The city of Ottawa moves to a ‘hybrid’ office model, but without a single remote option – Ottawa | The Canadian News

Municipal government employees in Ottawa will have a degree of flexibility in their work environments after the COVID-19 pandemic, but will not be able to work from home indefinitely, according to city manager Steve Kanellakos.

Speaking to reporters after city hall on Wednesday, Kanellakos said the city is in the process of gradually returning to work in person at its main administrative buildings where just over 4,000 people work. About half of those employees are already back in the office in some capacity, he said.

Employees located outside of City Hall or other municipal buildings on Constellation Drive and Ben Franklin Place will continue to have “flexibility” after the pandemic, Kanellakos said.

“We are moving toward a hybrid workforce, there is no question about that,” he said.

This means working with individual employees to assess how often they will need to be in the office and if they have a reception space or need a fixed desk.

However, this does not mean that employees will have the option of working from home alone or some other remote option.

Kanellakos said workers are expected to come into the office as their managers need events, meetings and other collaborations on site.

“It will not mean that people will be able to stay home permanently and will never be able to enter our municipal buildings or work,” he said.

“I certainly do not support that, that there would be this permanence, you never have to show up or you can go to Jamaica … and never have to enter the office.”

Kanellakos also noted that the vast majority of the city’s workforce, about 75 percent, have been working in person during the pandemic, he said. This includes employees of parks and recreation, waterworks, and other departments that heavily require on-site work.

While approximately 96 percent of Ottawa’s municipal workforce is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, some 592 city workers were placed on leave on November 15 for failing to comply with the city’s mandatory vaccination policy.

“That’s tough medicine, but it’s the right thing to do in my opinion,” Mayor Jim Watson said during Wednesday’s press conference.

Watson, who has said she is pressuring the chairwoman of the Treasury Board and Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Fortier to bring federal civil servants back to their offices downtown, also said she is working with the city clerk’s office to return to in-person council meetings in the new year.