Toronto backtracks on return-to-office plans for city employees as Omicron spreads to council
Updated
Mayor Gregor Robertson is preparing to deliver a news conference at city hall, with the mayor and city staff to give an update on a number of important initiatives.
But the mayor is also preparing to meet someone else — his old boss at Omicron, the city’s largest private employer.
The city’s largest private employer is also about to hold a news conference to talk about how it’s doing.
The City of Toronto will announce Omicron is returning to city hall, the mayor’s office said Friday afternoon.
And City Clerk Peter Watson is meeting with Omicron officials to discuss plans to return to city hall.
The announcement comes as city councillors prepare to meet with staff to discuss the future of the city’s largest private employer to discuss their plans around Omicron’s future.
The City of Toronto earlier reported Omicron was planning to expand into a new building at the corner of Yonge St. and Eglinton St. E, near Union Station.
The Omicron office is at the corner of Yonge St. and Dundas St. W., just north of Union Station and just south of the site of the new City Hall.
Omicron officials said they are planning to create “two new roles” within city hall, one for human resources and another for city procurement, to help modernize the service.
The expanded human resources role would involve Omicron’s recruitment and hiring, “including the hiring process used to fill vacancies within the City of Toronto,” Omicron spokesman Rob Tamm told CBC News.
The two expanded roles are part of Omicron’s plans to re-purpose and re-staff its downtown office.
The new roles will involve the hiring and recruitment of city employees, the training of city employees, human resources, procurement and other “core public sector” functions that are involved with running the city.
The jobs are “to increase efficiency of services, provide better service and offer city employees greater job opportunities,” Tamm said.
Tamm said Omicron’s move is part of the city’s strategy for modernizing its services.
“The City of Toronto continues to re
