The widespread adoption of unassigned, 'hoteled' desks across the federal government could create a significant barrier to any potential full-time return-to-office mandate for public servants, a leading management expert warns.
Scale of the Hoteling Challenge Revealed
A recent data analysis by the Ottawa Citizen has quantified the scope of this workplace shift. The investigation found that more than half of the employees at nearly 40 core federal departments and agencies worked in 2024 without a permanently assigned desk.
This data forms part of the newspaper's broader Best Public Service Workplaces 2025 project, which ranks over 80 federal entities. The figures highlight the profound evolution in government working conditions, moving sharply away from traditional, personal workspaces.
A Pre-Pandemic Policy Meets Post-Pandemic Reality
According to Linda Duxbury, a management professor at Carleton University, the shift toward shared workspaces or 'hoteling' was a government strategy set in motion long before COVID-19. The original plan assumed the government would control who worked remotely and who did not.
"Hoteling will work if you’ve got some people working from home, sometimes," Duxbury stated. However, the pandemic upended that dynamic, forcing nearly the entire workforce to operate remotely. When a hybrid model of two days per week in the office was introduced in 2023, the hoteling system functioned "well enough."
Now, with rumours swirling about a potential full-time return-to-office order, Duxbury suggests the government may face the consequences of its earlier space-saving decisions. "It’s a dire picture," she remarked, framing a full mandate as the "chickens coming home to roost."
Logistical Hurdles and Potential Solutions
Industry observers predict the current high rate of desk hoteling would be unsustainable under a full-time office model. Robert D’Aoust, a former public service executive, doubts employees would tolerate a daily scramble for space. "They’re not gonna play musical desks with their neighbours when they’re there all the time," he said.
Duxbury outlined the stark choices facing the government if it proceeds with a full return. One option would be to significantly reduce the practice of hoteling, which would require a massive reconfiguration of office layouts and likely more physical space. The other, more drastic alternative, would be to free up enough space through workforce reductions or layoffs.
The data underscores a central tension in the future of federal work: balancing the flexibility and cost savings of shared spaces against the logistical and human resource challenges of bringing a large, decentralized workforce back to the office full-time.