Attract workers by keeping them away

Remote working may be the best perk to bring top talent into the workplace

It may not be the futuristic nap pod, electric scooter or ping-pong table of Silicon Valley lore, but many Canadian companies will be offering a new perk to help recruit and retain workers in the post-pandemic economy.

Let them stay away!

The ability to work from home, or the cottage or beach, that workers enjoyed during COVID-19 lockdowns will be key to keeping and attracting top talent in the future world of work, experts say.

“There’s a labour shortage of highly qualified workers in a number of industries, and companies are having to struggle hard to recruit and maintain (the best employees),” says York University economist Maxim Voronov.

“And so I certainly would expect this flexible work arrangement consideration to be incorporated into their efforts to (entice) the top people,” says Voronov, a professor of organization studies at York’s Schulich School of Business.

Voronov says scores of company surveys and government reports have shown that, following their pandemic experience, many members of the working population prefer to do their jobs remotely, at least part of the time.

And, he says, they’ll be loath to give up that flexibility and might well up and leave if their employers take it away.

“Employees have been demanding more flexible working arrangements for years, (but) most companies, except for the more progressive, adventurous ones, used to find it to be too difficult to accomplish,” Voronov says.

“But, of course, it’s harder to take things away from people than to give it to them … and I certainly don’t expect employees to stop demanding flexible work arrangements.”

While no one is certain how the hybrid experience will play out, a Statistics Canada report released in April gives a good indication of its potential popularity.

The report said the number of employees working most of their hours

from home at the beginning of this year stood at 32 per cent, compared to just four per cent in 2016.

Of those, the vast majority, some 90 per cent, said they were at least as productive working remotely as they were before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and 80 per cent said they’d prefer to work at least half their time out of office once the virus fades.

Julie McCarthy, a professor of organizational behaviour and human resource management at the University of Toronto, says the availability of flexible work will vary from industry to industry, and job to job.

“But I do think it’s something that we’re going to see become much more common and I do think it has its advantages,” says McCarthy, of U of T’s Rotman School of Management.

“In many cases, when workers are surveyed, they like the hybrid model in the sense that there’s more autonomy,” says McCarthy, as it allows those who can work remotely to choose when and where they can do their best work.

“Is the 9 to 5, Monday to Friday workday really the most effective method? The answer in many cases is no,” she says.

“We need to really critically evaluate what works best for our people and, I think in hybrid models, it requires organizations to trust employees, to give them autonomy to be able to schedule the work they are doing.”

Toronto employment lawyer Ryan Watkins says offering the flexibility to work remotely at least part of the time will be akin to the lure of arcades and scooters at hip Silicon Valley campuses, in effect.

“I think the reason why we’re seeing some flexibility now with employers is that this is what employees are demanding; they’ve tasted it and they don’t want to go back,” says Watkins, a partner at the Toronto firm Whitten & Lublin.

“In retaining talent, this is one of the key factors now. It’s too bad for employers that the pandemic has caused this, but that’s where we’re at.”

Watkins says the time is especially ripe for employees to make flexible work demands, with many sectors of the economy having a dearth of topdrawer workers to fill an increasing number of open positions.

“It looks like the employees are on top right now, whereas before employers could dictate these things,” he says. “And, yeah, if employees don’t like it, they will resign and look for something else. There’s a lot of jobs out there right now.”

Watkins, who spoke this month at an Ontario Bar Association workshop on the subject, says flexible work will vary from company to company in its availability and makeup, depending on the needs of the organization.

The profession of law is unlikely to see much of this.

“I think the answer (of flexible work in law firms) is ‘no.’ And we’ve seen this already with women,” he says.

“A lot of women in law firms are afraid to take maternity leave or just getting pregnant, having children early on in their career.”

And that fear of slipping off the partnership track will likely cause young lawyers of both sexes to plant themselves in their offices once they’re allowed to return, Watkins says.

“If the keeners are coming into the office, but others want to work from home to have some type of balance, there could be some type of black mark on those who decide to do that.”

In her role as national director of talent development at the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais, Sindy Peixoto is determined that lawyers who choose to work at home at her agency will not face this “out of sight, out of mind” discrimination.

“There’s definitely the risk of creating second-class citizens,” says Peixoto, whose firm has offices in five of Canada’s largest cities. “That’s a danger and we have to make sure if we’re going hybrid, which probably most of us will … that opportunities are available equally.”

Peixoto says it’s up to companies to develop models, tailored to their own needs, of training and engagement that embrace hybrid workers as much as those who hunker at their office desks.

“Given the tectonic shift the pandemic has created, talent management is now among the top five priorities for most organizations, irrespective of their industries,” she says.

“So L&D (learning and development) will have to take a more strategic and active role to help employees … navigate the new workplace.”

U of T’s McCarthy notes that remote work is not for everybody and that many who were forced to make the switch are yearning to get back to their desks, at least for part of the time.

“Humans have an innate need for autonomy, (but we also) have an innate need to interact and to see one another,” she says. “And many workers and many researchers have suggested feelings of isolation and loneliness, and reductions in the feelings of connection with other employees, have been cause for stress and anxiety.”

McCarthy also some office work is important for maintaining cohesion and loyalty among employees, but the amount is likely to vary greatly from company to company.

“In one hybrid model, it might mean that people are spending 50 per cent of their time physically in the office and, in another, it might only be spending 15 per cent or 20 per cent,” she says.

“But, as data is being collected and feedback from organizations and employees is increasing, it’s very clear that those interpersonal, face-to-face interactions (are important).”

Peixoto says the office will remain a critical hub for most companies and that many employees will, doubtless, return post-pandemic.

“The world (however) will not return to it’s pre-COVID norm … (and) businesses and law firms around the world are being pretty strategic about creating new roles for the nature of work,” she says.

“Most businesses and law firms seem to understand that flexibility is imperative. If they want to have the proper talent strategy to move forward they need to accept flexibility.”

For many workers, the office could become a kind of “offsite” morale and team-building station (minus the drinking) that employee retreats provided in the past, Peixoto says.

She agrees that work flexibility, or the offer of a hybrid office/home choice, will be a key to attracting and keeping talent in a world where competition for top workers is fierce.

The challenge is to create hybrid environments that allow for maximum customer service, professional development and worker engagement.

Lessons learned during the pandemic, especially in the development and use of technologies to communicate and connect remotely, will be essential.

York U’s Voronov says most companies needn’t worry about losing the beneficial cohesion and loyalty, or sense of shared purpose, that working long hours together might instill in their employees.

“I can see the intuitive sense that we have to have this physical co-presence in order to have shared identity, shared values and loyalty to the company,” he says. “But I think that oversimplifies the nature of the loyalty that people have to companies. It comes not just from physical co-presence but from the feeling that the company actually cares for you as an employee.”

Voronov points out that, in a world where countless multinational and countrywide companies have branches scattered all over, there’s really nothing new about employees being separated and loyal.

“We really know quite a bit about how to manage the cohesion and loyalty and the organizational culture when not everybody is present at the same location,” he says.

Many companies, having found productivity didn’t suffer with employees at home during lockdowns, will be less likely to object to the practice continuing.

“My clients are telling me they haven’t seen a drop off in productivity at all,” says Watkins. “In fact, it may be the opposite, because employees are not having to commute long distances, they can still balance work and maybe take a break here and there, whereas at the office they feel they’re chained to their desks.”

Peixoto says the decision to work from home or office will come down to individual choice.

“It’s all about working where you work best,” she says.

The challenge is to create hybrid environments that allow for maximum customer service, professional development and worker engagement