Procurement Canada explores space needed for five-day return-to-office: documents

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In the scenario where desks were assigned, fewer sites would be able to accommodate staff.

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The analysis listed 10 urban areas where a return to office five days a week “poses challenges requiring space planning and mitigation strategies,” including Ottawa-Gatineau, Kingston and Toronto.

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In the document, PSPC blacked out information describing the scale of the deficit in those cities, citing clauses in the access-to-information act around advice or consultations involving government employees.

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The department also blacked out the space deficit for individual buildings as well as a list of four recommended strategies to help fill the gap.

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PSPC has committed to reducing its workforce by about 1,000 full-time jobs, including 722 permanent positions, under the government’s “comprehensive expenditure review.”

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RTO complicated by efforts to shed office space

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An undated memo obtained through the same ATIP request described the combination of hybrid work and unassigned seating as an opportunity to help the government reduce its office footprint and save money.

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In 2024, the government committed PSPC to reducing the federal office portfolio by half over the course of a decade, and Budget 2024 set aside $1.1 billion for the department to carry out the plan.

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The following year, a report from Canada’s auditor general found the government was only on pace to cut its real estate profile by about a third, as departments and agencies had been hesitant to sign off on real estate reductions.

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Then in April, spokesperson Michèle LaRose told the Ottawa Citizen that an internal department analysis showed the four–day mandate would require more workstations and/or space “in certain locations.” PSPC declined to provide that analysis.

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According to the November slideshow included in the bundle of ATIP documents, PSPC has reduced its total office footprint for its own staff by about 11,000 work spaces since 2017, including by releasing about 100,000 square metres of office space in the National Capital Region since 2019-2020, even as its workforce grew.

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Analysis pre-dates RTO rumours

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The RTO-5 analysis pre-dated rumours of a return-to-office for federal public servants that started swirling at the end of November.

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At the time, a Treasury Board document leaked on social media detailed a timeline that would see most public servants back in office four days per week this July.

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The same document listed Jan. 1, 2027 as the deadline for ordering public servants back in-person five days a week.

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In December, Treasury Board president Shafqat Ali said he was not aware of a plan to send public servants back to the office full-time next year.

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“Nothing — I’m hearing from news outlets,” Ali said. “So, I’m not aware of that.”

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Meanwhile, PSPC had already been studying the space pressures associated with RTO-5.

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In February, the government announced that it would be changing in-office requirements for many public servants. Executives will be required to be in office full-time as of May 4 (up from the current requirement of four days per week), and other employees will have to work from the office four days per week (up from three days).

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