In the battle of bringing employees back to offices and their houses, free coffee and a few cereal bars no longer cut it off.
But how far employers and landlords are willing to go – or should go – remains a very open question.
Will it be worthwhile to be present personally? Could free parking spaces move the needle? What about flexible start times?
In view of the large banks and the largest provincial government of Canada, which prescribe a return to the office, landlords and tenants spend time and money to find ways to have the experience of what employees want instead of being forced to do so.
Cal Jungwirth, director of constant mediation services of the Talent Recruitment company Robert Half, said that the location of the physical office was the main release.
“The closer they are at home, the pendulum times obviously affects,” said Jungwirth. “This is a national topic, and we hear it in every market in which we are in. The length of commuting can be different.”
Some people in the south of Ontario can commute 1.5 hours from the Niagara Falls to downtown Toronto to work, but the road tolerance does not differ in places such as Edmonton or Winnipeg. Your threshold is only lower.
Offering free parking could be an important step to make the repeated employees happy, he said. (I am not sure whether Ontario Premier Doug Ford offers that as part of a five -day return for 2026.)
“Parking is usually on your own pocket and very expensive,” said Jungwirth.
Brett Miller, managing director of Canderel, who runs office building in four provinces, knows that it is not as usual.
His company has created a brand called Okkto with which employees are worthwhile for the office.
“If you only want to sit behind the same computer screen for eight hours a day you have at home, why should you come in?” said Miller, who appreciates the creative aspect of the coming together of employees. “What to do and do the real estate industry is a little more to offer.”
The real estate industry has long been driven by tenants who are looking for the most affordable product in a desirable place. The employees were not a big problem. “That changed five years ago,” he said.
“We thought, let us redesign this backwards and think about the employee and what you want at work,” said Miller.
Canderel cannot control public transit, but can localize transport corridors that ultimately shorten the travel time.
As soon as you arrive, you greet concierges like in a hotel. There is space for a quiet place where someone could even make a lunch nicker.
“It is nothing more than a summer BBQ or an ice cream stand. It is a puppy group, and it is a fixed day when people go on group walks. It brings a few financial advice. It is perhaps a nutritionist.” We are currently at the beginning;
Jungwirth said amenities “check a box”, but serious considerations have to be carried out about flexibility with staggered working hours.
A condensed working week is rarely offered, but it would be a massive attraction for the employees, he said. “If it is offered or even on Friday afternoon people are very excited. It would be a distinction feature.”
The flexibility in terms of arrival and departure times also moves the needle. “People are very happy about the lack of rush hour,” said Jungwirth.
The Canada Conference Council of Canada closely examined these topics in a survey in January. The Think Tank found that 34.4 percent of employees would like flexible planning options.
“This is flexibility around the core lessons. It could be that everyone from 10-2 has to be in the office, but flexible on both sides,” said Lindsay Coffin, main defender of Human Capital at the Conference Board. “It is a kind of autonomy on schedule.”
The survey showed that 14.7 percent of people had left a job due to the lack of flexibility of the schedule. A flexible work plan was quoted by 15.8 percent of those surveyed.
The respondents were able to choose more than one factor to leave a job, and the career progression led the list of 31.1 percent. The payment was not on the list that focused on reward offers.
“If the employees focus on in three or four days, we will find positive results if you can choose,” said Coffin.
Sharon Desousa, President of the Canada of the public service Allianz of Canada, which represents more than 245,000 employees across the country, emphasized that people have to understand that remote work is key incentive.
“Many people in the past five years have been hired with this incentive,” she said, adding that the data from Statistics Canada show the productivity jump of 4.9 percent when working from home from 2019 to 2023. “Fern work is the future of work.”
Ottawa has a mandate of three days a week in the office, and Desousa does not make it sound as if her membership appreciates an incentive that is worthwhile in comparison to long -distance work.
“The government has the opportunity to enforce this path,” she said, about the transfer of more remote work. No words that someone wants to hear in real estate.
She points out that Ottawa would like 15 percent cost savings over the next three years, but could save real estate costs 6 billion US dollars by being able to work from afar.
“You could then use these buildings again and invest in affordable apartments,” said Desousa, who claims that people who work from home pump money into local communities.
The government will face challenges to keep employees with a strict policy that they have to be in the office, added.
“There is the myth out there that the butt in the seat corresponds to productivity,” said Desousa. “There is an idea of ​​where the work should happen. Things have changed. The work is done, why should I return?”
But in many cases we go back. At least employers and landlords should be worthwhile.
• e -Mail: gmarr@postmedia.com