For most Canadians, it’s been well over a year since most of the country went into its first lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. I don’t think we truly understood what was going to happen back in March 2020, or the impact it would have on our personal and professional lives. But during the 15th […]
Amid the second (and hopefully last) year of the coronavirus pandemic, employers are starting to plan for the post-pandemic future. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, forcing many employers around the globe to rapidly shift mainly white-collar employees to working from home. By April 2020, in Canada, […]
Scotiabank’s director of global benefits talks navigating the coronavirus pandemic, enhancing the employee experience and planning for the post-pandemic workplace. Q: What top challenges do you face in your role? A: Primary challenges are ensuring we’re evolving our programs to meet the needs of a diverse and changing workforce and communicating these programs clearly. We […]
As the coronavirus pandemic ground the world to a halt in March 2020, stopping was not an option for Gale Rubenstein or her colleagues on the board of trustees at the University Pension Plan Ontario. The jointly sponsored pension plan had only come into existence two months earlier, and the clock had already begun ticking […]
Microsoft Canada’s head of human resources, talks about the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, implementing DEI measures and supporting employee mental health Q. What top challenges do you face in your role? A. It will come as no surprise that many of the challenges I currently face in my role result from the pandemic. As […]
In just a few weeks, Salesforce will allow employees in select U.S. locations to return to work in the office, according to a statement the company posted on its website. Starting in May, Salesforce’s vaccinated U.S. employees in California, specifically in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Irvine, can voluntarily join groups of 100 or fewer […]
Many white-collar employees were forced to work from home when a global coronavirus pandemic was declared last March, but now, with an eye toward the great reset, employers must decide whether to embrace working from home permanently or revert back to an in-person working model. Most employees’ sentiments have shifted toward a preference for continuing […]
Employers are facing a growing number of legal considerations as they continually adapt policies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent webinar hosted by Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie. In Ontario, there’s been a substantial increase in workplace inspections through that province’s occupational health and safety act, said Ted Kovacs, a partner at […]
Torstar Corp. is permanently closing the physical office spaces for the Ontario-based Waterloo Region Record and St. Catharines Standard newspapers and all staff of those news outlets will work remotely on a permanent basis. The decision is a way to “reduce office space leasing costs,” says a spokesperson. The announcement by the publisher of the Toronto Star, and several […]
Like many pension experts, Peter Ballon, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s global head of real estate, will have the early days of March 2020 seared into his memory for many years to come. As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, grinding domestic and international travel to a halt, he — like the rest of the […]