U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt return-to-office mandate for federal employees damaged morale and eroded trust across the U.S. public service, according to a recent study whose author believes Canada has failed to learn from those mistakes.

The study, a peer-reviewed article published in the Review of Public Personnel Management, looked at the aftermath of a “dramatic” policy reversal that sent U.S. public servants back into the office full-time in 2025.

On the first day of his second term in office, Trump issued a presidential memorandum directing executive branch departments and agencies to “terminate” remote work agreements and bring workers back in-person.

At the same time, Trump pursued deep cuts to the public service through the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, widely known as DOGE.

Étienne Charbonneau, the corresponding author on the study and a professor at the National School of Public Administration, said his research highlights the potential negative consequences of rigid return-to-office mandates.

Recognizing the move away from hybrid work was more immediate south of the border, Charbonneau said the Canadian government missed an opportunity to learn from the intense blowback to Trump’s actions.

“This happened right next door, and it was documented in a language that people in Ottawa could understand,” he said.

“Why are they doing the same mistakes many months after and not learning? Why haven’t they paid attention?”

Workforce ‘under strain’

Much like in Canada, many U.S. government organizations turned to hybrid work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The practice varied widely from one workplace to the next. Regardless, by mid-2024, more than 200,000 U.S. federal public servants worked fully remote, according to the study, while many more were under some sort of hybrid work arrangement.

As a result, Trump’s January 2025 return-to-office mandate affected more than one million executive branch employees, with only limited exceptions.

The study examined three national surveys of U.S. federal employees conducted by the Federal News Network — a digital and radio news organization that covers the American government. The first survey was done before the return-to-office mandate, the second immediately afterward, and the final months later.

The study found many public servants responded to the return-to-office mandate with anger, frustration and a sense of betrayal. Many reported lower perceived productivity. For some, the loss of autonomy damaged trust in their employer.

Taken together, the findings pointed to a workforce “under strain,” the study found.

“Across waves, respondents emphasized that the return was not a neutral adjustment but an emotionally charged rupture, often described as ‘destroying morale,’ ‘eroding trust,’ or ‘making me not want to work for these people anymore,'” it read.

“The content of these comments paints a clear picture: employees repeatedly described the offices to which they returned as toxic or demoralizing.”

Compared to the White House, the Canadian government scaled back hybrid work more gradually, first requiring two to three in-office days per week in 2023, then moving to a three-day minimum in 2024. Most recently, the federal government moved to four days as of July 2026.

While Charbonneau said Canada’s approach was “not as bad” as what happened in the U.S., he nonetheless believes it points to poor planning.

“If you look at our findings and what are the complaints of public servants in the U.S., they’re very similar to what we’re getting in Canada,” he said.

Although the study’s findings were based on survey results that measured the feelings of employees, Charbonneau said subjective responses are useful tools when looking at morale and job satisfaction.

“It’s a perfectly fine measure,” he said. “You’re not going to plug them into an MRI machine to see the effect on their brain.”

Conversely, he said, feelings are a poor measure for worker productivity in the public service. Late last year, the Treasury Board Secretariat declined to pursue recommendations from a working group that involved improving how to measure productivity in the public service.

Mohammad Kamal, director of communications for Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali, thanked public servants for their “invaluable service to Canada and Canadians.”

“The federal public service is implementing increased on-site presence in a responsible manner, while ensuring that organizations have the workspace needed to support collaboration, service delivery, and operational effectiveness,” he wrote in an email.

“This approach is about strengthening the public service so it can continue to meet the moment now and in the years ahead. That includes fostering a high-performing public service, strengthening collaboration, and supporting a strong workplace culture.”

Based on the results, the study authors wrote that “gradual or differentiated approaches to RTO policies” may help limit negative responses from workers while maintaining the organization’s ability to get work done.

For Charbonneau, the Canadian government’s track record on the issue may hold broader significance.

“If you have the trouble managing the schedules of your employees, what are the chances that you’ll be able to deal with the affordability crisis, the energy crisis?” he said.

“This is the basics. You need to be able to do that.”

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