largest BAs (Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)) launched a campaign called #RemoteWorks, which encourages all Canadians (not just public servants) to support the message that a one-size-fits-all approach to remote work is ineffective.
The Direction sets out the requirement for deputy heads to implement and monitor a minimum requirement of three days per week in the workplace for all public servants eligible for a hybrid work arrangement. Workplaces vary from one organization to the other. Deputy heads are to use discretion and adapt to their operational requirements. This includes in the application of certain exceptions in a limited set of circumstances, which are explicitly outlined in the Direction, and monitoring compliance within their organizations.
Directive on Telework
As part of negotiations with public service BAs in 2023, the employer and certain bargaining agents signed letters of agreement on telework that sit outside of collective agreements.
Under the terms of the letters, joint departmental review panels were to be created within departments and agencies to address individual grievances where an employee is not satisfied with a decision made related to telework and hybrid work and chooses to refer the grievance to the joint departmental review panel. Each department is responsible for creating the panels and developing terms of reference with BAs, with guidance provided by TBS.

Letters signed by the PSAC, CAPE, the Association of Justice Council (AJC), PIPSC included the provision of a Joint Consultation Committee (JCC) to support the review of the Directive on Telework. While CAPE withdrew from their JCC in response to the updated Direction, the PIPSC and PSAC completed the consultation process in fall 2024.
As a result of the JCC work and consultation and engagement with other key stakeholders, the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer implemented amendments to the Directive on Telework on April 1, 2025, to better align with the hybrid work environment. The key changes to the Directive included clarification of the roles and responsibilities for managers and employees; stronger language to reinforce occupational health and safety; and, new considerations related to cyber security, material management, values and ethics, and conflict of interest for departments to assess and include as necessary.

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