Deloitte Canada would have moved into a newly opened Vancouver office sooner, if it wasn’t for the pandemic.
But the delay gave the company some time to consider how that space should be used.
“We were able to really think about this ‘next normal,'” said Jayara Darras, the company’s culture and people leader, which at Deloitte involves supporting hybrid working arrangements.
For now, about one-fifth of Deloitte’s regional workforce of 1,500 people is in the building on a typical workday.
Deloitte Canada’s local staff moved into the Deloitte Summit tower in Vancouver in June, a process that the company’s culture and people leader says was delayed by the pandemic. But the delay gave the company time to think about how it wanted to use the space there. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
“We’re hitting about 275, 300 people [on a given day],” Darras said, noting fewer people choose to come in on Mondays and Fridays.
She predicts that number to rise this fall, but also doesn’t expect Deloitte to mandate a return.
The pandemic upended long-entrenched office routines, prompting organizations to rethink how work can be done and embrace more flexible arrangements.
More people are being encouraged to physically return to work this fall, but it doesn’t appear the work world will revert to its pre-pandemic state.
WATCH | Demand for flexibility, even in returning to the office:
Workers want flexibility with return-to-office plans
6 months ago
Duration 5:13
With pandemic restrictions easing across Canada, companies are preparing to welcome employees back into the office. But many are pushing back and asking for flexible work arrangements, while others are looking forward to going into the office again.
“Work from home is clearly here to stay,” Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor, who has been studying the impact of the widening adoption of more flexible work, said via email.
Tentative start of a climb?
Colliers Canada manages more than 60 million square feet of commercial real estate across the country — with office space accounting for more than half of that footprint.
Amy Vuong, vice-president of strategy of real estate management services for Colliers Canada, says many companies began seeing people return to the office on a voluntary basis during the spring — and her organization is hearing that some companies are now making that in-the-office presence mandatory. (Submitted by Amy Vuong)
Amy Vuong, vice-president of strategy of real estate management services for Colliers Canada, said the firm has conducted regular surveys among its tenants throughout the pandemic.
This year, between spring and fall, Vuong said Colliers had seen “a four per cent increase in the number of companies that said they were moving to full-time” occupancy in the office — with staff going in five days a week — with that number moving from 33 to 37 per cent.
That may seem like a tentative gain, but Vuong said it may be indicative of a larger trend.
“A lot of companies rolled out their [return-to-office] policies on a voluntary basis this spring,” said Vuong.
“We’re hearing that companies are potentially looking at removing that voluntary option as we go into the fall.”
Cities and commuters
In Toronto, a lot of office desks are still going unused nearly 30 months into the COVID-19 era.
The Strategic Regional Research Alliance (SRRA), an independent research group, has been keeping tabs on the level of office occupancy in Canada’s most-populous city.
The Strategic Regional Research Alliance estimates the percentage of people coming into the office in Toronto is, as of last month, less than 30 per cent of its pre-COVID equivalent. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
SRRA co-founder Iain Dobson expects that employers will want to see more people in the office this fall, if that’s possible to achieve.
“We have had so many false starts,” Dobson told CBC News in a telephone interview.
The Toronto Transit Commission expects a 10 to 15 per cent jump in ridership this fall, after students are back at school and “more people return to in-office work.”
A file photo shows the exterior of Montreal’s Côte-Vertu subway station. The Société de transport de Montréal expects to see more people taking transit this fall as students head back to school and more people head back to the office. (CBC/Radio-Canada)
That mirrors what Société de transport de Montréal is expecting.
“We are currently at 65 per cent of pre-pandemic level and we expect to get to 70 to 80 per cent this fall, mainly due to the return of workers and students,” STM spokesperson Amélie Régis said in an email.
Many employees will be in the office ‘more often’ than now
Some notable large employers in Canada are pushing to bring more people back on-site this fall — though depending on their new working arrangements, those employees may not be going to the office every day.
Royal Bank of Canada, which has more than 60,000 employees based in Canada, is seeking to see leaders and staff in the office “more often” — with president and CEO Dave McKay making the case that people thrive from working together.
Royal Bank of Canada has more than 60,000 staff based in Canada. The company’s president and CEO has indicated the organization wants to see its teams spending ‘more time’ in the office. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
“We know that not all roles or teams are the same, and many types of work can be done productively at home or off-site,” McKay wrote in a recent post on LinkedIn.
“At the same time, there’s an energy and spontaneity that comes from connecting in-person that I don’t believe technology can replicate.”
At Canadian Tire, corporate staff working in hybrid roles have “no mandated ‘office days’ or a set number of days our employees are expected to be on-site,” said Christopher Gray, the company’s vice-president of culture and organizational design, in an emailed statement.
Canadian Tire corporate staff who work in hybrid roles do not have a mandated number of days they must spend in the office, according to Christopher Gray, the company’s vice president of culture and organizational design. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)
Even so, Canadian Tire has invested in “new technology, modern amenities and collaboration spaces” and believes its employees “will continue to gather more frequently in person,” he said.
The federal government, which employs more than 300,000 public servants, also intends to see more people stepping foot inside its facilities — and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says this process has been underway, for various departments, since the spring.
In an email, the board said “the Government of Canada has been testing new hybrid models with a view to full implementation in the fall” as public health considerations permit.
Greg Phillips, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, said the government has not made a clear enough case as to why more time in the office is needed — and it hasn’t indicated there’s a problem with the work that public servants are doing from home either.
“No real justification is being brought forward,” said Phillips, whose union represents 23,000 members including government economists, translators and interpreters.
Stanford University’s Bloom has been part of a large effort to examine people’s experiences working from home during the pandemic.
And the research is pointing to a future where workers want to retain the flexibility they have been accustomed to over the past two-and-a-half years.
An even-higher proportion of Canadians — nearly 22 per cent — felt that way.
“Canada has, like the U.S., a highly developed economy with a high number of professional jobs that can [be] done remotely, a highly educated workforce and many people living a long commute from work,” said Bloom.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
