Knee-jerk move will backfire

While the issue of return-to-office for public servants has been long debated, the federal government has decided to once again act unilaterally and force public servants back into offices 60 per cent of their working time, while the government is selling 50 per cent of its office space to address operational cost-cutting and the housing crisis.

Treasury Board has been quick in its knee-jerk reaction to the Ontario premier's desire to force public servants to spend more of their now-reduced disposable income to increase revenues to downtown restaurants and shops, while reducing revenues of similar businesses elsewhere in the city. Ottawa's mayor has nodded approval on this disgraceful push.

TBS has again antagonized public servants and unions by acting unilaterally and without any consultation or supporting data on the need for this revised directive, and has even left out the higher echelons of public service senior management.

This will backfire for sure — resulting in more early retirements, less ability for managers to hire and retain talent, more work allocated to fewer officers, less productivity, more pollution, less money spent downtown on lunches and coffee out of spite and out of time, and very likely many public servants forced to take stress leave or sick days (which probably barely happened when public servants were allowed to work from home and were trusted to do good work).

When federal services to the public decline in quality and take longer, you will know why.

Daniel J. Peterson, Ottawa