Premier Doug Ford's government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January
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Dude was getting lonely not being able to micromanage the lives of government employees.
Text of the article at the time of posting:
Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time
Current mandate of 3 days a week has been provincial government policy since April 2022
Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2025 7:17 AM PDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.
It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.
Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office.
“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.
“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic.”
The news follows on the heels of announcements by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall.
‘Everyone needs to go back to work,’ says Ford
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.
Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo obtained by CBC News that the decision “is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors.”
The province’s move comes just two weeks after it reached a new collective agreement with AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service.
The province was “hellbent on removing” employees’ options for remote work during those negotiations, says AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer.
“I am incensed by this morning’s announcement,” said Bulmer in a message to union members. “We have shown that we can, and should, be treated as the capable, trustworthy professionals we are — professionals capable of working for Ontario from anywhere.”
Bulmer says there should be no changes for provincial employees who have a formal, signed agreement allowing them to work remotely, and says AMAPCEO members who want to work remotely should make an official request now.
Officials from OPSEU, the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, said they will issue a statement in response to the changes later on Thursday.
The provincial government’s single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.
Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city’s downtown.
Federal government employees are currently subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior reporter
Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.
With files from Sarah Petz
I really don’t get that mentoring question. I’ve been mentoring employees remotely for over a decade. I’ve found it’s useful to have a few in-person meetups, but most work and career growth can very much be done remotely for any job involving information only.
Obviously any job requiring physical manipulation of objects is going to have to be on site at least some of the time.
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“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Just because you are personally incapable of growth, don’t inflict it on the rest of us!
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
Aren’t politians meant to represent the will of the people? Doug’s always listened to his corporate buddies though.
Also what’s wrong with a hybrid model or let individual teams decide. I can get all the learning needed in 2 days each week and the rest of the week can be over teams if needed. It’s a really good schedule for training
-
Dude was getting lonely not being able to micromanage the lives of government employees.
Text of the article at the time of posting:
Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time
Current mandate of 3 days a week has been provincial government policy since April 2022
Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2025 7:17 AM PDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.
It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.
Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office.
“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.
“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic.”
The news follows on the heels of announcements by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall.
‘Everyone needs to go back to work,’ says Ford
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.
Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo obtained by CBC News that the decision “is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors.”
The province’s move comes just two weeks after it reached a new collective agreement with AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service.
The province was “hellbent on removing” employees’ options for remote work during those negotiations, says AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer.
“I am incensed by this morning’s announcement,” said Bulmer in a message to union members. “We have shown that we can, and should, be treated as the capable, trustworthy professionals we are — professionals capable of working for Ontario from anywhere.”
Bulmer says there should be no changes for provincial employees who have a formal, signed agreement allowing them to work remotely, and says AMAPCEO members who want to work remotely should make an official request now.
Officials from OPSEU, the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, said they will issue a statement in response to the changes later on Thursday.
The provincial government’s single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.
Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city’s downtown.
Federal government employees are currently subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior reporter
Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.
With files from Sarah Petz
Send them the bill for the commute time and mileage.
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Dude was getting lonely not being able to micromanage the lives of government employees.
Text of the article at the time of posting:
Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time
Current mandate of 3 days a week has been provincial government policy since April 2022
Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2025 7:17 AM PDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.
It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.
Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office.
“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.
“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic.”
The news follows on the heels of announcements by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall.
‘Everyone needs to go back to work,’ says Ford
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.
Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo obtained by CBC News that the decision “is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors.”
The province’s move comes just two weeks after it reached a new collective agreement with AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service.
The province was “hellbent on removing” employees’ options for remote work during those negotiations, says AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer.
“I am incensed by this morning’s announcement,” said Bulmer in a message to union members. “We have shown that we can, and should, be treated as the capable, trustworthy professionals we are — professionals capable of working for Ontario from anywhere.”
Bulmer says there should be no changes for provincial employees who have a formal, signed agreement allowing them to work remotely, and says AMAPCEO members who want to work remotely should make an official request now.
Officials from OPSEU, the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, said they will issue a statement in response to the changes later on Thursday.
The provincial government’s single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.
Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city’s downtown.
Federal government employees are currently subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior reporter
Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.
With files from Sarah Petz
I hope they resign en-masse.
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Send them the bill for the commute time and mileage.
Or just leave your house when work time starts and leave work early to account for traveling home.
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Send them the bill for the commute time and mileage.
You know this wouldn’t ever be a mandate anywhere if we just make commute part of the work hours. Not even paying for parking, gas or transit. Just the time. All companies would immediately back down and order you to wfh.
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You know this wouldn’t ever be a mandate anywhere if we just make commute part of the work hours. Not even paying for parking, gas or transit. Just the time. All companies would immediately back down and order you to wfh.
They’d just make you live in the office.
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Send them the bill for the commute time and mileage.
