Return to the office: Expert encourages public sector to make quicker decisions

The way we work will change again as public health restrictions continue to ease, and experts say the private sector will likely make decisionsfaster than the public sector.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced workers out of offices and into their homes, it raised the new possibility of working from home as a permanent option.

Employers are now grappling with how to move forward, and one employment expertsays itwill showcase the difference between publicly owned and privately ownedorganizations.

In early March, the Treasury Board of Canadareleased a statement sayingdepartments and agencies could start planning toreturn to offices, puttingthe decision of who goes back and when in the hands of each individual department.

Some companies, meanwhile, such as Shopify, decided early in the pandemic to make the permanent moveto a remote work environment.

Linda Duxbury, a professor in management and strategy at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, said the private sector has an advantage over public employers.

"[The public sector]second-guess themselves way too much, which means they don't move at the speed they need to," she said.

"They're much more cautious about their approach."

It shouldn't all be about the employee and it shouldn't all be about the job. Linda Duxbury, Carleton University

Duxbury said perception may play too great a role when it comes to public-sector decision making.

"They should be a little braver and they should stop worrying," she said.

"The public will think that you're doing what you've got to do to get and keep good people."

Think about employees andtheir duties

Duxbury's research on remote work during the pandemic, which involved data from more than 26,000 Canadian workers, shows roughly one quarter of employees want to get back to the office full time, andanother quarter never want to go back again.

Making the decision aboutreturning to the office, permanently movingto remote work, or a hybrid model has to take into consideration boththe job and the person doing it, Duxbury said.

"It shouldn't all be about the employee and it shouldn't all be about the job," she said.

"Public and private sector, the more that people are good employees, the more that their skills are valued in the workplace, the more the organization has to actually be looking at the same kinds of things."

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Linda Duxbury, a professor at Carleton Universitys Sprott School of Business, says most employees are likely not willing to return to the office full time, something employers will have to reckon with as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

That's a sentiment shared by Envirocentre, an environmental non-profitin Ottawa, according to the organization's executive director.

Some people want to work in the office and others don't have the space to work from home, so organizations need to consider these possibilities, said Sharon Coward.

"Check in with your employees before you make that decision to see where they're at because people are really different," she said.

The environmental benefits had already led Envirocentre to use a hybrid model when the pandemic forced people out of offices.

"Many of our staff were already working from home one or two days a week, which made it a really easy transition for us to when we locked down as a world, as a culture, we all moved to working 100 per cent from home," Coward said.

One of the major benefits for all our employees is the saved time in commutes. Sharon Coward, Envirocentre

"We really made the decision to transition pretty quickly as we moved into the pandemic period, because we recognized that the culture was shifting and that the remote working culture really worked for Envirocentre."

More than environmental benefits

Coward said they sold the office and estimates the organization cut emissions by about 75 per cent, but the positives went beyond the environment.

"One of the major benefits for all our employees is the saved time in commutes," Coward said.

"You take that out of the workday and that gives you a big chunk of time that you can now spend with your family focusing on healthy activities, ideally."

People are cranky and grumpy, it doesn't matter what sector they're in. Linda Duxbury, Carleton University

But the move didn't come withoutchallenges.

Coward said the lack of social connection was difficult, especially because many people in the office were friends as well as co-workers.

It's particularly challenging for newer employees who have never worked with their co-workers in person, and who look to work as a way to expandtheir social circles.

To combat that, employees havea weekly check-in and they don't follow strict agendas at virtual meetings.

"This is the only time we see each other. This is our work office now," she said.

"We want that to happen to encourage relationships ...encouraging all the different kinds of communication."

'Cranky and grumpy' workers

Though public sector employers have often had the advantage of offering stability and job security to prospective workers, Duxbury said that's becoming less important.

"People are cranky and grumpy, it doesn't matter what sector they're in, and we have to recognize that. And people are not going to wait forever," she said.

"The government has got the golden handcuffs, but they're maybe made of plastic now. They're more susceptible to breaking than they've ever been."

She also pointed out this debate leaves out a substantial proportion of the workforce: those who have had to go to the workplace throughout all or most of the pandemic.

"My data would say, these essential workers who've actually been going in this whole last two years are getting really fed up and a little ticked off that the discussion is all about return to work," she said.

"Stop assuming it's two groups of people."