For many employees in the National Capital Region, the coming months will consist of shutting down home offices, buying a new work wardrobe and mapping out commutes as employers prepare to bring staff back to the office full-time. Over the summer, many public- and private-sector workplaces announced plans to start a phased approach to returning […]
For many employees in the National Capital Region, the coming months will consist of shutting down home offices, buying a new work wardrobe and mapping out commutes as employers prepare to bring staff back to the office full-time.
Over the summer, many public- and private-sector workplaces announced plans to start a phased approach to returning employees to the office full-time, with the new year potentially looking much like it did pre-pandemic in Ottawa’s downtown and elsewhere in the city.
For most employees, it’s been five long years since they were in the office full-time, so how will they be feeling and what should business leaders do to accommodate and anticipate?
According to Ottawa-based consultant Andrea Greenhous, for some employees the change will be similar to grieving a loss.
“It’s going to be a big change. It’s going to be emotional for employees. Employees are used to their home routines. They’re used to being able to pick up their kids. They’re used to not having to drive through traffic and pay for parking,” said Greenhous, CEO of Vision2Voice.
At the same time, there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach to return-to-office, said Linda Duxbury, chancellor’s professor of management at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business.
“Different people will respond differently … It really depends on people’s personal circumstances, how close they live to the office, whether they have kids, etcetera,” she said.
According to Carol Ring, executive coach and CEO of Ottawa-based The Culture Connection, the biggest challenge lies in having employees accept the change.
“They enjoy the lifestyle that they’ve been able to achieve. It may be a long commute or they may lack flexibility. It may be more stressful to come back to the office,” Ring said. “The opportunity is really to upskill leaders in their change management and communication skills to help with the transition.”
Why go back?
For employers, Duxbury argues that returning to work with colleagues in-person can help foster connection and productivity.
“Some businesses that I have worked with are noticing people don’t identify with the organization anymore. They don’t feel attached or connected. Younger people who’ve been hired have no connection at all because they’ve gone in (to the office),” Duxbury said.
“For some businesses, if they manage it correctly, it will increase pride in where (employees) work. It’s not just a job or a paycheque, but it is doing something that they can identify with, with people they like.”
Returning to in-person work models can also facilitate certain tasks and give employees a chance to be creative.
“We also know from research that a lot of jobs that are being done remotely, shouldn’t be. So, firing people, giving people critical feedback, dealing with conflict, brainstorming, creative work – all these things are better done in the office. Many businesses are hoping for greater innovation (and) greater creativity,” Duxbury said, adding that the adoption of AI tools should eliminate the need for employees to spend time on repetitive tasks and allow them to do more strategic work.
However, while many workplaces have cited the need to improve culture as a reason for returning to the office, Ring said that it isn’t always enough to bring employees on-board.
“The most important change management aspect is, these employees that you want to collaborate with and bring back to the office, they need to understand what’s in it for me?” she said.
And so even if employees return to the office, it doesn’t necessarily translate to improved workplace culture or collaboration, she added.
“Just because somebody walks through the door and is now sitting at a workstation, it doesn’t automatically change the culture. If you didn’t have collaboration before, you’re not going to have collaboration just because you’re bringing people under the same roof,” she said. “There’s a huge opportunity for leaders to actually walk the talk and commit to enhancing their culture.”
Flexibility on both sides
For employees disgruntled by return-to-office, Duxbury said employers should require them to make the “business case” for why they should retain a hybrid or remote work model, adding that employees have lost sight that remote work has always been a privilege.
“Companies allowed people to work from home, but the people they allowed to work from home were their high-performers who could be trusted to still deliver really good, high-quality work in a timely fashion … If you still want to work from home, have a civil discussion with your manager. Don’t say it’s because of childcare. Don’t say it’s because you save money on parking or gas or lunch. What the employer cares about is, ‘Show me how you can deliver on your objectives better from home than in the office,” she said.
At the same time, employers should take care with the language and attitude they use when navigating this change so as to avoid causing conflict with their workforce, Ring cautioned.
“By definition, the word ‘mandate’ is pretty authoritarian. If you’re trying to create a culture of collaboration using words like mandate, it won’t be conducive to what you’re trying to achieve,” she said.
