Canadian HR Reporter

22 www.hrreporter.com F E A T U R E S F E A T U R E S the COVID crisis hit, Hydro- Québec sent 12,000 office workers to work from home. That included Nathalie Dubois, vice president of HR, who had to set up a temporary office in her bedroom. And while the situation caught the organization by surprise, being in the energy sector, it knows that emergencies can happen and it had to keep the electricity going, which meant the 8,000 field employees would be busy. "We struggled at the beginning with the health issues and the health orientation from either the government or public health," says Dubois. "I don't know if you remember, but [at the start], it was one-metre [distance] and then it ended up being two metres. So, the logistics around that was phenomenal." Hydro-Québec faced an additional challenge in the spring of 2020: a new CEO, Sophie Brochu, who came onboard in April, virtually. The new leader was very strong in establishing relationships, says Dubois, and was determined to speak to all of the organization's 20,000 employees. Impressively, the IT department made it happen, and the new CEO spoke with all employees twice a week during the worst of the crisis. Focus on well-being Well-being also came front and centre, not just mental health but physical health, with people cooped up inside because of curfews and cold weather, she says. "We saw some exhaustion and fatigue just prior to the holidays." Hydro-Québec did spot surveys with employees to keep tabs on their well- being, and management was encouraged to communicate often with the virtual workforce. "People want to make sure what they're doing is making sense: 'Am I part of this journey, of the mission, the organization, the objectives?' And some people just don't know because they don't have that conversation. So, we, with the management team and Sophie, we put a lot of energy on communication, just touching base," says Dubois. On the compensation side, the utility was less challenged than others because 85 per cent of its workforce is unionized, and it renewed collective agreements a couple of years ago so they're good until 2023 and 2024. But there were some "difficult discussions" on the labour relations side at first as some of the changes brought in because of the pandemic were not in the agreements. In the end, "they were really good business partners," she says. New ways of doing work Going forward, the utility's workforce won't be going back full time, and people might work at the office three days a week while participating in key projects, in collective areas, for example. Even before the pandemic, HR had been pushing for a more flexible organization that included working from home, getting out of that nine-to- five approach, and that trend accelerated NATHALIE DUBOIS, vice president of human resources at Hydro-Québec The Montreal-based public utility has about 20,000 employees you don't hear from them," says Langille. Onboarding and training have definitely become more virtual. "We will get into more virtual onboarding, I think, in terms of having to not necessarily sit face to face with someone and review documents." That one-on-one touch is still really important, says Langille, "but I think we can do more of it virtually as well in terms of getting individuals up to speed with the requirements of their specific departments," she says. "We will do in-person [training] where it makes sense, but a lot of it will be virtual, which will enable us to provide a little bit more consistency as well." Focusing on flexibility, diversity in the future Nowadays, most of the workforce is back in the office, and Lindsay Construction has become well versed with Microsoft Teams and similar tools, which helped "everyone get up and running immediately," says Langille. Looking ahead, the company will be "testing the waters" when it comes to boosting flexibility around some of its policies, such as working from home and accommodating people's lives outside of work, she says. "It's something that we will be looking at in terms of being a bit more proactive moving forward… I don't know that we would be 100-per-cent remote, but I think we'll get to more of a mix." The importance of diversity and inclusion will also be a priority, as well as trying to incorporate corporate social responsibility into the overall employee experience. The construction industry needs to grow and develop its workforce, says Langille, "and we need to really draw from underrepresented groups to do that… The conversations are happening now, which is great, and I think a lot more will happen within the next year. "For six to eight or 10 months, March onwards, I think most [initiatives] probably dropped off; especially if you're a small or medium-sized company, you're just trying to keep the lights on. But we will have to start thinking about the future. And this is an importance piece that I think is going to ensure success for everybody." HR has had a seat at the table through all of the turmoil, having to provide prompt answers that could impact the whole company, says Langille. And, hopefully, that role will continue once the crisis subsides. "Keeping in mind that the nuts and bolts and administration are still really important and can't not be done, but having a seat at the leadership table is really important as well," she says. 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