Ottawa city councillors have voted for municipal employees to return to the office for five-days a week starting next year, but maintained that hybrid work arrangements will continue to be accommodated on an individual-by-individual basis.
In a split vote, councillors — some of whom appeared virtually — voted 15 to 10 in favour of a motion brought forward by Coun. Cathy Curry (Kanata North) to accept the back-to-office order issued by city manager Wendy Stephanson.
“I don’t think it’s fair to characterize this as ordering our employees back to office five-days a week,” said Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, who supported the motion. “What’s happening here is a simple shift.”
“Like before, individual employees will be able to work with their managers… [and] flexibility will not be unreasonably denied.”
Curry’s motion replaced a pre-existing proposal from Coun. Jeff Leiper (Kitchissippi) that called for the order to be rescinded, which would have retained the current two-days a week standard. Her motion was subsequently amended by Coun. Jessica Bradley (Gloucester-Southgate) to incorporate language ensuring Stephanson would ask senior leadership to maintain hybrid work structures “wherever possible.”
Prior to the vote, council engaged in an over two-hour long debate that saw several councillors balancing a desire to support city employees that utilize a hybrid work model with concerns around restricting the city manager’s authority.
“No one here… has said we think five days in office is the way to go,” said Curry. “Because no one believes that.”
“What is actually happening here in this motion is we are clarifying that, yes, it is possible for some employees to come back and work five days in office, but not all.”
In response to concerns from councillors, Stephanson repeatedly emphasized that the city will preserve “flexibilities” currently offered to municipal staff and, ultimately, each employee’s work situation will be determined through conversations between said employee and their respective managers.
“The overriding goal… is about improving culture, improving collaboration and building these relationships across the organization,” Stephanson said on Wednesday. “[But] it will be based on an individualized, personal discussion that employees can have with their supervisor.”
The concept of introducing a broader return-to-office mandate, but continuing to offer accommodations for remote work led some, like Coun. Shawn Menard (Capital), to ask what exactly the order sought to accomplish.
“If there’s flexibility offered…, then what is the change you are making?” said Menard to Stephanson. “This decision makes no sense.”
“It smacks of a political decision made one week after [Ontario Premier] Doug Ford encouraged municipalities to make this choice.”
The timing of the order was raised by multiple councillors, many of whom contended that the premier’s recent advocacy for back-to-office mandates had influenced the city manager’s decision — which Stephanson categorically denied.
Other councillors insisted that the overarching question concerned whether or not councillors were prepared to make a potentially precedent-setting decision to override Stephanson’s directive.
The council’s clerk told officials that she was unaware of a past vote that had explicitly restricted the city manager’s delegated authority.
“[During the COVID-19 pandemic,] we didn’t vote to send them home, so we shouldn’t be voting on bringing them back to the office,” said Coun. David Brown (Rideau-Jock). “It is not appropriate.”
“I agree employees should be the focus… but it should not be up to us [to decide] who works from home, who works from the office, and how that is rolled out.”
According to Stephanson, approximately 93 per cent of city employees are already on site five days per week, meaning the order is only expected to affect around 1,200 staff members.
She added that each municipal department will bring forward a transition plan that will guide the policy’s implementation.
The change will officially take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
