Instead of enduring a commute to downtown government offices, some federal government employees in Ottawa wait nearly an hour each morning for coveted spots in co-working spaces on the city’s outskirts.
On a recent weekday morning, employees lined up outside a coworking office on Place Orleans, each hoping to snag one of about 30 workspaces available on a first-come, first-served basis. Office opens at 7am
Some people sat on folding chairs waiting for the door to open, while others listened to music or knitted.
The Orleans store is one of six GCcoworking offices in Ottawa and Gatineau, with a combined capacity of 684 people. Most workspaces are reserved in advance, but some are available for daily walk-ins.
Most facilities opened in 2019 Public Services Procurement Canada (PSPC) Pilot ProjectLong before the coronavirus pandemic forced civil servants to work from home. We have seven additional coworking offices in cities across the country, including Vancouver, Toronto, and Laval, Kennedy.
According to PSPC’s website, the office is “designed as an activity-based workplace with individual and collaborative work points to foster collaboration, innovation, and productivity.”
Each location is equipped with the latest tools and technology such as Wi-Fi and video conferencing services to increase efficiency. Workspaces are also fully accessible, with electric height-adjustable desks and electric doors. It is equipped with facilities such as Braille signs.
Rules vary by department, but PSPC says employees are allowed to spend one day out of every three designated office days a week in a coworking space like the one in Orleans.
The location where employees are allowed to work will be determined “based on operational requirements,” the Finance Committee said.
Employees are currently required to work in the office three days a week (four days a week for executives), but alternative arrangements may be made at the discretion of the department head. This includes a “mixed approach” in which employees work one or two “fixed on-site work days” and work the rest “at the employee’s discretion,” the Treasury Board told CBC. Ta.
Another option for workers
Coworking spaces offer another option for civil servants lucky enough to get a desk.
For Joanie Campagna, a civil servant who lives about 60 kilometers from her downtown office, the Place d’Orléans site saves her from the worst parts of her daily commute, especially getting home to her children. I’ll give it to you.
“It’s much faster to leave here than to get stuck in traffic and leave downtown,” she said in French.
Some said they were saving money on gas and parking. Most declined to speak on the record for fear that their comments would be interpreted as criticism of their employers’ evolving hybrid labor policies. However, many agreed that there is a lack of available office space on the outskirts of the metropolitan area.
Coworking spaces are “often packed,” said PSPC spokeswoman Nicole Allen.
Allen said these locations are in no way intended to replace federal offices, but are “additional options” for employees.
“We plan to open other facilities eventually.” [locations] “In the long term, our goal is to provide federal civil servants with an affordable shared office solution,” Allen added in an emailed statement to Radio-Canada.
Union says line-up ‘unacceptable’
Allen said PSPC is also open to contracting with private companies to provide joint work options for federal employees.
In 2022, the federal government signed a more than $13.8 million contract with LAUFT to “deliver office space on-demand and flexibly, as opposed to traditional methods of renting or selling.”
Bruce Roy, national president of the Government Services Union, said it was “absolutely ridiculous that people are lining up to go to work” and called the current situation “unacceptable”.
Roy said this speaks to the government’s lack of preparation before ordering workers back to offices in September.
“We improvised on the backs of civil servants,” he said. “We’re talking about returning to work, but… [in reality] We’re talking about a return to the city centre. ”
Roy also pointed to the current unreliability of Ottawa’s public transportation system and called on the federal government to create more office space in the suburbs without the help of the private sector.
