Last week, with the flip of a switch, Pontiac mayors voted unanimously to end the MRC’s work-from-home policy. There was no consultation with its 40 or so employees, not even a warning that this would be coming. Most learned of the news the following morning. Now, staff have until the end of April to get their ducks in order so that they can be in the office full-time.
As was made clear in the resolution deciding this change, the original telework policy introduced in late 2022 that has for several years allowed MRC employees to work from home up to two days a week stated the employer had to give no more than five working days notice if it wished to end this practice. The mayors have decided to give employees a month to rejig their lives so they can accommodate this new policy.
This idea is not new. Warden Jane Toller said as much when asked why the MRC was doing this now, pointing to the federal government’s recent decision to bring public servants back to the office four days a week, as of July. Other governments are moving in similar directions, all citing a belief that in-person office work increases productivity and improves workplace morale.
The MRC resolution passed Thursday parrots these reasons, claiming the change is being made to “promote team cohesion, a sense of belonging, motivation, and availability.”
Maybe, hopefully, this policy will have this effect. We all want our tax dollars to be used efficiently. But whether a forced return to work will in fact achieve this is unclear.
A study published in Nature magazine in 2024 makes a case for hybrid work. A Stanford University researcher followed 1,600 workers to understand how working from home a couple days a week affected their performance. He found workers on a hybrid model were just as productive as those in the office full-time, and resignations fell by 33 per cent among workers who shifted from being in the office full-time to working a couple days from home. But that’s just one study.
One generally understood practice to improve team cohesion, employee morale and sense of belonging is to consult them on decisions that will have a big impact on their lives, which was not done in this case.
The MRC’s abrupt approach to implementing this policy may seem like elected officials standing up to protect taxpayer dollars, but it is short-sighted.
It’s no secret the Pontiac is plagued with recruitment challenges. Squeezed between the nation’s capital and the Ontario border, there are plenty of well-paying, even better-paying jobs within an hour’s commute. We’ve seen the effect this has had on our healthcare system.
The MRC itself has had its fair share of turnover and vacant positions. Its land use planner position was vacant for many months before it was filled with someone from Gatineau, there is fairly regular turnover in the economic development department, and when the finance director and assistant director general positions opened at the MRC, they were filled with Otter Lake’s mayor and DG. Pontiac’s pool of people interested and trained to work as public servants is not massive. Now the MRC’s communications advisor has resigned because guess what, he found a better job in Ottawa.
People can harp all they want on how much MRC staff get paid, or question what exactly it is they do, but these are local jobs that employ local people. In the best case scenario, the MRC employs several dozen people who have grown up in this area, who know it intimately, and who care about making it a better place for us all to live. Let’s not send these people packing. A return-to-office policy is one thing, its merits debatable. But the respect employees are shown through its implementation is what will matter in the long run.
