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With many BC public service employees working from home, a lobby group is concerned taxpayers aren’t getting their money’s worth.

Data obtained through a Freedom of Information request indicates how many provincial government workers are doing their jobs from home and how quickly their salaries are increasing.

In 2022, there were 10,734 BC Public Service employees working from home in Victoria either full-time or a hybrid of at home and in the office, and in 2024 there are more than 20,000. That's now half the BC government workforce in the provincial capital.

The average salary has increased from $63,704 in 2017 to $81,718 in 2024.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation BC director Carson Binda said his lobby group has doubts about whether or not government employees are getting enough done outside of the office.

“I think we need to ask ourselves, we need to ask the politicians in Victoria, are we getting the best bang for our buck when our bureaucrats are working from home?” Binda said.

“Are they meeting their performance targets, at least at the rates they were during work from office times? And if not, then they should be taking steps to correct that because I think a lot of British Columbians right now are paying a heavy price for working from home.”

Statistics Canada released a report on working from home last year. The report found people who transitioned to working from home during the COVID pandemic said they were at least as productive at home as they were in the office.

“Employees’ assessments of their productivity while working from home during the pandemic were generally favourable, but whether these assessments align with those of their employers remains to be seen,” the StatsCan report said.

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Public service workers aren’t the only ones enjoying working from home long after the pandemic made it necessary. Local organizations in Kamloops and the Okanagan collected data from the 2021 census to track remote work.

The Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission’s latest report on remote workers found that more than 19 per cent of people in the region were working from home in 2021. 

The commission found that people who work from home also made more money. The average income for remote workers was $78,000 compared to the average of $65,000.

Venture Kamloops found a lower percentage of remote workers compared to the Central Okanagan. It found that only 13 per cent of people were working from home, but remote workers still enjoyed a higher average salary at $72,000.

The commission found that 28 per cent of public service workers in the Central Okanagan worked remotely, and Venture Kamloops found that 27 per cent of government workers did their jobs remotely. 

The community foundation Vital Signs found that 16.5 per cent of people in South Okanagan-Similkameen worked from home, and 15.6 per cent of people in North Okanagan worked from home. Vital Signs did not publish data on how many public service employees work from home.  

The City of Penticton promotes working from home and has a list of resources to help people find remote work.

Binda said that although working from home is growing in popularity, it’s important to make sure tax dollars are spent efficiently, and that includes employee salaries.

“Every individual spends thousands and thousands of dollars per year on taxes. A lot of that money goes towards paying the salaries for bureaucrats or public servants,” he said. “It’s important that that bureaucracy is accountable to the taxpayers who are picking up the bill.”

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