Orléans MP Marie-France Lalonde believes her government could be more flexible in how federal workers return to their offices.

In its most recent directive, the Treasury Board announced that managers and other executives will be required to work onsite five days a week, while other federal employees will have to be in the office a minimum of four days a week as of July 6.

Federal employees had been required to return to their offices three days a week since September 2024.

Lalonde says she supports a hybrid model that allows federal employees to work closer to home through community-based solutions such as making use of the co-working and shared workplace space at Place Orléans.

“I have heard directly from many local public servants about their concerns such as commuting times, family responsibilities, financial pressures, and the need for mean-ingful flexibility. These are real issues affect-ing thousands of families in Orléans,” Lalonde write in her most recent column.

“That is why I strongly support community-based solutions such as the co-working space at Place Orléans. These hubs provide an opportunity for public servants to perform their essential work closer to home while maintaining the benefits of onsite collaboration. They represent a practical, balanced approach that respects both operational needs and the realities faced by workers.”

The Treasury Board comes at a time when the morale in some departments of the federal civil service couldn’t be any lower. Over the past several weeks, thousands of federal employees have been given notice that their positions maybe eliminated by the end of the year, if not sooner.

A government program and spending review is looking to eliminate about 40,000 public service jobs by 2029.

The first round of job cuts will occur by the end of the year. A government website providing data on workforce reductions as of Feb. 1 shows the government is targeting a reduction of 8,706 employee positions and 465 executive positions across almost 30 departments through the workforce adjustment or career transition processes.

Besides being worried about whether or not they will even have a job to go to 12 months from now, federal workers in Orléans are also leery of having to go back to their downtown offices four days a week while the east end extension of the O-Train remains incomplete and OC Transpo has been struggling to maintain is standard service level for weeks now.

Lalonde has allies in the Liberal caucus in fellow MPs Bruce Fanjoy in the Carleton riding and Jenna Sudds in Kanata, who is also displeased about how the government is implementing it’s return-to-office policy.

Sudds recently told Treasury Board president Shafqat Ali that the Liberal government needs to exercise “meaningful flexibility” in implementing the policy dur-ing a meeting of the House Government Operations and Estimates Committee.

In a statement posted on social media Fanjoy wrote, “I believe Canada is better served by a hybrid model that balances a mix of in-office and remote work. The right balance is flexible and depends on circumstances. Done well, a hybrid model reduces the cost of government and benefits workers and all Canadians.”

Most federal employees began working from home during the COVID pandemic. Many found that working from home saved them money in not having to commute to work and that it afforded them a better quality of life because the time they might normally spend commuting to and from work could be spent with their families.

It wasn’t until September 2024 that they were required to return to their offices three days a week..