Alberta government employees will return to full-time, in-office work starting February, the province said Friday.
Since March 2022, Alberta Public Service (APS) employees have been eligible to work from home up to two days per week under the province’s interim hybrid work policy.
Nearly 12,600 government employees, or approximately 44 per cent of the workforce, were included as of August.
“The policy was originally implemented in response to the public health crisis and will now be discontinued due to changing circumstances and sector trends,” the province said Friday in a news release.
The government pointed to a similar decision issued in August by the Ontario provincial government. As of Jan. 5, 2026, its employees are expected to work in the office five days per week.
“The APS remains committed to flexibility through other policies which employees can still access based on operational needs, such as hours of work averaging arrangements, flexible hours arrangements and modified work schedules,” the news release stated.
Finance Minister Nate Horner’s office, which oversees the public workforce, said Friday that it had no role in the decision but that it is supportive and expects full-time office work will “strengthen collaboration, accountability and service delivery for Albertans.”
“The hybrid work model introduced during COVID-19 was always intended as a temporary measure to maintain operations during an unprecedented time,” Horner’s office said.
“Flexibility for individual cases will still exist where needed, depending on the job and worker circumstances.”
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi questioned if the move will accomplish what Horner’s office said it would.
“The [United Conservative Party government] continues to disrespect workers,” he said in a statement.
However, the news is welcomed by businesses in downtown Edmonton where many Alberta government offices are located. Restaurants, stores and other service providers have suffered from a lack of foot traffic since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Quinn Phillips, director of marketing and communications with the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, says her members appreciate workers may not be happy having to be in the office five days a week but they are looking forward to seeing more people out on their lunch hours.
“To have more people in the downtown core during the daytime hours is going to be very supportive for our businesses,” she said. “And beyond that, it creates a really wonderful vibrancy.”
