Federal Return-to-Office Plan Faces Space and Logic Questions, Brokers Say
Ottawa commercial real estate brokers are raising serious questions about the federal government's latest return-to-office directive, arguing that the mathematics simply do not add up when compared with parallel commitments to dramatically reduce office space.
Conflicting Mandates Create Confusion
As of July 6, most federal public servants will be required to work from the office four days per week, with executives returning for a full five-day week starting in May. This represents a significant increase from the current three-day requirement. Simultaneously, the government has publicly pledged to reduce its federal office portfolio by fifty percent over the next decade, primarily by listing properties for sale. However, current projections indicate the government is only on track to achieve a reduction of approximately one-third.
"There's just no math that works here," stated Jared Jenicek, a senior real estate broker with Ottawa-based firm Real Strategy. Jenicek, who represents commercial tenants in the region, is not alone in his assessment. Other brokers and public service unions share similar concerns about how the government intends to accommodate a full workforce under these contradictory pressures.
Treasury Board Sends Mixed Signals on Capacity
Since announcing the new policy earlier this month, the Treasury Board has provided inconsistent information regarding whether sufficient physical workspace exists to meet the four-day mandate. During the week of February 16, Treasury Board communications staff indicated to Radio-Canada that some offices may lack enough workstations to fulfill the July requirement.
Subsequently, Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali told CBC that he "think(s)" there will be adequate space. The Treasury Board did not respond to specific questions from the Ottawa Citizen by the time of publication, leaving a critical information vacuum.
"The lack of clarity from the government is frustrating," said Shawn Hamilton, principal at Proveras Commercial Realty. Hamilton, who assists commercial tenants with office lease negotiations, criticized the government's communications strategy as "suspect."
A History of Unfulfilled Promises and Current Struggles
Hamilton pointed to a long pattern of federal announcements that have not materialized. "We've had a city where the federal government for the last 25 years has been preaching gloom and doom in terms of compressing their footprint—a compression that never came," he explained. "Then they abandoned the downtown core. Then they were never coming back. Now they're coming back... I don't know why they make the statements they do."
For months, public service unions have reported that many offices are already struggling to accommodate workers under the current three-day-per-week model. A significant point of contention is the online desk booking system, part of a broader "hoteling" strategy the government initiated years ago, which many employees find frustrating and inefficient.
Unions and industry observers are now faced with the difficult task of reconciling seemingly conflicting numbers and statements to understand the true state of federal office capacity as the July deadline approaches.
