Jul. 4, 2022 "Why your options may be limited if your employer wants you back in the workplace": Today I found this article by Geoff Nixon on CBC news:
The pandemic necessity of doing your job away from the workplace is ending as restrictions and mandates ease and employers refocus on getting people back to in-person work.
While employers can wind down temporary measures, they should also consider how the work environment has changed since COVID-19 took hold early in 2020, that flexible arrangements have proved to be possible, and how employees may feel about going back to in-person work, experts in Canada say.
"Employees have proven — at least in their own minds — that they are as productive, if not more productive, working from home," said Janet Candido, a Toronto-based human resources (HR) consultant.
"So, that's where the pushback is."
Agreements are agreements
Nadia Zaman, an employment lawyer with Rudner Law in Markham, Ont., said she and her colleagues have fielded an increasing number of return-to-workplace questions in recent months.
"Employers can generally dictate whether the employee can work from home or must return to the office — whether fully or on a hybrid model — unless there was an agreement to the contrary," Zaman said in an interview.
There are some exceptions, mostly limited to legitimate needs for accommodation or concrete concerns about safety.
But Zaman said "employees do not have the right to choose where they work unless they already had that right" prior to the pandemic.
A changing work world
The prolonged stretch of time employees have spent working at home is part of a wider context of change.
Matthew Fisher, an employment lawyer and partner at the Toronto-based Lecker & Associates, said many employees have learned "there can be a different way, that there can be flexibility, that there can be remote work."
He predicts some employees will point to the success of alternative arrangements when employers ask them to get back to in-person work — and that may be part of eventual legal challenges alleging constructive dismissal, when an employee feels they've been forced to leave the job because of job requirements.
In an interview with CBC's Canada Tonight, Fisher said employees can tell their bosses: "You have broken a very fundamental aspect of our employment relationship that I do the best I can, but I have a level of flexibility that I can work remotely."
Zaman said it's more likely that will happen as such arrangements continue, particularly if the employer has not clearly communicated that alternative working arrangements are temporary.
"One way that employers can make sure that they are protecting themselves
... is to clearly communicate to employees that remote work is only continuing as an interim measure due to the pandemic and its after-effects,
and that workers will be expected to return to the office at some point,"
said Zaman.
Candido, founder and principal of an HR consulting group, said she advises clients to ensure this messaging gets repeated "a couple of times a year," for the very reason Zaman outlined.
Persuasion can be helpful
Beyond any legal context, employers have reason to convey their plans to employees — if only to drive home the fact that change is coming, experts said.
Winny Shen, an associate professor of organization studies at York University's Schulich School of Business in Toronto, recommends that organizations share with staff why workplace requirements are changing.
"I think sometimes organizations just say, 'We want everyone back in the office,' but they're not very explicit on why ... they feel it's a compelling need or maybe who they really think needs to be back at the office."
That communication also gives employees a chance to
assess the information
and possibly provide feedback,
which could include employees highlighting
"some of the things that the organization hasn't thought of."
Look to negotiation
Where there are divides between what employees want and what their employers demand, both sides should look at what's possible under the circumstances, said Candido.
"Don't draw a line in the sand — just try and negotiate," said Candido. For example, employees can bring up the idea of easing their way back into the workplace, she said, and employers should make a point of hearing them out.
"Employers shouldn't dismiss employee concerns and probably won't if they're presented in more of a co-operative manner."
Retaining staff is also a consideration when employers make long-term work-arrangement decisions, experts said.
David Kraichy, an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan's Edwards School of Business, said employers who continue to offer flexible work plans may find it easier to recruit talent.
Employees who don't agree with their current employer's return-to-work plan "may have more of a desire to look elsewhere," said Kraichy.
Why your options may be limited if your employer wants you back in the workplace | CBC News
Jul. 6, 2022 "If you work from home Monday and Friday, there's a tawdry nickname for you": Today I found this article by Danielle Nerman on CBC news:
A trend is emerging among Canadian employees who split their time between working in their home and downtown offices — and it has gained a crude nickname.
When given the choice, more hybrid workers are staying in their soft pants on Mondays and Fridays while dressing up the rest of the week.
This new kind of work schedule has become so popular, it's given rise to a crude abbreviation.
