It’s been more than 500 days since millions of Canadian employees were forced to suddenly work from home because of COVID-19.
While the pandemic is far from over, some workplaces are starting to tackle the tough questions of when and whether to come back into the office again — and what work life will look like for people, no matter where they do it.
CBC News reached out to dozens of business leaders across the country for their thoughts on the return to work.
In responses from across Canada, from tiny non-profits with a handful of employees, to tech startups, energy firms and financial giants with tens of thousands of workers, one sentiment was echoed again and again: Things definitely won’t be exactly how they used to be.
“It won’t be a one-size-fits-all,” said Guy Cormier, CEO of the Montreal-based financial services giant Desjardins.
Desjardins doesn’t plan on flipping a switch and calling everyone who used to be in the office to come back in. Instead, the company plans to allow for all sorts of arrangements. Many people will come back into the office basically full time, if they want to and it makes sense to, while some former office dwellers will stay at home permanently. Others will adopt the so-called hybrid model, where they switch between the two.
“We will adapt with our staff and be sure that there’s … balance between their lives and their work,” Cormier said.
It’s a similar story at the big banks; both TD and CIBC say they plan to incorporate a lot more work from home into their business from now on.
“The majority of our team can work from anywhere, be productive and do incredible work. But there are also things we do best in person and together,” said CIBC’s group head of people Sandy Sharman. “The future of how and where they work will blend the best of both worlds.”
The pandemic that started in March 2020 forced millions of Canadian office workers to work from home, but that will likely not be the case forever. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
“We anticipate that colleagues will continue to enjoy more work-life flexibility, including remote work and hybrid options where it is possible. However, we believe that most roles will require some presence in the office, in order to foster collaboration, innovation and strengthening of our culture,” said TD’s chief human resource officer Kenn Lalonde.
Cenovus Energy will be going the hybrid route, allowing people to work up to two days a week from home — if they want it and if the job realistically allows.
“We’re planning to use a hybrid workplace flexibility model — with office staff able to work from home up to two days a week, role permitting,” the Calgary-based company’s executive vice-president, Sarah Walters, said in an email. “The new model will be implemented in September to coincide with the majority of our office returns and we will be assessing this approach over time to ensure it’s the best fit for our workplace.”
Hybrid approach
Staffing firm Manpower knows better than most that tailoring the arrangement on a case-to-case basis works best, so that’s what they’ll be doing with their own employees. “We need to be flexible in order to attract and retain some of the top talent in the market,” said Darlene Minatel, Manpower’s country manager for Canada.
Marketing agency Brand Momentum will be similarly flexible, but they will require staff to make an appearance in the office in either Toronto or Montreal at least three days a week, said CEO Hesham Shafie.
Insurance giant Sun Life, meanwhile, is open to anything that gets the job done. “We’re not imposing any minimum or maximum in terms of being in the office,” president Jacques Goulet said. “In fact, we don’t talk about return to office — what we’re talking about is opening our offices for work.”
Businesses of all stripes are struggling with how to operate in the middle of a pandemic — and beyond. (Stefanie Loos/Bloomberg)
St John’s-based software company Celtx says it plans to proceed with whatever system works best for its employees — and above all, whatever they decide to do, it will roll out slowly. “We’re not going to do anything sudden, it’ll be done with a lot of consultation,” CEO Mark Kennedy said, adding that, ultimately, keeping his employees happy is good for business. “If you have a happy employee, usually you have a productive employee.”
Indeed, if there’s one lesson the pandemic disruption has taught Canadian business leaders, it’s that there can be a better way than what they were doing.
Lessons learned
Celtx employed a good chunk of remote workers even before COVID-19 hit, so the company had a bit of a leg up in terms of making it work for everyone. “We actually leaned on our remote workers to tell people who were used to working in an office what were some of the tips they could employ,” Kennedy said. “We just put some of those best practices into use for everyone.”
While Brand Momentum will want its staff to be in the office at least part time, Shafie says they have no intention of forcing people back. Far from it; he says working from home has actually made the company more productive.
Business leaders say smart companies will come up with arrangements that work best for their employees’ life situations, to keep them happy and productive. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
“Because many of our people were driving half an hour, an hour each way to get to the office, now these two hours they’re able to use [that] productivity for the family, for the life. So they’re happier as a result,” he said. “It’s been a transformation.”
Ultimately, no company should expect things to go back to how they were before — and any ones that do are likely to suffer for it.
Montreal-based marketing firm helloDarwin plans to go the hybrid route of having office space there for those who want it, home work for others, and a mix-and-match for everyone else. The system has worked well through the pandemic, says CEO Mathieu Plante, so they have no plans to change it.
And he has a warning for any corporate executives who long to get back to the days of valuing face time in the office over everything.
“If an employer cannot accommodate his workforce in 2021, for sure, [they] will see departures, people leaving the company.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
