Ontario Premier Doug Ford orders public servants to return to office full-time; check date and key reasons behind this move

Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is ordering the public servants of the province to work from the office four days a week starting in October 2025 and then full-time in January. The latest development is a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022. Back then, provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.

According to Ford, government employees are more productive when they are in the office. "How do you mentor someone over the phone? You can't. You've got to look at them eye to eye," Ford was quoted as saying by CBC News during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Pickering.

Ford also asserted that the return of provincial workers to the office is better for the economy. He highlighted that several small businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies. "There are hard-working entrepreneurs that their business has basically just died when they weren't seeing the flow of traffic," he said, as quoted by CBC News.


Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney announced on Thursday (August 14, 2025) that employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards, and commissions must "increase their attendance to four days per week" starting October 20, 2025, and transition to full-time hours in-office effective January 5, 2026, as reported by CBC News.

The latest development follows the announcements made 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.

‘We look forward to having everyone back’: Ford

While stating that his government was not influenced by the bank mandates, Ford said that business leaders whom he had spoken with agree that "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, according to CBC News.

Ontario's top bureaucrat, Secretary of Cabinet Michelle DiEmanuele, said in a memo in possession of CBC News that the decision "is in line with an increasing number of organizations across the public and private sectors." Meanwhile, employees of the federal government are currently subject to a three-day-per-week minimum in the workplace, imposed in September 2024. There's been some evidence that the policy is not being strictly enforced.