Quebec’s public sector is scrambling to adjust to a new policy requiring government employees to work from the office at least three days a week, a shift that has revealed insufficient workspace and a move away from assigned desks. The policy, implemented January 26, 2024, has caught some employers off guard, forcing them to juggle in-office and remote schedules due to limited capacity.
The Quebec government has been restructuring office spaces in recent years to accommodate the rise in remote work, a trend significantly accelerated by the pandemic. This restructuring includes a gradual transition from individual workstations to unassigned desks, a move intended to reduce leasing costs and consolidate operations under the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI).
Shift in Workplace Dynamics
Previously, with most public servants working remotely more than two days a week, space availability wasn’t a major concern, and employees had flexibility in scheduling hybrid arrangements. However, the directive from Treasury Board President France-Élaine Duranceau to mandate a minimum of three days a week in the office has upended that balance.
Treasury Board President France-Élaine Duranceau mandated a minimum of three days a week in the office for government employees. (Archival Photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada / Sylvain Roy Roussel
Managers are now tasked with managing the influx of employees, attempting to avoid a “musical chairs” scenario as they navigate limited space. The situation highlights the challenges of rapidly adjusting to new workplace policies and the need for adequate infrastructure to support them.
The Ministry of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) is among those unprepared, currently lacking a system to efficiently manage workspace allocation, with fewer spaces available than employees. An request for proposals issued by the MTMD on Monday seeks a cloud-based solution to facilitate desk reservations.
2,150 Available Workspaces
The desired tool would allow employees to identify and reserve available workspaces across approximately 50 floors in up to 24 locations, prioritizing critical sites while standardizing floor plans over the first year. The platform would support reservations for 2,150 workspaces for a user base of 2,650.
The cloud-based solution sought by the MTMD will be deployed across all of its service centers in Quebec. (Archival Photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada / Marie-Hélène Paquin
While awaiting the acquisition and implementation of a dedicated cloud solution, the ministry is utilizing temporary measures to manage workspace allocation, in accordance with current government directives. “The coordination of employee presence relies, in the meantime, on the involvement of managers, both at the team and site levels, to ensure efficient use of available spaces,” stated Émilie Lord, a spokesperson for the MTMD, in an email.
Currently, existing functionalities within Microsoft Outlook are being used to facilitate desk reservations, particularly on floors with higher occupancy rates. “This usage is temporary and aims to support presence management while awaiting a more comprehensive solution,” Lord added.
Unassigned workstations are becoming increasingly common in spaces occupied by Quebec government employees.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Bruno Giguère
Union leaders contend the MTMD’s request for proposals illustrates the government moved too quickly with the implementation of its new remote work policy. “It was an improvisation, and a rush to implement this framework, while ministries and organizations were not consulted about the feasibility of it. So, for us, it was obvious that situations like these would occur,” said Christian Daigle, general president of the Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ), in an interview.
A Chaotic System
Daigle described the logistical challenges of the three-day in-office requirement as not unique to the MTMD, stating that several ministries and organizations are no longer allowing employees to choose their in-office days. “There are several places where managers have to establish a schedule of presence, and people have to comply, being assigned certain days if several people have chosen the same day [to come to the office]. Yes, there are problematic situations,” reported the SFPQ leader.
We should have taken the time to sit down and discuss together […] with the ministries […], which was not done. And now we know the result today. It’s a free-for-all in the various ministries and organizations.
Christian Daigle argues that the costs associated with acquiring computer tools to reserve workstations offset the savings Quebec has achieved by reducing the size of office spaces occupied by its employees.
Photo : Radio-Canada
Guillaume Bouvrette, president of the Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ), argues that imposing the same return-to-office modalities across all ministries and organizations, without considering the specific tasks and realities of each environment, eliminates the benefits of being present in the office, such as fostering a sense of belonging and knowledge transfer.
Working Remotely… In the Office
“What we are seeing is that people are being asked to travel to offices where their colleagues are sometimes not even present. What they will do is telepresence: they will go to the office to work, ultimately remotely, on their computer, in video conference, as they would have done from home, but having lost time and money in the commute,” Bouvrette explained. “We must have added value in traveling to the workplace, and this is documented. We are losing all of that in the chaos that is being proposed,” he added.
Guillaume Bouvrette argues that no evidence supports the government’s decision to require government employees to come to the office at least three days a week. (Archival Photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada / Guillaume Croteau-Langevin
The union leader believes the three-day in-office requirement disregards the efforts made over the years by the SQI to reduce occupied space and generate significant rental savings. “By changing the approach and changing the framework policy and the increased number of days in person, we are undoing all the planning that was done by the Société québécoise des infrastructures, and that will certainly incur additional costs for the company and the Quebec state,” Bouvrette warned.
The SPGQ president hopes the Legault government will ease the return-to-office requirements based on available space, as it recently did for employees affected by major construction work at the Atrium building in Quebec City.