Or get another job. Many companies are doing this now. My company is doing this. I have to be at work 5 days a week anyway so it doesn’t matter to me but it was like this before COVID and companies are paying rent with few people there so they want them in. Find a company that will have you at home. It’s getting a lot harder now.
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“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Just because you are personally incapable of growth, don’t inflict it on the rest of us!
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
Aren’t politians meant to represent the will of the people? Doug’s always listened to his corporate buddies though.
Damn… I guess I never mentored anyone. Got paid for it though!
Edit: slack and video calls. Technically not phone.
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Also what’s wrong with a hybrid model or let individual teams decide. I can get all the learning needed in 2 days each week and the rest of the week can be over teams if needed. It’s a really good schedule for training
Nothing.
This is so Starbucks (and others) can keep all their stores open instead of having to close the ones that are every other block because there’s less people in the office.
-
Dude was getting lonely not being able to micromanage the lives of government employees.
Text of the article at the time of posting:
Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time
Current mandate of 3 days a week has been provincial government policy since April 2022
Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2025 7:17 AM PDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.
It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.
Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office.
“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.
“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic.”
The news follows on the heels of announcements by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall.
‘Everyone needs to go back to work,’ says Ford
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.
Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo obtained by CBC News that the decision “is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors.”
The province’s move comes just two weeks after it reached a new collective agreement with AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service.
The province was “hellbent on removing” employees’ options for remote work during those negotiations, says AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer.
“I am incensed by this morning’s announcement,” said Bulmer in a message to union members. “We have shown that we can, and should, be treated as the capable, trustworthy professionals we are — professionals capable of working for Ontario from anywhere.”
Bulmer says there should be no changes for provincial employees who have a formal, signed agreement allowing them to work remotely, and says AMAPCEO members who want to work remotely should make an official request now.
Officials from OPSEU, the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, said they will issue a statement in response to the changes later on Thursday.
The provincial government’s single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.
Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city’s downtown.
Federal government employees are currently subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior reporter
Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.
With files from Sarah Petz
Fuck Doug Ford.
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Dude was getting lonely not being able to micromanage the lives of government employees.
Text of the article at the time of posting:
Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time
Current mandate of 3 days a week has been provincial government policy since April 2022
Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2025 7:17 AM PDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.
It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.
Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office.
“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.
“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic.”
The news follows on the heels of announcements by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall.
‘Everyone needs to go back to work,’ says Ford
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.
Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo obtained by CBC News that the decision “is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors.”
The province’s move comes just two weeks after it reached a new collective agreement with AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service.
The province was “hellbent on removing” employees’ options for remote work during those negotiations, says AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer.
“I am incensed by this morning’s announcement,” said Bulmer in a message to union members. “We have shown that we can, and should, be treated as the capable, trustworthy professionals we are — professionals capable of working for Ontario from anywhere.”
Bulmer says there should be no changes for provincial employees who have a formal, signed agreement allowing them to work remotely, and says AMAPCEO members who want to work remotely should make an official request now.
Officials from OPSEU, the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, said they will issue a statement in response to the changes later on Thursday.
The provincial government’s single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.
Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city’s downtown.
Federal government employees are currently subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior reporter
Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.
With files from Sarah Petz
It’s not “go back to work”
I work remotely and get a lot done. I do way more than my peers.
It’s wait in traffic unpaid, but a shitty lunch, drink shitty coffee, poop in someone else’s toilet with neighbours, not have access to all my reference books or have to lug them around, then I get to work with a shittier chair, stare at a cheap fuzzy monitor that bugs my eyes, and not have any privacy or quiet to focus.
There was one time I had a corner office, with a door, and a stocked bar, and was allowed beers at lunch (I would class problems as zero, one, or two beer problems). But everything since then has been awful open plans or hot desking, and the beer has all dried up.
My home office wins by a mile.
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Nothing.
This is so Starbucks (and others) can keep all their stores open instead of having to close the ones that are every other block because there’s less people in the office.
Which, as another commenter noted, is ridiculous. If you can’t run a functional office with work from home employees, you’re really just showcasing how piss poor of a manager you are. Can it be turned around by a younger generation stepping in to show how its done? I’d sure like to think so.
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Dude was getting lonely not being able to micromanage the lives of government employees.
Text of the article at the time of posting:
Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time
Current mandate of 3 days a week has been provincial government policy since April 2022
Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2025 7:17 AM PDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.
It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.
Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office.
“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.
“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic.”
The news follows on the heels of announcements by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall.
‘Everyone needs to go back to work,’ says Ford
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.
Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo obtained by CBC News that the decision “is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors.”
The province’s move comes just two weeks after it reached a new collective agreement with AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service.
The province was “hellbent on removing” employees’ options for remote work during those negotiations, says AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer.
“I am incensed by this morning’s announcement,” said Bulmer in a message to union members. “We have shown that we can, and should, be treated as the capable, trustworthy professionals we are — professionals capable of working for Ontario from anywhere.”
