The Government of Canada is working on … coworking!

Great news for federal public servants: it will soon be possible for them to do coworking when they want, that is to say, to work elsewhere than the office assigned to them since they were posted. The fact is that brand new remote workspaces accessible only to federal officials are being created, here and there, as part of a two-year pilot project called "CotravailGC". Explanation.

These new places are meant to be conducive to "collaboration, innovation and productivity". Modern and design, they are equipped with a wireless network as well as videoconferencing and teleconferencing services. As for the offices, they allow to work – at choice – sitting or standing, in more or less open spaces, conducive to exchanges with colleagues present. Note that community rooms are furnished, just like a kitchen area.

The kitchen area of ​​Esplanade Laurier. (Photo: Public Services and Procurement Canada)

The idea is to offer:

– a temporary drop-off point for employees who move between different offices,

– a shared space for those who telecommute and who need a conference room,

– or else, a backup solution in case of traffic jam or winter storm.

"GC Workplaces will be located outside of downtown. This will help reduce long car journeys between home and work to centralized locations; and therefore, not only promote a better work / life balance, but also a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, "says Steven MacKinnon, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility and MP for Gatineau.

For now, 10 coworking spaces have been planned:

> 5 around Ottawa:

– L'Esplanade Laurier (Ottawa), official opening date: May 2019

– 335 River Road (Ottawa), May 2019

– Place d'Orléans (Orléans), July 2019

– 555 Legget Drive (Ottawa), August 2019

– 480 Boulevard de La Cité (Gatineau), August 2019

> 5 elsewhere in Canada:

– 655 Bay Street (Toronto), July 2019

– 3400 Jean-Béraud Avenue (Laval), December 2019

– 1 Challenger Drive (Dartmouth), December 2019

– Surroundings of Vancouver and Edmonton, July 2019

Several federal departments are participating in the pilot project, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency, Natural Resources Canada, Health Canada and Statistics Canada. They will designate the employees of their own department who will be the first to benefit from the new coworking spaces. Access should then be extended to all federal public servants at the end of the pilot project.

What can employees get out of it? In the eyes of Mr. MacKinnon, these coworking spaces will allow them to "choose where they work", benefit from "modern, open, spacious and bright", not to say "inspiring", and enhance "Their well-being and their health".

And what can the Government of Canada get out of it? Five things especially, according to the parliamentary secretary:

– Better service to Canadians

– A valuable collection of data on the best ways of working, the analysis of which will provide better working conditions for federal public servants in the future;

– The attraction and retention of talents of today and tomorrow;

– Optimizing the use of Federal Buildings;

– A breakthrough in digital office.

In short, the Government of Canada has resolutely plunged into the 21st century. Remains to measure the real impact that this innovation will have on the civil servants, and in particular on the executives who will from now on have to learn to manage broken teams …

By the way, the French writer François Cavanna said in Did you know? "Elsewhere is an infinite sphere whose center is here".

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