It's an acronym, made up of the first letters of the days of the week that these employees are in the office, that forms a slang term for female genitalia: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Better than WTF (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)
Using anonymized location data from cellular phones, commercial real estate firm Avison Young has been tracking the gradual return of downtown workers in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
Over the last five months, foot traffic in those urban centres was
heaviest on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
— and lightest on Mondays and Fridays.
A similar pattern was seen in May on public transit in three Canadian cities. In Toronto, average boarding numbers on subway trains were 663,000 on Mondays versus 751,000 on Thursdays.
Also in May, there were noticeably fewer passengers taking the Toronto subway southbound from the Bloor-Yonge station into the downtown core on Mondays and Fridays, compared to Wednesdays and Thursdays.
People boarding buses and trains set to depart downtown Vancouver between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. would peak in the middle of the week and drop off on Mondays and Fridays, according to numbers from TransLink.
Ridership on Calgary buses followed a similar pattern, peaking mid-week and dropping on Mondays and Fridays, according to numbers from the city.
TW-T workers mean coffee sales are down
With more employees setting their own schedules and working from home Mondays and Fridays, some businesses who rely on office workers are feeling the pinch — such as Cecile Lau's coffee kiosks, which are located within Calgary's network of downtown walkways.
"So [over] the last month, Mondays and Fridays are doing half of the sales compared to
mid-week— Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays,"
said Lau.
"It's like we're operating four days. But it's an expense on the fifth day, because even if it's slow, I have to put staff here."
The caffeine purveyor said she is also getting fewer requests to cater corporate lunches on Mondays and Fridays,
which she calls a big blow after having made it through two lean years of pandemic restrictions and office closures.
Lau would like to see the TW-T crowd turn back into a MTWTF crowd.
She told CBC Radio's The Cost of Living that it would be much nicer if all her customers came back, saw each other's smiling faces and met in person. They'd also be able to more readily enjoy the benefits of enjoying a coffee in person, rather than over a video call.
"Smell the aroma," said Lau.
Soft pants preferred on Monday and Friday: survey
Between April 11 and May 2, 2022, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) surveyed riders about their intentions as they transitioned from working from home full-time to a hybrid arrangement.
When asked which days riders preferred to work from home,
the majority surveyed said Friday,
followed closely by Monday.
Wednesday and Thursday ranked below Monday and Friday,
with the least popular day to work from home being Tuesday.
A manager with the Business Development Bank of Canada, who asked to remain anonymous as he did not have permission to speak for his employer, said nearly everyone on his team follows a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday work-from-home schedule.
"After the weekend, you can relax, sleep in [and] take your time. And then Fridays, stop working and enjoy the weekend," he told The Cost of Living.
'High-trust environment' can work for a TW-T
Employers such as software firm Wave Financial said even if employees are easing into their week (and weekends) by working from home on Mondays and Fridays, it doesn't mean they're not getting their work done.
"We have a high-trust environment," said Ashira Gobrin, the company's chief people and culture officer, from her home in Toronto.
"Everybody has proved that we can work productively from home."
Wave Financial has about 350 employees across North America. Before the pandemic, those workers travelled to their offices daily. But since then, the company has adopted a hybrid approach.
"We don't want to tell people they have to be back on these days, or at these times.
We'd like people to retain the flexibility that they've so much enjoyed,
and be able to take ownership of which spaces are the best for their work,"
said Gobrin.
Hybrid work is now a fact of life for many companies, according to Cissy Pau, a principal consultant at Clear HR Consulting in Vancouver.
Pau's perspective is that managers who mandate workers to return to the office on certain days need to be prepared to lose staff,
because, right now, in the face of labour shortages in some sectors, many employees hold the cards.
"I think there's going to be employees that say, 'I'm not doing that. That's just not going to work with my life,'" said Pau.
"They've had the flexibility for two years and …
employees can vote with their feet, they can walk,
because there's such a shortage of talent."
If you work from home Monday and Friday, there's a tawdry nickname for you | CBC Radio
My opinion: This stood out to me the most because I used to work in restaurants in downtown in City Centre mall or by it. After the pandemic, downtown and City Centre mall is very quiet.
"So [over] the last month, Mondays and Fridays are doing half of the sales compared to
mid-week— Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays,"
said Lau.
"It's like we're operating four days. But it's an expense on the fifth day, because even if it's slow, I have to put staff here."
The caffeine purveyor said she is also getting fewer requests to cater corporate lunches on Mondays and Fridays,
which she calls a big blow after having made it through two lean years of pandemic restrictions and office closures.
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