City staff are heading back to the office full-time in January, but most councillors are opposed

Come January 1, all City of Ottawa employees will be forced back to their offices seven days a week. 

City manager Wendy Stephanson made the announcement on Wednesday, though not much will change. Already 85 per cent of city staff have been in the office or on-site full-time. Around 2,500 municipal employees were at the office two to four days a week, of the total 17,000 city employees. 

Stephanson called it the “new standard” and said having colleagues back together in person would help with the city’s "organizational culture." 

"Any alternative work arrangements will continue to be made in consultation between managers and their employees based on role, operational needs and available space," she said in a memo. 

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is supporting the change in practice, which comes after Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently encouraged all municipalities to follow Brampton's lead by mandating staff back. 

“Picture for a second somebody who’s 25 to 30 years old starting their career at the City of Ottawa or in a different workplace,” Sutcliffe told CTV. “They deserve and need to have the opportunity to learn on the job and learn from others who have more experience than you.”

Most city councillors are not supportive of the plan 

But many city councillors don’t agree. On X, Capital Ward Coun. Shawn Menard said it was a “poor decision for quality of life and for productivity.”

On Facebook, Orléans South-Navan Coun. Catherine Kitts agreed and said she was “caught by surprise” with the news. 

“Let me be clear: this decision was made entirely by the City Manager. Under the Municipal Act, it is the City Manager—not City Council—that determines how best to organize and direct the public service,” said Kitts. “At no time did any member of Council have input into this policy, nor were we consulted prior to the announcement. No votes were taken.” 

The east end councillor said she’s worried about how the increased amount of traffic on roads will impact people’s ability to get around. Kitts said the roads are already congested, transit options are limited or non-existent, and solutions in the Transportation Master Plan could be decades away. 

Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Jessica Bradley submitted an inquiry on Wednesday, requesting transparency on the rationale and details regarding any alignment with council priorities. 

Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper also touched on the issue in his newsletter, saying he’s disappointed and that it’s a “short-sighted” decision. 

“As we learned more from StatsCan this week about longer commute times, adding even more traffic congestion is the wrong direction. I’ve been struck when visiting Ottawa’s suburbs at how vibrant local businesses have become serving work-from-home customers,” said Leiper. “Office workers get to spend more time with their families without long commutes. Taking that away weakens our neighbourhood main streets and undermines communities that have finally started to thrive.”

Leiper, who is planning to run for Mayor, said the decision to send workers back to the office full-time is counter to the city’s Official Plan, which aims to build “more complete communities”, while rebuilding a new vibrant downtown that’s still bustling with people after 5:00 pm. 

“It also ignores the reality that Ottawa’s public transit system is already unreliable for too many, with inconsistent bus service and a lack of dependable options for those outside the core. Ordering workers to take on significantly more costs in their household budgets with more and longer commutes is a blow to affordability. Doug Ford’s government is making the wrong choice for Ontario workers, but it’s not incumbent on the City of Ottawa to make the same mistake,” he said.