Office dynamics have been majorly impacted by the pandemic. With just over two fifths (43%) of Canadian employers expecting at least half of their employees to return to office before January 2022 and 41% of employers moving forward with hybrid work schedules, the conversation around work styles and what those might look like moving forward has sparked across the company. 

Indeed, Canada’s leading job site launched a survey to get a sense of what employers of office workers will be doing to create a safe and inclusive work culture, whether employees are staying remote or returning to the office. Most notably 63% of medium-sized companies (100-500 employees) said they would be likely to implement 4-day work weeks compared to 46% of small companies (1-99 employees) and 51% of companies with 500+ employees.

Other highlights from the survey include:

• Employer flexibility toward working from home:
• 45% of respondents will offer a hybrid work schedule to prospective employees.
• Two-fifths (41%) of employers say working remotely hasn’t negatively affected their company performance and they will likely move forward with a hybrid schedule.
• Just over ½ (53%) of respondents will offer incentives to work from home or to return to office.
• In order to preserve the company culture, 43% of employers say their employees should only be present between 2 and 3 days per week.

Implementation of workplace health measures:

• Just over ⅓ (34%) of employers will be mandating vaccines for return to the office.
• Half of employers responding to the survey would strongly recommend vaccination to return to the office.
• 47% of employers surveyed say that proof of vaccination is among the top priorities for a return to work in the workplace.
• Just under half (49%) of employers see masks as a priority health measure for returning to office.
• Just over 51% of respondents will need to strengthen their health and safety protocols to ensure a return to the office.

While the health crisis has presented many challenges, employers haven’t noticed any disruptions in key company operations such as securing new clients, employees collaborating successfully, or innovating new products – with an average of just under one third (32%) of employers saying nothing has changed for their companies in these departments despite the pandemic. Proof that the job market can adapt to any situation!

Info from Indeed.