Those who work for the City of Thunder Bay will be back in the workplace on Monday, March 21st.

City Manager Norm Gale explained that the return to work will look the way it did prior to the onset of Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Gale notes that certain requirements need to be met by an employee that wants to work from home on a full time or hybrid basis.

“They need the approval of their supervisor, who must go through a checklist to make sure that the employee can get the work done for the corporation and the city,” Gale added. “The checklist will include questions like, what is the nature of the work that they are doing? Does the person have high-speed internet access that can handle all of the volume that’s required to do their work? Will this individual have a safe environment to work in? Finally, will this person be as productive as if they are in the workplace?”

The province announced Monday that public service workers will immediately return to the office this week with the plan evolving to three days a week as of April 4.

Gale mentioned this is a pilot project with the plan to eventually report the findings to council, though no firm date has been given for that presentation.

Gale stressed that throughout the pandemic, there has been no decrease in service as a result of people working from home.

“We chose the March 21st date after careful look at the evidence around us, and on the advice of both the Medical Officer of Health (Dr. Janet DeMille) and the province of Ontario. It’s also about keeping our workers and customers safe.”

Ten per cent of those who work for the City of Thunder Bay were working from home.