The email Tim Hortons never wanted to send
A Canadian judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against the famous coffee and doughnut company. Thousands of customers received a message "mistakenly" informing them they had won a small boat.
Remote and hybrid work spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic is giving way to arrangements more closely aligned with traditional office norms now that labor market conditions have swung in companies’ favor. Some of Canada's largest financial services firms, including several of the big banks, have said they will shift to four in-office days a week beginning in the fall.
Employment lawyers say they are hearing from clients who don't want to lose one or more of their at-home days, but that companies are taking a harder line compared to a few years ago when a lower unemployment rate meant the market favored job-seekers rather than their bosses.
“Now, it seems with economic uncertainty, employers have bigger leverage to basically unilaterally impose that kind of stuff and tell people, ‘If you don't like it, you might as well go,'” Philippe de Villers, the chair of Chartered Professionals in Human Resources Canada, said in an interview.
If you're in that situation, it may feel like you must choose between getting with the program or getting a new job. Although that may be true in many cases, experts say there are some other options.
The basic choice
One option for employees who don't want to return to the office is to look for another job, said Sunira Chaudhri, founder and partner at Workly Law, in an interview.
“Employees are considering career changes en masse, and as you can expect, those who are facing a stricter return to work protocol that do not align with that are, more likely than not, looking to jump ship and find a more flexible arrangement if they’re simply not on board.”
Return to office trends are more common with enterprise-level companies like banks and accounting firms compared with small businesses or ones in industries more concerned about retaining talent, Jon Pinkus, employment lawyer and partner at Samfiru Tumarkin, said in an interview.
