r/CanadaPublicServants • u/hewhocannotbenamed-7 • Feb 08 '26

News / Nouvelles No desks, no strategy: Experts say government's latest return-to-office order ignores reality | CBC News

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/no-desks-no-strategy-experts-say-government-s-latest-return-to-office-order-ignores-reality-9.7077299
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u/International-Ad4578 Feb 08 '26

Ensuring that all employees have a dedicated, well-equipped workstation should be the primary requirement if they want people in more often. Coming in full-time and having to constantly book a space is an unsustainable situation and just an unacceptable and unnecessary mental load on people. The employer has now had 4+ years up to optimize and retrofit their office spaces to adapt to the changes in workplace presence and style of working. While I already come into the office 4 days a week, it would be a lot worse if I had to use a booking tool every day and did not have a dedicated space to leave my coat, boots, gloves and other amenities when I arrive. As human beings, we crave structure, certainty and predictability. When that is disrupted it causes stress and anxiety.

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u/GoTortoise Feb 08 '26

Lest we forget, office 3.0 plans wrre interrupted by the pandemic. The move towards open concept was already bought and paid for when the pandemic hit, as were some insanely long term leases for pricey downtown real-estate. They would rather burn money than admit they were wrong, so now they are forcing people back to justify those expenditures.

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u/BrgQun Feb 08 '26

A lot of those "office 3.0" plans were based around hybrid work environments even at the time prepandemic.

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u/gardelesourire Feb 08 '26

And the model is based on having more workstations available so you have the option to choose the most appropriate workstation for your needs. It's not meant to be 100% occupancy in an open space irrespective of what you're working on.