Why employers may need to bend toward a more flexible future to stay competitive

You don't have to convince Ross Simmonds about the benefits of remote work.

The founder and CEO of Foundation Marketing has been leading the way on that front, running his business as "remote first" since it started in 2014.

While the company may officially be based in Halifax, it employs team members as far away as Ireland and Nigeria.

"I like to say we're based on the internet," said Simmonds, whose 30-plus staff also includes people in the U.S. and a half-dozen Canadian provinces.

The long-term provision of more flexible work will remain a key draw for employees in Canada's future economy and also for organizations looking to retain their services, employers and experts say.

It's already the case in a COVID-altered work world that millions of Canadians are used to doing things differently and don't necessarily want to go back to the way things were.

"Workers, at this point, who work online have come to expect to be able to continue to work online," said Eddy Ng, the Smith Professor of Equity & Inclusion in Business at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

Some Canadian employers are factoring this reality into their thinking as they shape their approach to their business.

At software giant SAP Canada, the organization is bending toward a more flexible future — one that many employers will have to contend with as they compete for talent, said SAP Canada vice-president and head of HR Megan Smith.

"Most talent, at this point, expects some degree of flexibility in where and when they work," Smith said. "So organizations that really want to attract the best talent are going to want to offer some degree of that."

Simmonds said it's already clear people are moving toward jobs that provide that.

Foundation Marketing has been fielding inquiries about job opportunities from people at other companies who have been told they are going back to the office.

"That's when we see a spike for the number of applicants applying for our roles," said Simmonds.

Binod Sundararajan, the interim director of Dalhousie University's Rowe School of Business, said companies are weighing what they are "going to get by bringing people back," including the impact on corporate culture.