On-demand Webcast | Insights On: Prioritizing employee experience in a remote work setting
Did you know that 53% of Canadian businesses were not adequately setup for employees to work from home when the crisis hit? And that in order for a company to have any employee return to the office there are new policies that have to be created, such as mandatory personal info disclosures due to a Covid-19 diagnosis?
These insights and plenty of others were revealed during our recent Insights On webcast, featuring special guests Andrea Wynter, Head of HR at ADP Canada, and Emily Jackson, Financial Reporter and host of the Financial Post's weekly podcast Down to Business.
In fact, the topic sparked so many questions from our webcast attendees, we didn’t have time to answer all of them live!
What follows are some of the outstanding areas of discussion with responses from Andrea and Emily:
Q: How do companies navigate employees returning to work and the preparing for an outbreak?
Andrea: Canadian businesses are just now laying plans for workers to return to the office with the biggest change being the introduction of a wide array of security protocols. It will be a slow, graduated return to work and employers will have to assess when the time is right to bring employees back to the office. Organizations should take necessary precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, develop a communication and training strategy for employees, and be prepared to adapt the plan in response to issues, problems and unforeseen challenges.
Q: Can employees refuse to return to work if they feel it is unsafe to do so?
Andrea: It’s important to note that employers have an obligation to take reasonable care to protect the health and safety of their employees, because workers may rightly refuse to work if their employer cannot. If employees are still expressing concerns even with measures in place, I recommend you first try and understand why they don’t feel safe. As leaders you need to lead with empathy and understanding that while all of your employees have experienced this crisis, they haven’t all experienced it the same way.
Q: Should companies include temperature checks for employees and maintain social distance?
Andrea: As employers have an obligation to take reasonable measures for the health and safety of their employees, they may introduce policies and procedures in an effort to keep the workplace COVID-19 free. Many essential employers, although not all, have started screening employees’ including temperature checks to ensure that employees with symptoms of the illness do not infect their coworkers. It’s important to note that taking employee temperatures is not a “silver bullet” against the spread of COVID-19 and employers should institute practices that avoid the spread of the virus, such as maintaining social distancing, promoting the use of proper protective equipment (PPE), as well as promoting remote work where possible.
Q: How should leaders manage the performance of employees who are working from home? Especially those who need to work flexible hours (4-5 hrs)?
Emily: Leaders should measure performance of employees working from home by outcomes. Traditional 9 to 5 timelines may be impossible for workers who suddenly have no childcare through no fault of their own. Employers need to be flexible and ensure their employees have the right tools to get the work done.
Q: Should companies provide ergonomic assessments?
Andrea: Whether in the office or work from home, it is good practice and just good business for companies to proactively provide ergonomic training that provides guidance to employees around the proper set up of their workstation, position of their monitor, the importance of taking breaks, etc. Investing in ergonomics will promote a safer workplace and will lead to better human performance for your organization.
Q: Should employers look to cover the extra costs of employees working from home, utilities, upgrading Internet, tech equipment etc.?
Andrea: There’s no right or wrong answer with employers deploying various strategies related to covering costs. When it comes to assisting with household utilities the portion an employer is required to cover is difficult to ascertain, as you need to take into consideration how many people in the household are working from home at different companies as well as what portion of the total utilities should be covered by the employer. In terms of paying to upgrade their internet - “it depends.” The overwhelming majority of companies do not pay internet costs for employees as having internet is pretty much a staple in most homes, unless employees live in more rural centres where there is a significant cost to upgrade their internet and it is a requirement to do their job. Beyond core technology like a laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse and headset, many employers aren’t fully outfitting and/or reimbursing employees at home with full office equipment, however, depending on how long they find their employees working remotely this may change.
Q: Do you anticipate a trend for companies to implement tools to monitor productivity or the time employees spend working/logged in the system? What should be the do's and don'ts?
Emily: So far I've seen trends towards flexibility, but I wouldn't be surprised if employers start investing in tools to monitor employees' behaviours online. This Big Brother system raises red flags regarding privacy and trust. Unless you already stand over your employee's shoulder at the office and watch their screen every second of the workday, I'd question why it's now necessary to start micromanagement through surveillance. That technology will have a cost, both monetary and in terms of trust.
In case you or a colleague missed it, watch the original webcast on-demand and learn about the top 5 challenges HR professionals face when employees work from home, how to measure productivity when employees are ‘out of sight’, plus which HR policies are now required in the ‘new normal’.
About the Insights On webcast series
Now, more than ever, Canadian business leaders must find ways to successfully navigate market challenges while fostering a workforce that can adapt quickly to change. To help, we’ve launched a new webcast series called Insights On, brought to you in partnership with the Financial Post. Each episode will explore timely business insights on a key topic and includes thought leadership from one of Canada’s leading industry experts.