Canadian HR Reporter

4 www.hrreporter.com N E W S would have done organically in the workplace, [but now] we're having to think in a far more structured way about that," says McClellan. "When we move into this new scenario, it's not quite as intuitive — for most employers, for most supervisors, for most managers — so that is causing a need to think about 'How do I coach differently? How do I check in with my team? How do I create that environment, that culture that really can help us move forward?'" Employers have to be much more deliberate about engaging with their teams, says Benjamin. "I love to roam around the office, but now I just do it virtually. So, we have scheduled check-ins, but sometimes I'll just call someone and say, 'Hey, I'm thinking about you, how are you doing?' And it tends to work. And if we model it as an executive team, we get our senior leaders doing it, then people are doing it among themselves much more frequently." Benjamin has also made it an expectation in his respective team meeting to use video for calls. "We never said, 'Thou shalt…' but it just became a lead by example. And people will do it and even those who were the most reticent, I've found in the last couple of weeks, have come around, and now everyone uses it… It's super important. I find the quality of the conversation is better." Trust is also key to the whole scenario, says Burns. "Telling your people you trust them and respect their choices, it's a massive vote of confidence. And, so, I think this idea of working from home, there's a real practicality to it today, but I think deeper within all that it's a sense of real trust and respect that we have for the people. That's the core underpinning of all this." Another big way people connect at Twitter is through its business resource groups (BRGs), which have seen record growth in membership and participation since the pandemic. "That really speaks to the sense of belonging that these groups are able to cultivate. These groups centre voices and experiences that are underrepresented and coming from marginalized communities as well," says Mike Klose, client account manager at Twitter Canada in Toronto. "When you think of recruiting, when someone comes into the company or looks at the company, they want to know that they belong in the company, that there can be values for all of who they are and not just necessarily the technical skills that they might bring." W h e n p e o p l e w o r k o n - s i t e together, there can be a false sense of interdependence in the sense of "We're in this together," says Leonardelli, but that sense of unity or group identity can be found online as well. "It falls to leadership… they might not have done as much before [with] what it means to be part of the same culture, what it means to be part of the same group and what are the norms that define us as a group?" CHRR CANADIANS' IDEAL WORK SCENARIOS "You can imagine that not every employee is going to be happy with a move to permanent work from home." Justine Lindner, McCarthy 20% Work entirely at the workplace 17% Work most of the time at the workplace 29% Work half of the time at the workplace, half remotely 22% Work most of the time remotely 12% Work all of the time remotely Source: PwC Canada survey of 1,528 employees The old offices of the Conference Board of Canada in Ottawa

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