Key Takeaways:
- Employers are attempting to devise post-pandemic contingency plans.
- Noah Arney has changed jobs, moved provinces, and returned to the office in the last year.
As a result, he’s benefited from office and home-based work, including when he started his new job in Kamloops, British Columbia.
“I was able to change jobs without having to relocate my family in January and if you’ve ever been in Calgary in January, it’s a good thing not to have to do that,” said Arney, a career development professional who later relocated to British Columbia. Arney is back in an office, which suits him as he makes new connections and learns the ropes of his new job. “It’s been an odd experience, but I’ve enjoyed it,” Arney said.
Employers across Canada are attempting to map out what is best for their organizations in a post-pandemic era regarding how they will structure their work arrangements in the future and how this will affect employees.
On the other hand, employers are under pressure to embrace a more flexible future, and it appears that some larger organizations are listening.
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Microsoft Canada expects the future to be different for its more than 4,000 Canadian employees.
“We believe extreme flexibility and hybrid work will define the post-pandemic workplace,” said Microsoft spokesperson Lisa Gibson in an email to News.
Gibson stated that Microsoft was prepared for remote work before COVID-19 and that some of its employees did a job outside the office on occasion. However, she said that during the pandemic, “the overwhelming majority” worked from home full-time.
As the pandemic subsides and the company resumes entire operations, most employees will be able to work from home at least half of the time and they will not require managerial approval to do so. The goal for corporate team members who are still working from home is to spend more time in the office as soon as mid-January.
In an emailed statement, Tara Lockyer, ATB’s chief people officer, said that the financial institution, which employs over 5,000 people, has a “strong desire” for its corporate team members to work in the office at least some of the time.
Source: CBC News
