Shared Health workers ordered to return to office half-time

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This article was published 01/05/2024 (555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shared Health employees who have been working from home since the COVID-19 pandemic will be asked to spend at least half of their time in the office starting in the summer.

In a memo issued Monday, CEO Lanette Siragusa says the policy change is similar to “a number of Crown corporations and other public-sector organizations” and notes many front-line staffer continued to work in-person throughout the pandemic.

“Although I appreciate that this change may be disruptive, it is my hope that you will see value in coming together as teams to collaborate, plan and prioritize our work, while still retaining the potential to work remotely,” Siragusa wrote.

Kevin Engstrom, a spokesman for Shared Health, said the change affects corporate and administrative staff, many of whom have been working in the office at least part time.

“Planning for the return of these staff to in-office settings is underway and will determine precise numbers,” he said in an email Wednesday.

The change, which takes effect July 15, will apply to employees in the Winnipeg region, which includes some communities outside the city such as Selkirk, Niverville and the RM of Springfield.

Two buildings leased by Shared Health in downtown Winnipeg, which havw a total of 81,000 square feet, have been mostly vacant since the beginning of the pandemic. Taxpayers have been on the hook for monthly rent.

In December, a CBC report that cited an internal government suggested the cost was $1.2 million yearly.

At the time, Shared Health had decided it would not renew the lease at one of those buildings (355 Portage Ave.) and was re-considering its lease at 330 Portage Ave., which was set to expire this year.

Engstrom said Wednesday the lease at 330 Portage Ave. has been renewed and more employees are expected to work there this summer as per the rules change.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, who represents the downtown constituency of Union Station, said the change is an important step in rejuvenating the area.

“It’s so important that we have folks who are working in these spaces. (We want) downtown and our communities to be vibrant and hustling and bustling, and that means having folks working in those office spaces.”

Premier Wab Kinew said he expects health care administrators to work at the office.

“If you’re going to be telling what a nurse is to do at the bedside, a nurse who has no choice but to show up in person, I think you should show up in person, too… People who work on the front line of health care show up each and every day, whether that’s in a hospital, or whether it’s in a community setting,” said Kinew.

Jason Linklater, the president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, said the change doesn’t affect a large number of staff, but is “indicative of a top-down management culture that is not helping retain and recruit the specialized staff Manitoba needs to fix health care.”

He called it a “one-size-fits-all approach” that isn’t suited to specialized allied health professions.

Manitoba’s public service had 11,961 employees as of March 31, 2024.

About 27 per cent, or 3,239 employees, have a flexible work policy that allows them to work remotely or change their hours on a case-by-case basis.

The province said that less than 0.5 per cent of them have worked from home full time.

“Supplementary to the policy, a directive is currently in place requiring employees to work the majority of the time from their designated workplaces,” the spokesman wrote.

At Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, about 500 of the 3,200 employees aren’t required to show up in-person, and those staff work part-time in the office.

Pre-pandemic, the Crown corporation’s staff worked at three corporate offices, on Empress Street, Milt Stegall Drive and Buffalo Place.

However, under the Tories, office space was downsized to one corporate office, the 1555 Buffalo Place location, which can only accommodate staff under a hybrid office-home arrangement.

Manitoba Hydro has stuck with the same hybrid work plan it introduced in March 2022. The Crown corporation’s 1,800 staff members are required to spend Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at the downtown Portage Avenue head office. Mondays and Wednesdays are optional work-from-home days.

About 350 staff work in-office all week, “who either need to be at the office due to the nature of their roles or who prefer working in the office,” Hydro media relations officer Bruce Owen said Wednesday.

Most Manitoba Public Insurance employees are required to work in the office a minimum of two or three days a week, on a rotating basis.

There are 1,450 MPI employees in hybrid roles, 508 in the office full time, and 233 (all contract centre employees) who are fully remote.

— With files from Carol Sanders, Tyler Searle and Erik Pindera

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca