Edinburgh City Council staff will begin a phased return to office working from April.
Chief Executive Andrew Kerr said some teams will continue to work at home, with others gradually returning to full-time office working or 'working in a 'hybrid' setting, splitting time between home and the office.
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Mr Kerr also confirmed committees would run as hybrid meetings for the remainder of this council term until May, whereby some councillors will attend physically in the City Chambers and others join virtually as has been the case for all members throughout the pandemic.
However, opposition councillors called for an immediate return to the office and chambers – and the scrapping of social distancing measures too.
Lib Dem group leader Robert Aldridge said the sooner staff are working away from home again the better, adding too many are working "from their kitchen table or sitting on their couch".
Addressing the Policy and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday (February 22), Mr Kerr said: "At the moment we're trying to ensure we keep those key services operating whatever the changing circumstances, so our education system, waste management et cetera.
"At the same time we're doing an awful lot of work with our teams on the return to offices and to our other offices and depots spread throughout the city.
"At the moment we have some teams operating in Waverley Court trying out the adjusted offices in a way so that we can ensure we've got new hybrid working – and the intention is that that will operate through March as we start to come back into the office in a slow and sure way once we've got the offices adjusted."
A report to the committee stated teams will be "invited back to the office in a
phased return from April onwards".
Mr Kerr continued: "We still have a number of teams that could work at home and a number of teams who are going to work in a mixture of ways.
"We are also recommending, as you know, a return to hybrid meetings for committees for the last cycle before the election and making sure that working practices in our non-work environments are thought through equally well."
Responding to the Chief Executive, Conservative group leader Councillor Iain Whyte said: "We did a lot of work last year before Omicron we were moving back towards office-based working and I remember something called Our Future Work so why is it taking so long to start moving in that direction?"
And he asked: "Is there any way we can accelerate return to the office for those who it would be really advantageous, those who don't have suitable workspace at home and who don't have to make big changes to come back?,"
Cllr Whyte added: "I think there is some issues around mental health for our workforce that that would help."
Mr Kerr replied: "I agree with that, Councillor Whyte, but we have always had provision for those with mental health issues et cetera to be able to come into offices and work. That was part and parcel of how we looked after the workforce all the way through this."
Liberal Democrat leader Robert Aldridge moved an addendum calling for council staff to "return to office-working now, rather than waiting until April" and for social distancing to "no longer be required in council buildings", which was added to a Conservative addendum requesting a report on the use of urgency powers for executive decision making during the pandemic.
Cllr Aldridge said: "We've heard a lot about the balance of risk that we have to look at in a return to work but I think we underestimate the risks that people have working from home.
"It's not simply a Covid risk we have to look at, we also have to look at risks to their health by not working an ergonomically proper environments.
"A lot of people working from their kitchen table or sitting on their couch and we may end up with people with health issues later down the line. I think the sooner we can get people back to an ergonomically safe environment the better."
After initially saying he was "not able to accept" the joint Tory-Lib Dem motion because they were "not quite hitting the mark in terms of where we are", Convenor Adam McVey moved it to a vote and it was defeated by 10 votes to 6.
