The goal, notes Yerema, is retention of good staff more than boosting recruitment. "HR managers are looking at their people and realizing you can't just go back -- you have to incorporate what they've experienced."

Top Employers have learned to listen and to respond, adds Kristina Leung, managing editor for Mediacorp Canada. "They're not static anymore. The pandemic demonstrated that you have to be agile, you have to be flexible, you have to be willing to change. What sets the best employers apart is a desire to understand what their people want and need, and invest in those things.

"They're saying, we're going to offer more -- we're going to increase time off, increase flexibility, and improve benefits for mental health and well-being. There's a lot of evolution."

Many employers are combining various forms of time off, such as sick days, personal days and vacation, and allowing employees to simply take days when needed. A few are even calling the days "unlimited," although employees must still consult their supervisor. But as Leung notes, some commentators call this "the generation that would rather have more time off than more pay."

Among the companies listening and learning has been Montréal-based CAE Inc., which offers a lot of flexible time and took a close look at the office versus home issue. "In the past, it was all about being in the office five days a week," says chief people officer Bob Lockett. "I think that ship has sailed and it'll probably never return again."

There's a benefit for employers as well as staff, he suggests. "What you find most often is that when people are working from home, they actually work longer hours, and so they're more productive in some situations."

Lockett says CAE canvassed what was going on in the wider employment scene, "but more importantly, we listened to people, we listened to the talent market, we listened to our employees about what seemed to work best. And we put some guardrails around it, which I think is the most important thing."

The company decided that teams could set their own timing, with two or three days a week in the office becoming the most common standard. "There's a benefit to that as well," Lockett adds. "Think about the people who were hired during COVID -- they never saw anybody in an office. Their turnover was much higher than those who were hired pre-COVID. If you're in a virtual world all the time, you don't really connect to the purpose or the mission of the company, nor do you really connect with the people on your team.

"So those folks wind up leaving the organization," he says. "But for the people that were hired post-COVID, their turnover rates are much better. There is an importance in bringing people together, particularly when you're new to a company."

Lockett says CAE is well aware of the competitive pressures on compensation in attracting the high-end talent it needs, as well as the effect of inflation. "Has the cost of labour increased? Absolutely. Do we have to increase wages to stay competitive? Absolutely. It's just a fact of life." Around how much per year now? "I would give a range of anywhere from seven to 10 per cent -- that's probably accurate."

Indeed, the advent of inflation has simply added to the post-pandemic pressures. "There is still a sense of chronic stress," says Leung. "It's just not letting up -- inflation, there's a war, there's another war, the cost of groceries, all these things accumulate. So we are finding a lot of organizations doubling down on mental health benefits."

"It's truly the max," agrees Yerema. "When you go back 10 years, mental health benefits were just a side note. Now, you actually compete on the dollar amount. It gets back to the point about retention. HR practitioners today have to have their ear to the ground. What do their people want, in order to keep them? The best employers are the ones who respond."

– Berton Woodward

©2023 Mediacorp Canada Inc. From the official announcement magazine for Canada's Top 100 Employers (2024), published on November 17, 2023, and distributed in The Globe and Mail. All rights reserved.