The City Work-At-Home Compromise: LO

10/09/2025

Last Wednesday, city council discussed and voted on an update to worksite arrangements for municipal office employees.

The city manager’s initial communication regarding the policy change in late-August was poor in both its deployment and messaging. I, and many others, first learned about it on Reddit and it was written like a directive for all the city’s office employees to return to the office five days a week.

As background, 85 per cent of the city’s workforce reports on site due to the nature of their work. This includes bus operators, public works crews, front counter staff, and wastewater technicians, among others, all of whom have had no changes in worksite arrangements, even during the pandemic. The policy applies to the remaining 15 per cent.

—

This newsletter excerpt from Barrhaven East Councillor Wilson Lo is courtesy of the city-wide community group Your Applewood Acres (And Beyond) Neighbours

—

Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper tabled a motion a week or so after the city manager’s memo to reverse it. I voiced public support for the motion as I am supportive of hybrid working arrangements and the information available at the time suggested it was a binary vote between hybrid and five days at the office.

A few days before last week’s council meeting, then extensively at council, the city manager clarified the intent of the policy. I still had some doubts given the shakiness of her first few responses, but I certainly understood it was no longer a binary vote between hybrid and five days at the office.

Most importantly, both Leiper’s motion and the city manager’s policy focused on preserving the flexibility city office employees I’ve spoken to wanted.

The difference was the approach. The city manager’s policy set a new five-day in-office baseline, which can be opted out of down to two days (the current minimum), while Leiper’s motion starts at the current two-day minimum with additional in-office days opted into.

Decisions on actual in-office days would be made at the supervisor or team-lead level, rather than by middle and upper management, with further reasonable accommodations available.

During the discussion, Gloucester-Southgate Councillor Jessica Bradley introduced an amendment to add prescriptive language strengthening keeping hybrid arrangements as much as possible. The amendment was accepted and integrated into the policy wording.

—

Are Our Taxes Too Low? BLUESKY

—

Both the clarification and the amendment were enough for me to comfortably support and ultimately vote in favour of the city manager’s policy as well as Leiper’s motion.

Had no clarification been given or if it remained a binary decision between hybrid and five days, I would have supported Leiper’s motion only.

The new policy takes effect January 1, 2026, and applies to city employees only.