Workplace culture needs to readapt as employees return to the office

Along with anxiety about commuting times and corporate vaccination policies come questions over what professional behaviour looks like in 2022.

Shaking hands. Drinking coffee with colleagues. Wining and dining a client. Social niceties once taken for granted seem increasingly complicated as thousands of Canadian workers return to the office this spring, many for the first time in two years.

Along with anxiety about commuting times and corporate vaccination policies come questions over what professional behaviour looks like in 2022.

Travis O’Rourke, president of recruitment firm Hays Canada, says employers will need to focus on making the return a positive experience, not a dreaded one, and get in front of any potential issues that could make employees uncomfortable.

“The back-to-office culture needs to be on the top of every manager’s list or they will find their employees just simply won’t want to return,” O’Rourke said in an interview.

He also says that workplace culture will need to adapt to employees’ changing needs and be reflective of how society has evolved over the last two years.

Most Canadians say they don’t want to return to the office full time. According to a recent Amazon business survey, half of Canadian office workers

say they would prefer to work mostly or completely remotely. The report also found that 43 per cent of Canadians would likely look for a new job if their bosses made them return to the office full time.

Signs of downtown life are nonetheless resuming. Toronto‘s financial core is getting busier since the major banks have begun calling employees back. Manulife Financial Corp. allowed staff back on a voluntary basis starting this week.