As federal workers slam office mandate, study finds remote work cuts emissions
Research focused on government employees now required to be in office 3 days a week
Federal employees in Ottawa produced 25 per cent fewer emissions when they worked remotely compared to those who were working in the office full time, a new study suggests, in research that comes as a major public sector union continues to push back on the government mandating more in-office work.
The decrease in emissions associated with remote work was even more pronounced for federal employees in Quebec, where emissions were 64 per cent lower compared to in-person workers, the study found, largely as a result of more energy-efficient homes in the province.
The government-funded report, produced by Carleton University in Ottawa, surveyed 1,500 public servants across three government offices, including the Canada Revenue Agency, and looked at emissions from transportation, homes, offices and internet use.
The results come slightly more than a month after new requirements for federal employees came into effect, mandating that hybrid public servants needed to work on-site a minimum of three days a week, up from the previous minimum of two days.
According to the new report, an extra day in office for a federal employee in Ottawa results in an additional 235 kilograms of carbon emissions on average annually.
"More hybrid work days are more sustainable compared to a traditional in-office work," Farzam Sepanta, one of the researchers behind the Carleton Study, told CBC.
He said this is dependent on workers developing "sustainable habits and preferences regarding their home [and] transportation."
Remote work cuts transportation emissions
The survey was conducted between December 2023 and February 2024 among federal employees in Quebec and the National Capitol Region, which encompasses Ottawa, Gatineau and the surrounding metropolitan area.
It was reviewed by researchers and experts within the government, including within the Treasury Board Secretariat, which leads the government's policy requiring in-office days.
Survey participants answered questions about their homes and work model and filled out "transportation diaries" on their work commute.
Fewer cars being driven to work meant fewer transportation emissions — but did more bodies working from home mean an equivalent jump in household emissions? Not according to this study.
Researchers found that remote work could decrease transportation emissions by more than 60 per cent on average for federal employees, while increasing their household emissions by less than 10 per cent.
The household emissions were significantly lower for employees living in Quebec compared to the Ottawa region, which Sepanta said was due to homes in Quebec relying on electric baseboards for heating compared to Ontario's higher reliance on natural gas.
"It shows that the cleanness of energy that you are consuming in your buildings is super important," he said.
One of the largest unions representing public servants was quick to laud the results as further evidence of the benefits of remote work.
In a written statement, Sharon DeSousa, the national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), suggested the government was "squandering" a chance to build a modern workforce that "paves the way to a sustainable future."
"This eye-opening study proves what we've been saying all along: remote work is better work," the statement said.
The union is also calling for a full investigation into the federal government's three-day in-office mandate, along with the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC).
"PSAC has long advocated for flexible, evidence-based work arrangements, and the federal government's own internal documents and reports admit to the positive impact of hybrid work," the union said in a statement on Wednesday. "The calls for an investigation is a crucial step in exposing the full scale of the damage caused by this in-office mandate."
In a directive explaining the change to a three-day minimum, federal officials stated that the change "reflects the benefits that consistent in-person interactions offer," saying that more in-person work days create "more effective collaboration".
"Three days is a good start," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in April in reaction to the news. Ford has previously expressed support for mandating federal workers to go back to the office more days a week, stating that it would help Ottawa's downtown.
Government-mandated office time causing controversy
Remote work, also known as telework, isn't new, but COVID-19 pushed it to the forefront, with 40 per cent of the Canadian workforce going remote at the height of the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada.
As health measures eased, offices began to push for a return to in-office, even as data showed positive signs for workers' well-being and productivity, said Terri Griffith, a professor with the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.
"The data around emissions, the data around productivity, the data around job satisfaction, on the whole, leads to 'hybrid is the way to go,'" she said.
Other studies have also shown that remote work is associated with lower emissions. One U.S. study published last year suggested that remote workers could have a 54 per cent lower carbon footprint compared to in-office workers.
"The government to mandate people coming in [to the office is] basically saying, 'We're going to increase emissions,'" Griffith said. "And I think that goes counter to a lot of governmental statements about, 'We're going to work towards a more climate-friendly environment.'"
While the debate around remote work has been ongoing in all sectors, it's been particularly contentious for federal employees — in spring 2023, more than 100,000 PSAC members walked off the job due in part to the government announcing mandated in-office days for federal employees.
Striking workers were seeking better wages, but also wanted to have clearer guidelines around remote work. In a statement from May 2023 announcing a tentative agreement, PSAC touted that members would "now be protected from arbitrary decisions about remote work."
When the news emerged in spring 2024 that the government would be implementing a minimum three-day in-office policy by Sept. 9, both PSAC and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) said they were blindsided.
Government officials were aware that mandating workers back into the office could be received poorly, according to documents shared with CBC News, with internal communications showing officials had considered a "flexible first" option and expressed concerns about "negative public scrutiny."
Nearly all employees surveyed in this new study said they preferred hybrid work.
When telework was conceived in the 1970s, it was amid concerns about traffic congestion and the environment, according to Griffith. Studying the climate impact of remote work "broadens the conversation," she said.
"We've thought about productivity, we're starting to think about well-being. We haven't come back to the beginning and thought about the effects on the climate."
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With files from The Canadian Press