Experiencing Remote, Hybrid and In‐Office Work in the Canadian Public Sector: Evidence from a 90‐Day Workplace Study

Governments across Canada are actively reasserting control over where and how public servants work through return‐to‐office mandates, often in the absence of fine‐grained evidence about how different work arrangements shape employee experience. This article examines how in‐office, remote, and hybrid work arrangements relate to public servants' self‐reported well‐being and perceived productivity. Using high‐frequency, longitudinal data collected over 90 days from 38 Canadian government employees, the study combines traditional survey instruments with repeated app‐based “check‐ins” capturing mood, energy, motivation, and productivity. The findings suggest that hybrid work arrangements are associated with lower reported work stress and higher perceived productivity, though work location alone does not fully explain variation in employee experience. By introducing a diagnostic, real‐time approach to measuring public servant well‐being, this study contributes to ongoing debates about hybrid work and provides evidence relevant to public sector managers implementing work‐location policies.