Features Accommodation/Return-to-work Future of Work
Returning to the office with Jodi Kovitz

It’s been more than four years since organizations closed their doors and asked employees to work from home for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though there were definitely growing pains as employers and employees alike adapted to fully remote work, by and large, we figured it out. Then came the speculation that fully remote work would, in fact, be the future of work, persisting long after COVID-19 ceased to be a public health emergency. For a while, that seemed to be true. Social distancing rules and mask mandates lapsed, but many Canadians continued working from home – until recently.

Lately, we’ve seen a new wave of return-to-office mandates, and some organizations have started upping the number of days hybrid employees must work from the office. So, when I had a chance to chat with Jodi Kovitz, CEO of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), my first question was “why now?”

“There’s no one answer to that. I believe some companies are really feeling that [being in the office] cultivates a more inclusive environment, a culture of belonging,” says Kovitz. “It’s not just about presence – it’s really about that connection. In the research I’ve done and certainly my own experience, spending some time together in real life, to the extent possible, does foster innovation and collaboration and enable an inclusive environment, particularly with respect to mentoring, coaching and advancement.”

“I also think organizations are trying to be mindful of employee needs,” she added. “There is an epidemic of loneliness. There are lots of research studies saying people are actually lonelier or more isolated than ever before – even more so than at the height of the pandemic.”

One of those studies is the Telus Mental Health Index, a monthly online survey of 3,000 people in Canada who are currently employed or who were employed in the six months before the survey. In the August 2024 edition (the latest month for which data is available) the sub-score for isolation sat at 58.6 out of a maximum possible score of 100. That’s lower than the score of 60.2 recorded in April 2020, when much of the country was under strict lockdowns.

“I’ve seen many anecdotes of people who want to work at home because that’s what they’re comfortable with, but they’re also extremely lonely and disengaged,” Kovitz says. “So, there’s the business results, yes, but then there’s how you enable people to thrive.”

Leveraging the most multi-generational workforce in history

Today’s workforce comprises an unprecedented five generations, adding a layer of complexity for organizations trying to re-imagine the future of work.

Though she hesitates to generalize, Kovitz acknowledges that each generation typically has at least a few unique wants and needs. For older workers, it may be the comfortable routine of heading into an office five days a week, meeting with colleagues face-to-face, and then logging off and heading home at the end of the day. On the other hand, younger workers – especially those who started their first professional jobs during the pandemic – may place a high value on flexibility in where and when they work.

Employee pulse surveys and engagement and belonging scores can be powerful tools to uncover how your employees feel about their current working arrangements and any changes you may be considering.

“Our people are our greatest asset, especially now in this country,” Kovitz says. “When we think about the prosperity of Canada in the future, it’s important for us to retain our people. Because they can now work across the border and just do it on Zoom.”

In Kovitz’s opinion, one powerful way to retain talent is to be intentional about learning and development. That includes creating conditions where knowledge transfer and mentoring can happen between employees.

“Right now, with the five generations in the workforce, there’s so much knowledge to be transferred, and that’s hard to do on a Zoom call,” says Kovitz. She believes spending time with colleagues in person enables this knowledge transfer to happen organically – if employees can flex the social muscles that allow them to build authentic connections in the workplace.

To that end, Kovitz says everyone, including leadership, needs to build time into their office-based days to pause, walk around, have coffee with someone or eat lunch in the lunchroom instead of at their desk. This, she stresses, is the difference between mere presence and genuine connection.

No one-size-fits-all solutions

Fully remote. Hybrid with common anchor days in the office. In the office five days a week. Whatever your current arrangement looks like, and regardless of what options you may be considering for the future, Kovitz stresses that the most successful organizations are also thoughtful, empathic, and mindful of each individual’s needs. “There are going to be situations where accommodations are merited,” she adds.

Maybe that means an employee who’s struggling with long COVID and finds their commute exhausting only comes in one day a week, instead of the mandated three. Or perhaps an employee experiencing a high level of health anxiety chooses to wear a mask and opts out of social events where their colleagues will be gathering to eat or drink. For an employee with an immunocompromised family member, accommodation may mean a fully remote schedule through cold and flu season.

“I think we all have to operate with a high degree of trust,” Kovitz adds. “I hope leaders can approach situations case by case and learn what people might need in order to thrive, so they feel included and they don’t get left behind. Hopefully, if employees are seeing that kind of empathy, conscientious leadership and flexibility from their leadership team, it fosters inclusion.”