Countless businesses have moved to working from home during the pandemic, and the municipality is no exception.
The Civic Centre is eyeing an official ‘working remotely policy’ and CAO Don Shropshire says it’s a balancing act between productivity, health and safety protocols, and mental well-being.
“The reality is if we’re going to have people across all sectors of our economy working from home, we’re going to have to revisit how we manage our relationships with employees and colleagues so we adapt and we try to find a way to get regular contact,” Shropshire says.
A report goes to council tonight recommending a formal policy be put into effect in 2021, providing guidelines for municipal staff who work from home or other locations.
“The other big piece is we have to make sure that our service levels are also going to be maintained,” Shropshire says. “It’s one thing to say you can work from home, some jobs lend themselves to that, others require more immediate contact like our front desk staff that are doing customer service.”
At the start of the pandemic back in March, close to 300 municipal staff were working remotely at least part time, either at home or in other municipal buildings.
