Career counselor St. Regma remembers the days when working from home was unattainable for her.
If you had asked her years ago when she worked at a call center, Regma would have had a question for you.
“Are you crazy?” Regmi, founder and CEO of Teachndo Career Consultancy in Sudbury, Ont., Said, laughing at the distant memory.
But that was then – not today, when even her former colleagues at the call center worked from home against the pandemic era to more flexible work.
However, the share of Canadians who work from home most of the time is declining as the protective cover of public health restrictions is removed and businesses become more confident about returning their people to the office.
This creates tension with those employees who do not want to return to the way things were – but who will have to adjust if that is what they have to do.
Changing landscape?
Statistics from Canada say almost one in five Canadians employed still did most of their work from home in May.
That sounds like a lot, but it’s lower than more than 24% in January – and much lower than what was reported in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rising fuel prices are just one of the costs that office workers returning to work after a long period of work from home during the pandemic will face. (Alex Lupul / CBC)
Ruel Tria has been working at home for more than two years. For him, the arrangement is just good.
“Our business allows it,” said Tria, an operations supervisor who did all his work in a Toronto office before the pandemic.
But that may change, as his workplace has sent out inquiries with questions about potential concerns employees may have about returning to the office.
Tria saves money while working from home, as well as the time she spends traveling to work.
“I’m obviously worried about rising fuel costs,” Tria said, noting that this is just one of the costs that make travelers’ lives more expensive.
Nita Chinzer, an associate professor of human resources in the Department of Management at the University of Guelph in southwestern Ontario, said there were various reasons why employees were reluctant to return to the office – not all of them strictly financial in nature.
WATCH Different attitudes when returning to the office:
Pressing and attracting people back to the office
Nita Chinzer, an associate professor of human resources at the University of Guelph, told CBC Canada tonight about the problems employers are struggling with as they try to bring staff back to the office after a long period of work from home during the pandemic.
“Maybe someone has moved away from the city, or maybe they’ve sold the car, or maybe they don’t want to travel anymore, or maybe they realize that politics and drama at work no longer interest them,” Chinzer told CBC Canada Tonight in Friday.
In addition, she said, there are differing views among people about what works best for them – including those who want to return to the office more regularly – and this is something that employers have to contend with.
“The challenge for employers today is: how do they provide that flexibility, but still create an environment where they can unite people and somehow recreate the pulse in the workplace?” Chinzer said.
People are not where they used to be
Cities are also feeling the effects of fewer people entering the office.
In Toronto, return to the office has lagged behind and traffic in the center of the office remains well below pre-pandemic levels.
The proportion of Canadians who work from home most of the time is declining as the protective cover of public health restrictions is removed and businesses become more confident about returning staff to the office. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
Marcy Birchfield, vice president of the Institute for Economic Planning at the Toronto Regional Council, said the long pandemic constraints facing the city have shaped the speed of recovery.
“People in the Toronto region have worked remotely for long periods of time,” Birchfield said.
“There is a direct link between how long the jurisdiction has been blocked and the return of the office’s trajectory. And Toronto is a perfect example of that.
And that trajectory may be slower than some businesses would like: Mark Rose, chief executive of commercial real estate firm Avison Young, told Globe and Mail last week that a full return to the office is probably five years away.
Flexibility is a key feature for some
On the East Coast, Paige Black is working on a new job, which she specifically looked for because of the flexibility she offers, allowing her to work from home in Dartmouth, NS
She quit her last job because this option would no longer be available in the same way.
WATCH Not everyone wants to come back:
Companies that force them to return to work are violators of the deal for some, according to a study
One in three Canadians say they would consider looking for a new job if their employer forced them to return to the office, and almost a quarter would leave immediately, according to a new study by CBC News and Angus Reid.
Like Tria, Black worked in an office before the pandemic. The nonprofit admits that he was “not a big fan” of working from home, at least initially.
But she soon found that more flexible work offered many benefits, including more control over her daily life.
“I felt I had more of my time back,” she said.
St. Regma, founder and CEO of Teachndo Career Consultancy in Sudbury, Ontario, says that for some employees, the ability to have flexible jobs is an “invaluable” advantage. (Submitted by Sweta Regmi)
For Black and many others, this kind of flexibility is hard to beat.
“No one can determine the price of flexibility,” said Regmi, a career counselor, summarizing its value to workers. – This is priceless.
Acceptance of flexibility
Some of Canada’s larger organizations recognize that flexibility is here to stay – and they focus on what they need to do to support it.
At the Canadian Life Insurance Company, for example, the organization aims to support both its people and a number of work styles.
The Canadian life insurance company says it has made changes to its main campuses and some of its regional offices in an effort to provide more up-to-date meeting facilities and more modern meeting areas for its employees. (Submitted by Liz Kulik)
“Our approach to returning to the office is one that enables our 11,000 employees to do their best – wherever they are,” said Colleen Bailey Moffitt, the company’s senior vice president of human resources, in an email.
Bailey Moffitt said Canada Life was “committed to supporting a hybrid, flexible way of working” and acknowledged that teams and people have different needs. This allows leaders to decide “which style of work is best for their team.”
But the insurance giant has also taken steps to make sure its various campuses and offices are staff-friendly and fully equipped for their personal work. And it has been investing in these spaces over the last two years, including modernizing its meeting rooms and common areas.
Other large employers made similar investments in facilities during the pandemic as the changing long-term needs of their business became apparent.
The federal government has also noted a wider shift in the way people work – including their own civil servants.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal government officials demonstrated their ability to adapt to new ways of working both locally and remotely, while delivering results for Canadians,” said a statement from the Secretariat of Finance of Canada.
The board said there was no government-wide data on the share of federal employees working on site in remote settings, but said “more and more employees are making their way to work sites on a regular basis.”
Experience over the past two years or more will help the government develop “flexible, hybrid workforce models as part of how and where civil servants work in the future,” the board said.
Add Comment