Quebec orders employees back to the office: but hybrid trend may be here to stay

On Tuesday, Quebec followed the lead of other employers across Canada by ordering its employees back to the office three days a week.

France-Élaine Duranceau, the minister responsible for government administration and state efficiency, said it was a necessary and reasonable move to improve productivity.

“Going to work is not a punishment,” she said. “Three days a week is a fair number of days.”

Representatives from the unions may not have liked the news, but the three-day-a-week office mandate is becoming the norm, according to Denis Hamel, a strategic advisor to the president of the Conseil du patronat du Quebec.

“I think it’s not a surprise that many employers, including governments, now are moving into a strategy where to bring more and more employees into offices,” Hamel said.

While it’s the prerogative of the employer to determine how many days employees need to be in the office, he added, there are benefits to having employees together in the workplace.

“It improves, cooperation, collaboration, clearer boundaries between the work and the home,” he said.

It’s estimated that 35 per cent of Quebec’s labour workforce splits their workweek between the home and the office, a hybrid arrangement that works for Maxim Pinsonnault, who is a human resources officer for a global mining company.

“I have calls late at night or early morning,” he said. “So this gives me flexibility during day.”

Pinsonnault’s employer allows him to work from home up to four days a week, but he said he appreciates the time spent in the office as well to help keep him motivated and connected to his team.

“I feel like I’m optimizing my work time this way and it gives me just the right balance to make everything work,” he said.

Face-to-face office time is valuable for new hires, especially according to author and human resources consultant Annie Boilard.

“We know that new employees will get on board faster if they have face to face meeting instead of just five days a week for, for example, working from home,” she said.

But she said that employers are wise to offer employees a hybrid option, since it gives employees a feeling of control over their time and can lead to long-term loyalty to the company.

“The three days at work and two days working from home seems to be something that works for pretty much everybody,” she said.

Some workplaces, such as banks and tech companies, have full-time office mandates, but Boilard said she foresees the hybrid trend won’t be going anywhere in the short term.

“I think it’s there to stay. I hope it is the case,” she said.