Recently enacted return-to-office rules set off a fight with public sector unions, who have called for more flexibility when it comes to remote work
In 2022, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) awarded the three-year multi-million dollar contract to LAUFT Inc., a Toronto-based company that has provided “flexible, on-demand workspaces” in the Greater Toronto Area for the last seven years.
The first co-working site in the NCR will be in Gatineau and is expected to open in December.
“We believe our approach provides a fresh and relevant perspective on the future of work, especially as the debate around (return-to-office) policies continues to evolve,” LAUFT co-founder Jesse Sharratt said in an email.
Starting in September, many public servants have been required to be in the office three days a week. Executives have been required to be in the office for at least four days a week. The new return-to-office rules set off a fight with public sector unions, who have called for more flexibility when it comes to remote work.
The Gatineau co-working space will only be available for PSPC employees in the NCR who can use it on their “flex” day.
At PSPC, most employees are required to be on-site at a designated location on two fixed days per week. The third day, and the fourth day for executives, is called a flex day, where staff have the option of working from other PSPC locations, including satellite offices where they don’t have permanently assigned desks.
Jullian Paquin, a spokesperson for PSPC, said there are no current plans to make the Gatineau space available to other departments. But it will be part of a three-year “trial” in which LAUFT could open co-working spaces for public servants in 11 potential areas in the NCR.
“This is a trial contract to assess whether (third) party provided, full-service workplace solutions will form a part of the future suite of real property accommodation solutions for the Government of Canada,” Paquin said.
Paquin also said the trial contract awarded to LAUFT is separate from the federal government’s GCcoworking program, which has created satellite offices with desks public servants can book. PSPC launched the program in 2019 and has led to the opening of 13 sites that can accommodate more than 700 employees.
Sharratt said the first workspace in the pilot will be “strategically located outside the downtown core to help public servants reduce commute times while enjoying an amenity-rich environment with free on-site parking.”
LAUFT CEO Graham Wong said in an interview that other LAUFT locations for public servants could pop up in places like Kemptville and Kanata. While the government has refused to provide the addresses of the planned spaces, including the one set to open in Gatineau, Wong said any future offices will be “up to PSPC” and dependent on the interest of other departments and agencies.
“The hope would be that we’re able to knock this out of the park and do a great job which we know we can do for the government and then we will see this reverberate across other industries,” said Wong.
When asked who owns the buildings, Sharratt said its GTA spaces use “a revenue share model.” In the NCR, he said the company will be leasing space “as a traditional tenant” and that the buildings that house the co-working spaces will not be government owned.
“It’s a private-public sector collaboration,” Wong said. “We’re providing the infrastructure.”
Wong said that while this is the first time public servants will be concentrated in a location, some federal agencies have taken out office space in LAUFT’s GTA locations.
Employees will be able to book a space, either a desk or a meeting room, through the LAUFT app. Wong said the system should be much more efficient to use than the current government system, where employees often have to book desk space a month in advance.
“We think this is the future,” Wong said.