As soon as her company told employees they would have to return to the office part time, Amanda Nilsson started looking for a new job.
“When they started mandating three days, I knew the writing was on the wall,” said the senior accountant who worked for a Toronto-based real-estate company. She says she felt it would be only a matter of time before three days in the office became four or five.
“I could understand why they were pushing to bring people back in the office,” said Nilsson. “But at the same time I have to do what’s in my best interests as well.”
More companies are asking workers to return to the office — for at least a few days a week — after Labour Day, citing better communication, increased productivity and a stronger company culture for the shift. But workers aren’t convinced.
After years of working from home, employees like Nilsson are pushing back because they say that the option to work remotely affords them a better quality of life.
Amanda Nilsson, a senior accountant in Toronto, said she started looking for a new job as soon as her former company asked workers to return to the office. (Laura MacNaughton/CBC)
“Once a bell has been rung, it cannot be unrung,” said McMaster University human resources and management professor Catherine Connelly.
“And once employees have had an opportunity [to] work from home, they’re going to continue to expect to be allowed to do that in the future.”
Within a month of starting her search, Nilsson had two offers from employers offering more remote work flexibility. She said she doesn’t see herself applying for any job that mandates a number of days worked in the office ever again.
“I’m exercising twice a day. I’m running five days a week. My husband’s also fully remote, so I get to spend more time with him and with our dog,” said Nilsson.
“The quality of my life had improved so much over the last three years of remote work that I just — I wasn’t ready to give that up.”
One-size-fits-all approach ‘a mistake,’ says professor
Amazon shared with CBC News comments made by CEO Andy Jassy during a pre-recorded Q&A meeting last month. Jassy told employees who defy the company’s three-days-a-week policy that their future at Amazon probably wouldn’t work out. He added that it wasn’t right for some employees to be in the office while others weren’t.
Amazon corporate workers hold picket signs next to the Amazon Spheres in Seattle while participating in a walkout to protest the company’s return-to-office policies, on May 31, 2023. (Lindsey Wasson/The Associated Press)
“Sometimes the way they [employers] think they can be fair is to have a very one-size-fits-all approach,” said Connelly. That could mean mandating all employees come in on a certain day, or a set number of days, each week.
Of the 1,622 Canadian adults surveyed, 36 per cent of respondents said they would return full time, while 31 per cent said they would go back to the office but start looking for a new job. A fifth of respondents said they would likely quit or look for a new job immediately. The survey results are considered accurate within 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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Connelly said that employees who want to leave a company because of its return-to-office policy have more remote work options than ever — especially because they are no longer limited by borders when it comes to finding a new job.
“It’s not just the competitor across the street. It could be the competitor at the other end of the province,” she said. Employees working either fully remote or fully in-person are still in the minority, she added.
Vancouver CEO says office is ‘like a ghost town’
One Vancouver company is going to try bringing in all employees on the same day every week.
Marcus New, the CEO of investment company InvestX Capital, said the firm of 30 employees is starting a return-to-work initiative he calls “Together Tuesdays” on Sept. 12.
While every employee near the company’s Vancouver and New York offices is already asked to work in the office part-time — three days a week for managers and two for everyone else — all workers will be expected to go to the office on Tuesdays. Some others still work remotely in locations where the company doesn’t have offices.
Marcus New, the CEO of Vancouver firm InvestX, said the company’s new policy of requiring everyone in office on Tuesdays will begin Sept. 12. (Mike Zimmer/CBC)
New says the company gave guidance around in-person work four to five months ago, preferring not to call it a mandate. But with a smattering of people currently coming in on different days, “it’s like a ghost town,” said New.
“We’re missing the ability for people to connect, solve problems faster, to run into each other,” he said. The company will review the guidelines in December.
But New says that the days of rigid structures around in-person work are behind us.
“I think that world’s over,” he said.
‘I need to be present’
Shama Kumar, a parent in Brampton, Ont., is inclined to agree.
The ability to work from home was advertised as a perk when Kumar began working as a manager for a company in the social work sector last year. She was looking forward to the flexibility, especially because it would give her more time with her eight-year-old son.
Shama Kumar, shown with her eight-year-old son, said she had to make a change in her work life after her company asked her to come back to the office. (Submitted by Shama Kumar)
Then in February and March, the company began pushing employees to return to the office full-time, but didn’t explain why they were making the switch, Kumar said. So, she quit the job.
“When I didn’t have a child, I had no problem working as late as anyone wanted me to. But once you have a child, you have responsibilities. You have to put them first,” she said.
Kumar said she was determined to find a company that would suit her needs. Within a month of searching, she found a new job and works remotely once or twice a week. While she’s open to working extra hours and on weekends, she wants the option to do it from home.
“I only have one son,” she said. “I need to be present with him because these are the most precious years.”
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