Improving collaboration begins with speaking with employees about how RTO can be made easier, Ring added. “Can you demonstrate that you actually want to partner with your employees as opposed to being that authoritarian leader? I think there’s definitely a model out there where you can bring in some flexibility, where you can understand what your employees’ needs are and try to find ways to collaborate,” she said.
Greenhous said leaders should try to find ways to give employees agency, or options.
“‘Can I change my hours so that I can avoid traffic? If my kid needs to stay home from school, can I stay home with them?’ Those are the kinds of things that (will give) people agency and flexibility … You hire smart, professional people (and you) need to trust that they’re going to show up for you every day and work hard for you.”
Talent retention a key issue
Some workplaces that have had success with hybrid or remote work models will continue to use them, which may tempt some employees to leave an in-office job for one that allows them to continue working from home.
Recent data by Robert Half shows that about 26 per cent of professionals in Canada are looking or planning to look for a new role as RTO mandates become more common.
Ring said employers should not try to emulate the pre-pandemic work world. “I think it’s a real challenge for a lot of companies who may (think) it’s easier to return back to what we know and what we had before, as opposed to really trying to understand how you can make hybrid and remote (work models) work and to learn from those doing it successfully.”
Julie Guindon, a fractional HR consultant at FlexHR in Ottawa, said employees should make a list of the pros and cons of working remote or hybrid and working in the office full-time to better understand where their priorities lie.
“Maybe this is a time to reflect on the real reasons why you chose this employer and what is important to you. Maybe your priorities are changing. If remote work is at the top of that list and your employer is no longer offering it, maybe it’s time to look for something else,” she said.
Guindon noted that many small and medium-sized businesses aren’t adopting the five-days-a-week in-office model. In July, a report from KPMG showed that only 20 per cent of Canadian small businesses surveyed were thinking of asking employees to go back to the office full-time.
“So that means 80 per cent aren’t,” Guindon said. “That’s what I’ve been experiencing in my client base. All of my clients say that they’re not changing anything and continuing with hybrid models. Employees have clear goals, they know what to expect. They feel heard. They love coming to the office and feeling that connection, but also having that flexibility to work from home. I think it’s a win-win.”
For employees unhappy with their organization’s RTO mandate, Guindon said smaller organizations that plan on keeping their hybrid work models might start to look more attractive.
“The small to medium-sized companies have an advantage right now. They’re more human-centred. They want to sit at the table with employees and hear their feedback and come up with solutions that work for both sides so that both sides can thrive,” she said.
If employees make the switch, they need to adjust their expectations, she added. “New employees coming in have to have realistic expectations because you are working for a smaller organization and they might not have all the benefits that you might be used to when working at a larger organization.”
In scenarios such as these, employers risk losing top talent.
“Some employees who do jobs where there’s simply not enough people who can do those jobs, they have negotiating power … Now the problem that we’re going to have from that is inequity based on how much your employer values you,” Duxbury said.
Another impact could be “quiet quitting,” when an employee chooses to reduce their productivity by only accomplishing core duties as an act of protest, Ring said.
For leaders wanting to ensure the transition is a smooth one, experts agree they need to listen to employees and even sweeten the deal for them to return to the office.
“I think a missing piece in all of this has been actually listening to the employees and understanding, ‘What are your pain points? How is this going to be difficult for you?’ and taking the time to implement some policies or supports for people,” Greenhous said, pointing to examples such as having free coffee at the office or implementing on-site daycare.
Understanding is key to smooth transition
Ultimately, leaders must be sensitive to how to manage a variety of reactions.
“The first thing I would say to any employer is to be aware that you have to manage different groups with different needs. There’s not going to be one reaction to this and you have to be sensitive to the fact that there’s going to be a variation,” Duxbury said.
Employees should also try to understand the employer’s side.
“Employees need to put their business hat on and try to look at the business side. They’re not necessarily the bad guys, even though they might look like it now. By telling everybody to come back full-time, they’re trying to run a profitable business,” Guindon said.
Employers need to make the transition as palatable as possible, Greenhous said. “The trick is to minimize the negatives and maximize the positives. Don’t bring everybody into the office to be on Zoom calls all day. Create those conditions for people to work together.
“There is a strong correlation between happiness and workers thriving and their productivity … If you’re (bringing people back to the office) at the expense of people’s well-being, your innovation and productivity is going to suffer,” she added. 
