{"id":14242,"date":"2025-01-26T16:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T16:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/public-service-productivity-study-group-not-looking-at-remote-work-says-member-national\/"},"modified":"2025-01-26T16:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T16:04:06","slug":"public-service-productivity-study-group-not-looking-at-remote-work-says-member-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/public-service-productivity-study-group-not-looking-at-remote-work-says-member-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Public service productivity study group not looking at remote work, says member – National"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The working group tasked with measuring productivity within Canada\u2019s federal public service has not looked at remote work, one of its members says.<\/p>\n

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Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress and one of the group\u2019s seven members, said remote work \u201cis not part of anything that we\u2019ve discussed at this moment\u201d and she doesn\u2019t know if the topic will be part of the study.<\/p>\n

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, which is behind the study, would not share details about whether the group will look at remote work, despite it becoming a hot topic among public servants after many were required to return to the office at least three days a week in September.<\/p>\n

Treasury Board spokesperson Martin Potvin said the group \u201cwill explore a wide range of issues and opportunities\u201d based on members\u2019 areas of expertise.<\/p>\n

Maria Gintova, an assistant professor at McMaster University\u2019s department of political science, said the group should be taking remote work into account.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s an integral component of any kind of productivity study or any kind of future human resource planning,\u201d said Gintova, who has researched the Ontario provincial and the federal public service. \u201cIt\u2019s happening, like it or not, and the lack of strategic consideration here will \u2026 come back and bite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gintova said she was not necessarily surprised the working group wasn\u2019t looking at remote work. She highlighted a recent study in the International Public Management Journal that found only eight out of 56 departments in Canada\u2019s federal and provincial governments conducted \u201cthorough analyses of employee productivity, effectiveness, efficiency, or equity with telework prior to implementing their post-pandemic telework policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The study group has held two meetings so far, with several more planned throughout the winter.<\/p>\n

A final report with advice and recommendations is expected to be delivered to the president of the Treasury Board by the end of March.<\/p>\n

Former Treasury Board president Anita Anand launched the government-led task force last year.<\/p>\n

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She said the group would look at issues including the uses of technology, the size of the public service, the relationship between the public sector and the private sector and overall declining productivity.<\/p>\n