It looks like 2022 is starting out in a period of uncertainty, much like last year did. However, some patterns can be predicted right from the outset. Here's a look at five trends that are most likely to impact your work this year.
The outset of 2022 feels like an emotional hangover for many. Last year started off in the grips of the global pandemic, followed by the success of the vaccination campaign, and glimmers of hope that the health crisis was coming to an end. Then the Omicron variant caused a massive resurgence in case counts and a slew of new restrictions.
So, while many employers had been planning on bringing their staff back into the office full time and resuming their pre-pandemic workstyles, recent developments have created a great deal of uncertainty about the year ahead.
Here are our predictions for five of the biggest issues that will impact the Canadian workforce in 2022.
- A new emphasis on health and safety as every human interaction now faces increased risk and scrutiny.
- Vaccination rules and requirements as the rights of individual choice and privacy clash with the need for herd immunity.
- Negotiating remote work vs. returning to the office with a newly empowered workforce.
- The end of in-person meetings, conferences, and business travel?
- Companies competing to recruit and retain talent in a job seeker's market.
Let's take a closer look at each of these workplace trends and how they might affect your work life in the year ahead.
Health and Safety
The health and safety of staff will be an ongoing concern for companies in the months to come. Organizations are struggling with maintaining service levels due to staff shortages as employees are off sick or in quarantine for periods of time.
People are also rethinking their career choices and leaving roles that they feel puts them at undue risk. Given that the unemployment rate is falling rapidly and the number of job vacancies in Canada has surpassed one million unfilled positions, workers have options. It's a job seekers' market. Considering the need to retain current employees, keep them healthy, and able to stay on the job, workplace health and safety will be a top priority for companies this year. Expect detailed rules regarding masking, distancing, self-screening, and regular testing for every in-person workplace across sectors in 2022.
Companies will also be increasing their health and wellness programs to keep staff motivated and prevent burnout.
Vaccination requirements
Employers have a legal responsibility to provide a safe working environment for their staff. This has led to many organizations implementing mandatory vaccination policies for their employees. This well-intentioned strategy can clash with an individual staff member's right to medical privacy and freedom to choose which vaccines they receive . In certain cases, an absolute edict to get vaccinated can become a human rights issue when employees have medical exemptions or religious objections.
To get around this, many companies are instituting coercive measures instead. These include regular testing on the employee's time and at their own expense, exclusion from certain events or activities, or placing them on unpaid leave.
The courts will have to decide if an employee can be terminated for refusing to get vaccinated – and those determinations will likely vary case-by-case depending on the sector and risk level. In the meantime, companies will continue to push vaccine mandates to keep their staff safe and their businesses open.
Here’s a deeper look into vaccine mandates coming to Canadian workplaces.
Remote vs. in-person vs. hybrid working arrangements
Without a doubt, the biggest workplace trend of the last two years has been the increase in people working remotely. It may have taken some time for employees to adapt to working from home, but many people have now embraced it. Workers have established a workstyle (and lifestyle) working from home and many don't want to go back to commuting.
This can place them at odds with companies that have stated a desire to bring their workforce back into the office. That process had already begun for many organizations before the Omicron variant had them reconsidering the timing. However, this only delays the looming issue: how will companies manage a workforce that has adapted to – and embraced – remote working arrangements?
Permanent remote work comes with a new set of challenges for organizations. New strategies would be required for creating a cohesive company culture. Employees working from home could experience increased mental health–related issues stemming from social isolation and burnout.
The hybrid model which has staff splitting their time between working remotely and at the workplace seems to be a growing trend to watch for 2022.
Virtually everything is virtual
The remote working situation made necessary by the pandemic has led to the rise of another trend that will be impacting the way we work even after the COVID crisis has passed. That is the increased use of video conferencing apps to conduct face-to-face meetings, conferences, and job interviews, without having to physically be in the same location.
The potential savings in time and money from hosting events virtually rather than in person mean that video conferencing will continue to be a much more common way for professionals to interact long after it has become safe to do so in person again. The calculation will have to be made early in the planning stages of any business event or trip. Are the advantages of going in person worth the time and expense vs. simply holding a virtual meeting?
Employers are also increasingly using short, informative videos for onboarding and training to avoid the need even for virtual meetings and coordinating schedules. Expect to see more video and virtual meetings and training in the months to come.
Job seekers' market
The one trend that is going to impact how companies respond to all of the other changes happening in the workforce right now is that 2022 will be a job seekers' market. With low unemployment and increasing labour shortages in many sectors, organizations are going to have to compete for workers.
This also means taking care to retain existing staff. So, where once an employer could simply mandate all of their remote workers back to the office when it suited them, under these conditions there is a risk that staff could simply jump ship for a rival employer who offers the workstyle they prefer.
Demographic changes with older workers retiring and fewer younger ones entering the workforce to take their places along with reduced immigration over the past two years due to the pandemic have exacerbated a labour crunch that was already looming in Canada.
As a result, employers have begun boosting salaries and offering signing bonuses in order to attract workers.
This year is starting out in a period of uncertainty, much like the last one did. However, some trends can be predicted right from the outset. These include continued remote work, increased virtual interactions, new health and safety mandates in the workplace and labour shortages.
