The (imposed) return to the office
It’s the swing of the pendulum, some will say. After opening the door wide to teleworking, many organizations have called their employees back to the office over the past two years. This is particularly the case for Amazon, which will make presence compulsory, while Ubisoft will increase it in 2025.
In Quebec, flexibility is always essential. Hydro-Québec, Cossette and Desjardins, to name a few, require two to three days a week in the office.
According to a survey carried out for Concilivi, an initiative of the Réseau pour un Québec Famille, 58% of Quebec employees alternate days at the office and teleworking.
Still, nearly half of workers have noticed a tightening of policies: 22% of respondents say they will have to come to the office more often and 24% believe their employer encourages it without requiring it.
For what? To promote interactions, increase the feeling of belonging, but also for fairness between employees, are among the reasons given.
In the office and in the living room
With their fluffy carpets, custom matte black furniture and multiple carefully chosen decorative objects, certain work environments are worthy of design magazines.
“Organizations now want to have workspaces that are shared and functional, but as harmonious and comfortable as at home.”
— Laurie Compartino, director of MBH
MBH’s company order book is already full for 2025, which faces increased demand for more personalized and designer work environments.
The Quebec company MBH designs personalized workspaces, some elements of which come from our salons. (Frédéric Matte/Le Soleil)
What’s new in 2025: setting up a meditation room.
Talking about mental health
Talking about mental health is no longer taboo in the office. It’s even encouraged.
In the fall of 2025, Quebec plans to make changes to its Bill 27, modernizing the occupational health and safety regime. These new requirements will require employers to identify “psychosocial risks” among their employees, namely stress, harassment, psychological and physical violence, isolation, interpersonal conflicts, etc.
This is why companies will need to equip themselves with tools to assess these risks and to support their employees.
Quebec is not the only one looking into the issue. Around twenty countries and states are currently regulating and better managing psychosocial risks in the workplace, according to the Center for Research in Management, Development of People and Organizations at Laval University.
Better train employees
According to the magazine Forbescontinuing education will be popular in 2025. Organizations that offer training programs demonstrate the importance they place on employee development.
This is why several companies have appointed a training director, in order to prioritize this aspect.
However, good training for one is not necessarily true for the other.
More than ever, training must be personalized, with clear objectives. It will be offered to small groups of targeted employees rather than to everyone.
The choice of continuing education programs can make a difference: 71% of employees believe that the training offered is one of the reasons for remaining within the organization, according to data compiled by LinkedIn in 2023.
Training on psychological well-being and stress management continues to rank among the most requested, as does training on the use of new technologies and artificial intelligence tools, according to Randstad Canada, which proposes to “create a training ecosystem”.
Training related to the use of generative AI will be popular in 2025. (123rf)
Consider rather than retain
The word loyalty is no longer popular, it should even be removed near the coffee machine. If employee recognition is still required, it would not be sufficient in 2025. On specialized sites, the watchword is consideration.
This goes further than recognition: consideration marks respect and esteem for a person.
It invites us to take concrete actions to stimulate and promote interpersonal relationships.
As for loyalty, it would have a negative connotation for young workers.
Generative AI as reinforcement
If ChatGPT was already very present in our work world, it will be even more so in 2025.
The use of generative artificial intelligence is expected to expand to even more sectors of activity and tasks, whether in human resources management, in the development of operationalization or production processes or still in customer services, in particular.
In all cases, it must be better supervised, recalls the Order of CRHA. In its latest survey of its members, only one organization in three (32%) had put in place framework measures and rules to protect confidential data and ensure the accuracy of the information conveyed.
The Workplace section was created to address the themes of relations between employers and employees, to unveil original initiatives to counter the labor shortage, to talk about a universe in constant change, in particular by times that are running… Do you have any ideas? Write to us at [email protected].
