Remote workdays reduced for 157 city workers after complaints from developers

A workspace inside city hall, as seen on July 25, 2023. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

The union representing city hall’s inside workers is slamming a council decision to reduce the number of days that employees in the planning and building departments are permitted to work remotely.

On Tuesday, a motion by Councillor Steve Lehman sought to change the temporary Alternative Work Strategies (AWS) for 157 staff in the planning and building departments who have worked a rotating schedule in the office or remotely.

Since work-from-home during the pandemic ended, employees in those departments are either working 3-2-2-3 (remote days vs. office days) or 5-5 (remote days vs. office days) schedules.

Responding to complaints from local developers and homebuilders, Lehman’s motion called for a reduction to just one remote day for every four days in the office (1-4).

“The [development] process requires face-to-face [meetings], it requires consultation with others in the office,” he explained.

Last week, lobbying organizations representing local developers and homebuilders told a council committee that unnecessary delays are caused by staff working from home.

Deputy City Manager of Planning and Economic Development Scott Mathers assured council that his departments are streamlining processes in order to meet London’s commitment to create 47,000 new housing units.

Mathers added that 11 new positions are being hired to address the rising workload during the local building boom.

Civic Administration estimated that reducing remote work would trigger six to twelve staff to quit.

Many of the impacted employees have skillsets that are in short supply in municipalities across Ontario.

Councillor Sam Trosow warned colleagues against making the change before the processes are streamlined and the new employees are hired.

Trosow expressed doubt the change would speed up approvals and inspections, “[It] has to be balanced against the negative side of losing employees and destroying morale.”

Bringing the workers back to the office four days each week would require renting additional office space roughly equivalent to two floors of city hall.

After a long debate, council approved Lehman’s motion to reduce remote work by a vote of 9-6.

Afterwards, the union representing the city’s inside workers slammed the decision.

“Other municipalities pay more and have remote work available. These two departments have been running short on staffing throughout the pandemic and beyond,” explained Steve Holland, president of CUPE Local 101 that represents inside workers.

Holland predicts the challenges faced by the development won’t be improved by the decision, “Council has made a mistake here and this decision will hurt these departments and will create morale issues and possibly future job losses.”

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis acknowledged that local developers wanted staff to return to the office every day.

“A good compromise is one that makes nobody happy, but that everyone can live with. Each side has to give something. What I’ve heard very clearly is that the status quo isn’t working for our customers,” said Lewis.