With employers eager for more face-to-face time, are we ready for another round of back-to-the-office plans?

With September fast approaching, it’s time for another round of back-to-the-office planning as employers look to increase face-to-face time in person, even as many workers have fully embraced remote work and some health experts worry. for another spike in COVID-19. cases.

During the pandemic, Canada’s big banks and accounting firms have often led the way when it comes to vaccine mandates, mask wearing and hybrid work arrangements for office workers.

Now RBC, the country’s largest bank and one of Canada’s largest employers, is asking employees to come to the office in person more often — two or three days a week for most white-collar jobs. by the end of September.

More than two years into the pandemic, RBC CEO Dave McKay said this week that he recognizes that any return to the office needs to be flexible, but that working together and with clients in person has benefits.

While employees have shown they can be productive from home and by using technology to connect, McKay said in an internal memo that he wants to capture the “energy, spontaneity, great ideas, real sense of belonging and fun that comes from to create meaningful experiences. and relationships together in person.”

Most other large employers of white-collar workers contacted by Star, including the nation’s largest banks and insurers and the top four accounting firms, said they have no specific office day requirements for most roles in this moment. Manulife said its hybrid model includes teams working together in the office on “two core days” per week.

But nearly all said they support workers coming into the office and want to encourage people to meet in person when it makes sense to do so.

“There’s a lot of time where there’s energy and value in coming together,” said Jayana Darras, a partner in Deloitte Canada’s audit and assurance group and BC leader in “people and culture” for the firm.

Deloitte, which has about 11,000 employees in Canada, does not have a mandatory office time policy. But Darras said if someone doesn’t get in at all, the firm wants to understand why and will try to accommodate them.

“As an employer, we will be flexible with you, but we also need you to be flexible with us,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

Deloitte opened a new Vancouver office designed to make hybrid working easier, and Darras said when the doors opened in June, there was more demand for workers interested in coming in than the space could accommodate (they’ve since opened another floor). .

“There is no correct answer. I don’t think we’ll all be back at work. We’re also not going to go back to everyone being completely remote,” he said, noting that his comments hinged on health concerns and new waves of COVID-19.

Dr. Sameer Elsayed, a professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at Western University, said he recently attended an in-person meeting, one of only two this year, and found it “transformational” compared to virtual meetings.

“In the end, there is no substitute for being on site. But the new rule is likely to be something of a hybrid model at least for a while,” Elsayed said, adding: “While the Royal Bank plans to be flexible, which it appears to be, according to individual needs. and the roles of people, your proposal seems very reasonable to me”.

But Elsayed cautions that to reap those benefits, it’s crucial to have a safe workplace to return to, and that includes vaccine mandates (he says they should include three doses of vaccine), masking policies and rules about social distancing.

“A lot of people are afraid to go back to work, a small minority are not, because we are still dealing with waves of COVID and we may have another wave in the future.” (Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said the seventh wave of the pandemic in the province had peaked in early August.)

Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist at the Temerty School of Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, hopes COVID will “get worse before it goes away again.”

“I think where it’s possible to keep people out of an office environment where there is a risk of transmitting COVID … it would make sense for people to continue to work from home,” Banerji said, adding that for frontline workers who they have not been possible

He said that nurses are exhausted after two and a half years of the pandemic and that hospitals are at capacity and children are going back to school soon: “If people can do what they can to reduce the spread, that it would be better”.

In July, 24.2 per cent of Canadian employees worked from home, up slightly from June, according to Statistics Canadawhich he said could be due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in July.

RBC spokesman Rafael Ruffolo said by email Wednesday that the bank is taking public health concerns into account when making its decisions. “The health and well-being of employees and customers remains our top priority and we continue to monitor developments related to COVID-19.”

He said RBC vaccination requirements were lifted in March, noting: “In accordance with public health guidance, protocols related to masks, distancing, vaccinations, and daily pre-screening have been lifted in most regions. ”.

RBC “encourages employees who are more comfortable wearing a mask on the premises to do so, especially those who may have health considerations, including risk factors for themselves or their family members,” Ruffolo said.

COVID concerns aside, Andrew Caldwell, a human resources adviser at Peninsula Canada, said employers who want to bring reluctant workers back into the office can try to make it easier for people to get in, for example by giving notice. ahead of time and by scheduling an in-person meeting once every two weeks and then slowly increasing the time in the office.

“This is definitely the direction most businesses are going now, getting back to a sense of normalcy,” said Caldwell, who works with small and medium-sized businesses. “But I would say take it slow and steady instead of an absolute hammer fist mentality, kind of need to do it now.”

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