Ottawa-area federal employees at Shared Services Canada are set to reclaim something many of them sorely missed: a desk they can actually call their own.
In a significant shift ahead of the government's four-day return-to-office mandate, Shared Services Canada (SSC) is abandoning the so-called 'hoteling' model — where workers book whatever desk is available on any given day — in favour of a new 'neighbourhood model' for its Ottawa and Gatineau workforce.
What Is the Neighbourhood Model?
Under the new system, teams will be grouped together in dedicated, consistent workspace zones rather than scattered across a building or forced to hunt for an open hoteling desk each morning. Think of it like a seating plan for grown-ups — your team sits together, in the same general area, day after day.
SSC will also be shutting down several co-working locations that were part of the hoteling era and restoring assigned workstations for employees. The move is a direct response to feedback from workers who found the hoteling arrangement disruptive, impersonal, and counterproductive to collaboration.
Why the Change?
The timing is no coincidence. With the federal government pushing public servants back to the office four days a week, departments are under pressure to make the in-person experience actually functional — and hoteling was widely seen as a barrier to that.
For many Ottawa-Gatineau public servants, hoteling meant arriving at the office only to spend the first 20 minutes searching for a free desk, potentially ending up far from your team, and lugging all your belongings in a locker-room-style caddy. It was a system designed for flexible hybrid work, but in practice it often created friction and killed the collaborative spirit it was meant to foster.
By anchoring teams to consistent neighbourhoods within the office, SSC is betting that employees will feel more settled, more connected to their colleagues, and — crucially — more willing to make the commute worth it.
What This Means for Ottawa's Federal Workforce
The National Capital Region is home to the largest concentration of federal public servants in the country, and Shared Services Canada alone employs thousands of workers across the Ottawa-Gatineau area. This policy shift could signal a broader trend among federal departments rethinking their workspace strategies as the return-to-office reality sets in.
For Ottawa's downtown core and Gatineau office districts, more predictable in-person attendance patterns could also mean a modest boost for nearby restaurants, coffee shops, and transit ridership — all of which took a hit during the pandemic-era remote work years.
Mixed Feelings, But a Step Forward
Not everyone is thrilled about the four-day mandate to begin with, and the return to assigned desks won't resolve the broader debate about remote work flexibility. But for those who do have to come in, knowing where you'll sit — and that your team will be sitting nearby — is a small but meaningful quality-of-life improvement.
SSC says the neighbourhood model rollout is underway for Ottawa-Gatineau staff, with co-working sites being wound down as part of the transition.
Source: Ottawa Citizen. Original reporting at ottawacitizen.com.
