‘Pandemic’s over’: councillor wants all city staff to return to the office

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This article was published 22/06/2023 (847 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg councillor wants all city staff who are still working from home to be directed to return to their offices.

Coun. Russ Wyatt has put forth a motion calling for city council to “immediately” direct chief administrative officer Michael Jack to end remote work options.

“I think there’s a lot of benefit by workers working together… The ability to train, not just in terms of management, but to mentor from older peers who are on the job, all of that is lost when you don’t work in a common work environment,” said Wyatt.

The Transcona councillor said he has received complaints from residents that city staff can be difficult to reach, which he expects is linked to flexible work arrangements that allow some shifts to be completed at home.

“The pandemic’s now over and it’s time for city employees to return to their respective offices so we can start to deliver their services on an efficient basis,” said Wyatt, arguing the change should improve productivity.

The motion, which will be considered by council next month, also argues mandating in-person work would better utilize city office spaces and help rejuvenate the downtown.

“A lot of our offices are in the downtown and we’ve said we want to make downtown revitalization a priority,” Wyatt said. “You can see the impact that employees not coming to the downtown has had on the (area) in the last number of years.”

The city revealed details of its flexible workplace plan in May 2022. At the time, officials noted about 1,800 of the city’s 10,400 staff had worked from home at least part time during the COVID-19 pandemic and would be eligible to continue doing so.

On Thursday, the CAO said the flexible workplace option was aimed largely at attracting and retaining staff, by helping the city compete with other employers offering that benefit.

“Some of the genesis of it was during the pandemic but there are a lot of reasons post-pandemic to continue some form of the program… It really is about what employees are expecting in today’s labour market,” said Jack.

While he did not have an updated number to share, Jack said the motion’s claim that thousands of city staff continue to work from home is inaccurate.

“Most of the city’s workforce just simply doesn’t have remote work as an option,” Jack said. “If you’re a firefighter, a paramedic, working at the water treatment plant, these aren’t roles that you can do remotely in any event.”

Jack said the city will maintain its downtown presence and is exploring whether offices in other neighbourhoods could be consolidated with city centre ones.

“We made clear in the pandemic that we weren’t going to shrink our downtown footprint,” he said.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he’d like to wait for a fall public service report on the impact of work-from-home options, including effects on productivity, before deciding if the practice should end. (He did not give an exact date for the report).

“Since the pandemic, I’ve been calling for more and more of our city staff to be back working in the offices… (Although) I do recognize also that to be an employer of choice, many employers are being forced, in a sense, to offer a hybrid model to allow some individuals to work from home from time to time,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said his final decision on the matter will aim to ensure the services provided to Winnipeggers are not diminished in any way.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga