The Minister Responsible for the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia’s Public Service Commission says he is open to the potential of permanently modified work arrangements in a post-COVID-19 world.
Ben Jessome (pictured) said people working from home had, in many cases, produced a positive level of productivity that he was really excited about.
For the past year thousands of people have navigated the shift from working in an office to working at home.
As public health restrictions have eased and some level of normalcy has returned, Mr Jessome said about 85 per cent of the Provincial Public Service was, to some extent, back in their office location.
“While there are always going to be jobs that require people to be on site, meeting face-to-face with others, the issue of home working has been on our radar for a while,” Mr Jessome said.
“The flexible work environment is something that the Public Service Commission has been working on prior to COVID, so those conversations have been reinforced and heightened, certainly, with the pandemic in many ways,” he said.
President of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, Jason MacLean said he was pleased with Mr Jessome’s comments.
“We are prepared to collaborate on exploring the idea, as long as the change is uniform, rather than every office using a different approach,” Mr MacLean said.
“With upcoming bargaining talks, that could be a good place to have the conversation,” he said.
Mr MacLean said the pandemic had helped put to rest the notion that allowing people to work from home would lead to widespread drops in productivity or abuses of the system.
“Removing the need to travel to and from an office or between meetings frees up more time,” the Union President said.
“If anything, it’s sometimes important to remind people working from home to take breaks from time-to-time to help them separate their work space from their home,” he said.
Halifax 10 March 2021
