Investissment Quebec employees frustrated with shift to 3 days in-office workweek

Bicha Ngo, CEO of Investissement Québec poses for a photograph at their office in Montreal, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)

The requirement to be in the office three days a week has weighed on the morale of Investissement Québec (IQ) employees, president and CEO Bicha Ngo said during a parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday.

The Quebec government’s financial arm conducted an internal survey of its employees in March. The results showed dissatisfaction among a large portion of the organization’s employees, the Journal de Montréal reported earlier Wednesday.

Only 45 per cent of employees said they trust management. Some 67 per cent would recommend IQ as an employer.

When Parti Québécois (PQ) economic affairs spokesperson Catherine Gentilcore asked about this, Ngo admitted that the past two years have been turbulent, as IQ has reduced its workforce to cut costs.

She attributed the dissatisfaction, however, to changes in the guidelines regarding remote work.

IQ announced three weeks before the survey that employees would be required to work in-office three days a week instead of two.

“We received over 600 comments from employees,” she reports. “I read all 600 comments: 96 per cent of them were related to the return to three days in the office.”

No ‘controversial weapons’

Ngo also provided an update on IQ’s policy regarding investments in the defence sector.

IQ changed its policy last year as NATO countries, including Canada, plan a significant increase in defence spending.

The government’s investment arm can now invest in companies that manufacture “non-controversial” weapons.

“That means we’re eliminating anything related to chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, and the like, and these weapons are sold to Canada’s allied countries,” the executive replied to a question from Québec solidaire’s economic spokesperson, Alejandra Zaga Mendez.

“In recent months,” IQ has not provided funding to any company that manufactures lethal weapons, Ngo said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 27, 2026.