Bulmer says there should be no changes for provincial employees who have a formal, signed agreement allowing them to work remotely, and says AMAPCEO members who want to work remotely should make an official request now.
Officials from OPSEU, the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, said they will issue a statement in response to the changes later on Thursday.
The provincial government’s single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.
Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city’s downtown.
Federal government employees are currently subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior reporter
Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.
With files from Sarah Petz
Gosh I’ve never seen Doug ford legislate in my presence, how can he do his job by television? What a lazy shithead, he needs to get to work, by being in my specific presence. Genius fuck.
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I really don’t get that mentoring question. I’ve been mentoring employees remotely for over a decade. I’ve found it’s useful to have a few in-person meetups, but most work and career growth can very much be done remotely for any job involving information only.
Obviously any job requiring physical manipulation of objects is going to have to be on site at least some of the time.
I think a normal job your mentor session plan works. Its only more useful for in office continuous contact when it is almost like an apprenticeship type role, where you have to be directing and teaching most of the time
-
Dude was getting lonely not being able to micromanage the lives of government employees.
Text of the article at the time of posting:
Ontario ordering public servants back into office full time
Current mandate of 3 days a week has been provincial government policy since April 2022
Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2025 7:17 AM PDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January.
It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.
Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in-office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
Ford says he believes government employees are more productive when they are in the office.
“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You can’t. You’ve got to look at them eye to eye,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.
Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.
“There’s hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic.”
The news follows on the heels of announcements by four of Canada’s big banks — RBC, Scotiabank, BMO and TD — that staff at their Toronto headquarters must spend at least four days a week in the office, effective this fall.
‘Everyone needs to go back to work,’ says Ford
Ford said his government wasn’t influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he’d spoken with agree “everyone needs to go back to work.”
“We look forward to having everyone back; we’re very grateful for the work they do. We have the best public service in Canada and I appreciate the work they do every day,” he said.
Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo obtained by CBC News that the decision “is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors.”
The province’s move comes just two weeks after it reached a new collective agreement with AMAPCEO, which represents some 14,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service.
The province was “hellbent on removing” employees’ options for remote work during those negotiations, says AMAPCEO president Dave Bulmer.
“I am incensed by this morning’s announcement,” said Bulmer in a message to union members. “We have shown that we can, and should, be treated as the capable, trustworthy professionals we are — professionals capable of working for Ontario from anywhere.”
Bulmer says there should be no changes for provincial employees who have a formal, signed agreement allowing them to work remotely, and says AMAPCEO members who want to work remotely should make an official request now.
Officials from OPSEU, the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, said they will issue a statement in response to the changes later on Thursday.
The provincial government’s single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.
Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city’s downtown.
Federal government employees are currently subject to a three-days-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed last September. There’s been some evidence since that the policy is not being strictly enforced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Senior reporter
Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.
With files from Sarah Petz
I don’t work for government but some day I will piss on his grave. And Mike Harris’ too.
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I think a normal job your mentor session plan works. Its only more useful for in office continuous contact when it is almost like an apprenticeship type role, where you have to be directing and teaching most of the time
If it’s an information job, that can be done online too. You can do screen sharing, document sharing, etc. and work on things together while in different places.
I’ve spent hours working cooperatively on a shared screen with both parties using their headsets.
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If it’s an information job, that can be done online too. You can do screen sharing, document sharing, etc. and work on things together while in different places.
I’ve spent hours working cooperatively on a shared screen with both parties using their headsets.
Yeah, I have done this too, as well as online trainer sessions for 5 day courses, but I find in person is better training because you can read body language better for your students understanding, and see their screen to see their struggles that they may not be sharing in an online session. You also get more impromptu conversation in person that leads to deeper understanding on technical work. But for awareness I’m not advocating back to work, I have worked from home for 15 years.
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Yeah, I have done this too, as well as online trainer sessions for 5 day courses, but I find in person is better training because you can read body language better for your students understanding, and see their screen to see their struggles that they may not be sharing in an online session. You also get more impromptu conversation in person that leads to deeper understanding on technical work. But for awareness I’m not advocating back to work, I have worked from home for 15 years.
I had the advantage of working out of an office for years while doing remote training/mentoring. What I found was that different techniques were required online, but one wasn’t “better” than the other, just different.
Of course, different people thrive in the different environments too; there were some people who needed the in-person interaction and eventually moved on or were let go. And there were others who wouldn’t have lasted in an in-person environment who are now top performers working remotely.
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As a tax payer, fuck this guy for wasting resources. As a person who drives, fuck this guy for making traffic worse. As a human, fuck this guy for making the lives of my fellow citizens worse.
Fuck this guy. Who can I call or email to say this is not ok?
He needs to traffic to keep getting worse so he can keep not fixing it by building tunnels and destroying bike lanes.
