Canada

Treasury Board says 3-day-a-week mandate still offers flexibility

Federal officials pointed to concerns about "public scrutiny" when the government mandated workers back into the office, even as workers reported they felt more productive working from home, documents show.

Documents prepared by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) before the announcements of return to the office mandates were released to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) under an access to information request, and shared with CBC News.

The documents show how TBS looked at global trends, raised concerns about public trust and had very little internal information on productivity when deciding to mandate workers back to the office.

The union says the documents point to the lack of justification for the mandated return to the office.

"They had an opportunity here to really modernize the public service and move it forward, and yet here we are talking about cookie cutter approaches, butts in seats, and we're not really talking about services to those who reside in Canada," said Sharon DeSousa, president of PSAC."