Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 19 [with] three years, five years, 10 years of experience and more," says Tremblay. While the increased use of virtual hiring has gone smoothly, it does require some adjustment. "We have to take a bit longer in the process of getting to know someone in that online environment," she says. "You have to work a little bit harder to create that connection so that you can get to know each other with relative speed… it just takes a little bit more practice." Another big consideration for employers — aside from the usual focus on hard skills, background and experience — is whether candidates are looking for remote work, says Tremblay. "Do they want a hybrid model? Do they ever see themselves returning to work?" she says. "That changes everything for the hiring manager because if they're all-remote and they're going to be remote forever, then really you could hire someone anywhere — they could be sitting in Nunavut or Vancouver or Quebec City." Relocations shift gears Not surprisingly, given the economic downturn and lockdowns worldwide, relocations saw a big decline during the pandemic. The industry shifted from international and domestic moves to more local and regional moves as people moved from urban to suburban areas or suburban to rural, says Linda Ward O'Farrell, founder of Ward O'Farrell Consultants in Beaconsfield, Que. "Some employees may be selling very quickly at origin. But they're having a great deal of difficulty finding houses at destination [with] low inventory [and] very competitive environments. And all of that is having an impact on employees and on relocation." And while there might have been fewer relocations, each one seemed to be a little more problematic and time-consuming, she says. "It would take more time to figure out quarantine, to figure out where they stay in temporary accommodation. How do we get them into a house when… a lot of things were closed down last year. So it was difficult." Plus, during the massive shift to working from home, employers had to ramp up their remote work location poli- cies. That means looking at: "How far can employees go? Can they cross a prov- incial boundary, a country boundary? What kind of implications are there on immigration, taxation, payroll… benefits coverage? All of those things come into play," says Ward O'Farrell. But the slowdown in employee mobility has also given employers a great oppor- tunity to review their relocation policy and assess if it still makes sense, she says. It's about asking: "Should we bench- mark? Should we have tiers? What is it that we're really trying to achieve? How much flexibility and nimbleness should we be putting into the policy?" she says. "We've seen an increase as well in the numbers of audits… and RFPs." Training and development goes virtual When the reality of the pandemic first hit back in March 2020, leadership training company Crestcom International managed to move its live training to a virtual environment within three days, says Mike Gibson, managing partner for Eastern Canada. However, the company saw a drop in sales of 40 to 45 per cent, partly because employers had to switch gears amid the crisis. "Leadership requirements at that time changed dramatically… they had to figure out how to communicate in a much more effective way — virtually, essentially — so their focus was on making sure their business kept going and kept operating and was functioning the best you could in the environment we were in," he says. That also brought a change to the training content, with greater focus on building the right team, driving innova- tion, and having the skills to execute vision and drive results, says Gibson. "Everybody was interested in trying to The survey for the Readers Choice Awards 2021 took place between March 8 and April 3, 2021. Canadian HR Reporter compiled for nomination an impressive list of vendors and suppliers to the HR community from across the country, based on the Canadian HR Reporter team's knowledge and additional research within each area. Readers were invited to cast their ballots in an online survey, and responses were completely confidential. Survey participants were not required to be subscribers to Canadian HR Reporter to cast ballots. The survey link was sent out through the Canadian HR Newswire list and available on hrreporter.com. Nominees were also encouraged to send the survey to their customers. Survey participants were invited to select up to a certain number of organizations, depending on the category. A participant could nominate additional organizations that did not appear on the list if they thought they should be considered. The top three nominees who received the most overall votes were awarded the Readers' Choice designation. Canadian HR Reporter reserved the right to disqualify votes that did not follow the rules and name up to five winners per category, depending upon the size of the category and voting results, including statistical ties. Responses not ranking the minimum number were disqualified. METHODOLOGY 6th Year of Canadian HR Reporter's Readers' Choice Awards 30,000 Votes cast by Canadian HR Reporter readers 48 Total number of categories voted on "We have to take a bit longer in the process of getting to know someone in that online environment. You have to work a little bit harder to create that connection." Kathryn Tremblay, ExcelHR

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