The President of Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) says working from home could be a viable option for a great deal of Federal Public Servants in the future, even after COVID-19 lockdowns are eased.
Debi Daviau (pictured) noted that Ottawa tech giant, Shopify had announced its offices would remain closed until at least 2021, but most of its workforce would transition to remote work permanently.
“This is an idea that could work for many in the Federal Government’s workforce,” Ms Daviau said.
“It’s a virtual world and we’ve proven our ability to be productive while teleworking, so I think this should be an option for Public Servants,” she said.
Ms Daviau said the Government’s direction on the issue remained unclear, but for workers who had to transition to working from home in the midst of the pandemic, it had proven successful.
“Productivity is always much better when people are able to work in flexible working situations that suit them,” she said.
“I think the only concern would be burnout; people are actually putting in a lot more than their regular working day when they’re working from home.”
She said some workers, including front-line Public Servants or those who dealt with sensitive Government files, could not work from home; however, the vast majority would take the option if given the chance.
“Our members are in no rush to return to their office buildings because they still have concerns about workplace safety,” Ms Daviau said.
“We don’t feel confident that adequate health and safety measures have been put in place,” she said.
“We don’t see the reason to throw caution to the wind at this point and return people to the workplace when they’ve been so productive working from home.”
Ms Daviau said the Government could save on floor space by limiting the number of Public Servants who worked in office buildings, which would make them easier to clean and offer better physical distancing between workers.
Ottawa, 25 May 2020
