The pandemic necessity of doing your job away from the workplace is ending as restrictions and mandates ease and employers refocus on getting people back to in-person work.
While employers can wind down temporary measures, they should also consider how the work environment has changed since COVID-19 took hold early in 2020, that flexible arrangements have proved to be possible, and how employees may feel about going back to in-person work, experts in Canada say.
"Employees have proven — at least in their own minds — that they are as productive, if not more productive, working from home," said Janet Candido, a Toronto-based human resources (HR) consultant.
"So, that's where the pushback is."
Nadia Zaman, an employment lawyer with Rudner Law in Markham, Ont., said she and her colleagues have fielded an increasing number of return-to-workplace questions in recent months.
"Employers can generally dictate whether the employee can work from home or must return to the office — whether fully or on a hybrid model — unless there was an agreement to the contrary," Zaman said in an interview.
There are some exceptions, mostly limited to legitimate needs for accommodation or concrete concerns about safety.
But Zaman said "employees do not have the right to choose where they work unless they already had that right" prior to the pandemic.
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