No doubt, since last week's announcement from Premier Jason Kenney on the plan to lift public-health restrictions, board rooms all over the province have been abuzz about how, or when, or whether to bring staff back to work.
It's a daunting landscape — one fraught with more questions than answers.
Since 2020, COVID-19 has shaped many versions of "new normal." So many, in fact, that learning to live beyond it is the one toughest to imagine.
After all the world has collectively been through, will this be the part we can't handle?
As divided as people have been while the virus has spread, it's quite possible the lifting of things will make the world of work its next divisive frontier.
Along with COVID came an acceleration in the number of people working remotely. Not every Canadian can work from afar, as those in health care, construction, retail, and the service industry can attest. But the mass migration to working from home was swift and challenging.
Data from recent studies on whether productivity has suffered as a result is evenly divided. It's a heavily researched topic, these past two years, and one with plenty of stats.
In one such study, released in January, which examined surveys from 79 executives of 56 Fortune 500 companies in the U.S., 50 per cent believed productivity was not impacted by remote work; 30 per cent believed teams were more productive; and 20 per cent reported mixed impacts across business units.
The one constant among much of the research out there on one side or the other: the post-COVID workplace may never look like it once did.
Todd Hirsch, vice-president and chief economist with ATB Financial, tackled this notion head-on during a virtual presentation to the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 9.
Hirsch said COVID has and will force businesses to take a hard look at what many have seen the same way for decades.
"Sometimes we can get trapped in narratives," said Hirsch, "that keep us from progressing."
He told the audience of local business owners that the traditional way of looking at the labour market as a simple linear trade-off between income and leisure has broken down. COVID has reopened the conversation on work-life balance, and it's one we have to have.
“Our relationship with our jobs and our work has changed. Fundamentally, it's no longer just about the paycheque and about income, although that does remain important. But I think as we move forward, what's going to matter to workers is flexibility. Does the employer offer me the kinds of flexibility I might need?” he said.
On the other side of that coin is employer worry that loosening the tether to an in-person office could mean a loss of collaboration, and trust.
Add to that the increased health concerns among returning employees; the risk of being chastised over vaccination status; or fear of sideways glances over each audible office cough, sniffle, and sneeze.
There are perks to working in person, with people. Zoom can't replace the connectivity and mental-health benefits a workplace can offer.
But those whispers of, "be thankful you have a job," will no longer be enough as the economy begins to bloom again. Employees accustomed to white-knuckling it through pandemic-related job-loss fears may not be so willing to return to workplaces with less flexibility.
Income is important, but in 2022 our relationship with our work, our jobs, is much more complicated than it used to be, said Hirsch.
Enter the next COVID challenge: the post-COVID workplace.
What appears most true while scanning this new uncharted horizon is that the approach to work the world left behind two years ago will not be the same.
And the solution to what the future of work will look like is complex — one that won't be found unless all sides work together on this one.
Editorials are the consensus view of the St. Albert Gazette’s editorial board.
