B.C. government workers buck return-to-office trend

The downtown streets of Canada’s biggest cities were silent and empty when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses, schools and government offices in March, 2020. Five years later, some are still struggling with low foot traffic, including in B.C.’s capital, where tourists have returned but many workers have not.

In a bid to change that, the private sector, and some levels of the public sector, have been recalling employees to offices in the name of productivity. The B.C. government, however, is bucking that trend and has embraced flexible work in its policies. The civil servants’ union is also taking steps to make those flexible arrangements more permanent.