OTTAWA | The federal government has been in open conflict with its employees since it demanded that they return to the office three days a week. The problem is that it has no idea of the impact of teleworking on productivity and services since it does not collect any data on this subject.
“During the pandemic, there was a lot of hiring. How do we know that we needed to do so much if we don’t evaluate what these people are doing? Clearly, the selection criterion is not to maximize services to citizens,” denounces Étienne Charbonneau, professor at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP).
Etienne Charbonneau
Photo provided by ENAP
For the four public service unions, teleworking “is a proven model that improves the productivity and well-being of workers”.
Conversely, the Treasury Board Secretariat indicates to the Journal that the increase in office presence aims to “increase organizational performance”, with the aim of “ensuring the effectiveness of the public service in carrying out its mandate and delivering services”.
Navigate blindly
Who’s telling the truth? There is no conclusive data to determine this, replies Mr. Charbonneau.
His team sent 168 access to information requests to obtain data to assess the effect of teleworking on the productivity of federal civil servants. After months of efforts and hundreds of pages of answers, she got none.
The parliamentary budget director, Yves Giroux, who also questioned the government, confirms that “there is no performance measure for civil servants nor any organization that measures this productivity in a standardized or credible way.”
However, without a tool to measure effectiveness, it is impossible to identify the problems and resolve them, deplores Mr. Giroux.
The situation is such that some departments do not even know how many of their employees are teleworking and when they are or how much office space they need to accommodate those who come, indicates Mr. Charbonneau.
In addition, the Treasury Board Secretariat indicates to the Journal not compile data regarding disciplinary measures imposed on civil servants in the event of a decline in performance or lack of attendance while working remotely.
No significant impact
However, the federal government is not the only public employer to navigate blindly. The ENAP team also contacted the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The latter is the only one that has carried out pilot projects to compare the productivity of teams in teleworking, in hybrid mode or entirely in teleworking. The exercise demonstrated that the workplace did not have a significant impact on productivity, says Mr. Charbonneau.
In Quebec, an evaluation of the teleworking policy was to be made public in the spring. It is now expected that it will be done by the end of the year.
