Benefits, and limitations, of teleworking
By Brian Myles, Le Devoir
Fall will mark the gradual return to the office of hundreds of thousands of workers
Unless the progression of variants turns plans upside down, the fall will mark the gradual return to the office of hundreds of thousands of workers who have been confined to their homes by the pandemic, in whole or in part, for 18 months. Employers and workers are anticipating this “new norm” in a world where nothing will be the same.
Telecommuting is here for good. Employees who have worked in the comfort of their home have taken a liking to it and they appreciate this newfound flexibility. Fewer hours lost in traffic, less commotion at the time of departure and return home for parents of young children. Greater ease of reconciling family and personal obligations. A new autonomy in task accomplishment.
Truly, the pandemic has allowed us to discover a whole new way of looking at our relationship to work which undermines organizations attached to hierarchical management practices.
Internal and external polls show that workers will no longer want to go back and come back to the office five days a week: this way of working will now only suit a minority. A soft consensus is forming around a “hybrid model”. In this one, the least generous companies go for one to two days of telework per week, while the most permissive opt for three days of telework.
A few weeks ago, the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, and Labour Minister, Jean Boulet, The Legault government, which trade unionists at heart are wary of for its ideas a little more to the right on the political spectrum, has surprised more than one by favouring the mode three days at home, two days at the office, over one. voluntary basis. The return will be gradual starting September 7. Coincidence or not, Le Devoir has adopted an almost identical policy for its staff.
The Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ) welcomed the policy, but it was choosy in deploring that state employees cannot decide on the schedule of their choice. There is still a statute for this kind of arrangement in labour law, and that is of self-employed worker.
Teleworking remains a privilege and not a right. To employers who are wondering how far the return to work negotiations will go with employees, Minister Boulet gave some instructive information during his press scrum with his colleague Sonia LeBel, specified the terms of the return to work for the 60,000 Quebec civil servants . He confirmed that the adoption of a teleworking policy fell under the employer's “right of management”. "It's a decision that will ultimately come back to the employer, but it must be done in a cooperative manner," he said. On the other hand, teleworking does not offer "a blank cheque" to modify working conditions, hence the importance of respecting equity principles.
For the government, the advantages of teleworking are undeniable for recruiting and retaining labour, limiting the need for rental spaces and contributing in an original way to improving the energy balance. For employers, teleworking involves special requirements which employees do not always fully understand.
A recent study released by the firm LifeWorks (formerly known as Morneau Shepell) found that nearly half of business leaders and managers were considering quitting their current jobs, and a quarter were considering quitting in the short term. Pressure, the feeling of loss of control over their schedule and the overload of work are among the reasons mentioned.
The start of the school year will mark the test of reality for the hybrid model. Over the past 18 months, we weren't so much telecommuting as we were forced to telecommute by the force of containment. Now that life is back on track, we're rediscovering what we've missed most: socializing. However, workplaces are one of the favourite places where human interactions is fundamental to our well-being take place.
The enthusiasm generated by teleworking should not make us forget that many factors militate for a variable return to the office: the feeling of belonging, cohesion and communication, innovation, well-being. Each company should be free to invent the formula to find the right balance between the pursuit of its strategic objectives and the expectations of the employees.
In this world where nothing will be the same, employers have every interest in increasing the number of initiatives to stimulate staff interest in returning to the office. We have reconciled work and family, and now we will have to devote ourselves to finding original formulas to ensure that returning to the office is an opportunity to reconcile work and pleasure. The hybrid model will further disrupt our relationship to work. Let us give ourselves time, flexibility and freedom so that this new laboratory is fruitful, both for employers and for staff members.