Benefits Canada Interview: Employers can use Bell Let’s Talk Day to normalize mental-health discussions, taking leave

This article was originally published in Benefits Canada – written by Sadie Janes.

Employers can use Bell Let’s Talk Day to normalize talking about mental health and reflect on whether they’re ‘walking the talk,’ says Janet Candido, founder and principal at Candido Consulting Group.

“Some employers I work with say, ‘Mental health is important to us,’ but then you might see the executive team rolling their eyes when they hear someone’s taking a mental-health break. That doesn’t add up, so [everyone at the company] needs to take mental health seriously.”

The executive team can set an example by taking a mental-health day off when they need it, so they’re demonstrating to employees that it’s okay to focus on their mental health.

She notes there’s a generational gap when it comes to mental health and acceptance in the workplace. “You have the older generation that still sees it as a badge of honour to come into the office when you’re very ill. But the younger generation has normalized mental health to the degree they’re not afraid to tell you they need a break or they’re taking mental-health days. A company that’s looking to attract and retain younger workers has to pay attention to the things that are important to them.”

According to a 2023 survey by EY, more than half (55 per cent) of Canadian employees said they previously left a job because the company didn’t value their well-being, a percentage that increased to 65 per cent among generation Z employees. Nearly two-fifths (38 per cent) of employees felt their personal needs and well-being weren’t being prioritized at work and 31 per cent said their company doesn’t focus on fostering a sense of belonging.

For Bell Let’s Talk Day, employers can also focus on manager training because it’s a crucial part of the puzzle, says Candido. “I think many managers feel stuck in the middle with an employer that still sees mental health as an excuse and employees who are demanding their mental health be acknowledged. So they need proper training on how to talk to employees, how to help them access the resources they need and how to advocate for them with the senior leadership team.”

Beyond this, she notes employers can provide more access to mental-health resources and be flexible with offering employees the appropriate time off to take care of their mental health.

Benefits Canada Interview: Communication, incentivization key to ‘quiet hiring'

This article was originally published in Benefits Canada – written by Blake Wolfe.

As ‘quiet hiring’ becomes more prominent amid a challenging labour market, communication and incentivization are key considerations for employers, says Janet Candido, founder and principal of human resources consultancy Candido Consulting Group.

“It can be a great growth opportunity for an employee, whether it’s presented as a stretch assignment or just an upscaling opportunity. You need to present it as something that is a benefit to both parties, . . . not by saying, ‘Oh, lucky you, I’m going to give you a chance to do [more work].”

Candido defines ‘quiet hiring’ as the redeployment of current employees to different duties. While it isn’t a new phenomenon, the term has grown in popularity as a counterpoint to ‘quiet quitting’ — when employees perform their duties exactly according to their work contract — and as a method for employers to cover workplace responsibilities amid hiring challenges.

“If [employers] have a vacancy, it can take weeks or several months to fill. A lot of companies are also struggling financially — they’re still recovering from the impacts of the [coronavirus] pandemic and hiring [a new employee] can be expensive. Even if you [redistribute the workload] and give the existing employees an increase in salary, it will still be cheaper than hiring somebody new.”

However, with new or increased duties, employers must also take steps to safeguard against employee burnout, she says. “You have to be careful that you’re not doubling the person’s workload. Employers need to look at what their current workers are doing and say, ‘OK, I’m going to add five hours of work to your week, so are there three or four hours that I can take away from things that are not important right now?’”

‘Quiet hiring’ can also act as a retention strategy for both underperformers and overperformers alike, says Candido. “You may have a good employee and they’re trying really hard, [but] they’re just not able to do the job. You can move them into a different role and give them some training. That also works on the other hand, where you’ve got an employee who’s really ambitious and you really don’t want to lose them, so it’s a really good retention technique to offer them opportunities to try something new.”

CTV News Interview: What does the term 'quiet hiring' mean? These Toronto experts explain

This article was originally published in CTV News Toronto – written by Katherine DeClerq.

Months after the phrase ‘quiet quitting’ began to circulate social media, kick-starting a frenzied discussion about workplace boundaries and expectations, other similar buzzwords have started popping up.

First came quiet firing, in which an employer makes a work environment unsustainable so that a worker quits instead of the company fulfilling its termination process.

Now, the concept of “quiet hiring” is starting to become more pervasive. But what does it mean?

Similarly to the first two buzzwords, quiet hiring is not new, according to Toronto experts.

“It really only means that the organization is looking internally to find people it wants to promote,” Janet Candido, founder of Toronto-based HR firm Candido Consulting Group, said in an interview. “They're assessing their workforce and what they're looking for are employees who seem to be working not just working harder, but they're taking on job responsibilities that are beyond the scope of their own job.”

“So effectively, they've started already working on the job they want to be promoted to before the promotion.”

In these cases, employers are not promoting new positions and therefore reduce the chances of other workers feeling disgruntled when they don’t get the job, Candido added.

“They're recognizing that the person is already doing more than they were simply hired for.”

‘OTHER DUTIES AS NEEDED’

Nita Chhinzer, associate professor in the department of management at the University of Guelph, says the nature of the modern workforce is constantly changing. There is an expectation that a worker will take on tasks that may not specifically be outlined within a job description. Most businesses no longer include a specific list of tasks within job descriptions as a result. Lines such as “other duties as needed” can also be used to indicate the employee may be asked to perform roles outside of their expected scope.

However, Chhinzer adds that quiet hiring comes with its own risks. For example, there may be informal expectations that are never set by an employer, leading an employee to take on more responsibilities without the rewards.

“All employees are hoping for some form of incentive or reward, and the incentive or reward is often a pay bump or a raise, but it should happen simultaneously,” she told CTV News Toronto.

“Technically, if we're going to modify someone's job a lot, we should actually give them a new employment contract. But the truth is, in practice, jobs are fluid.”

Both Chhinzer and Candido said that a labour shortage provides employees with more leverage when it comes to having those discussions with their managers. It also could encourage companies to promote from within in order to retain the talent they have.

Employers are getting “a little bit more spooked,” Candido said.

“They might be losing employees without really realizing it. So they want to make sure they're paying attention and taking care of the people who are demonstrating more of a willingness to stay with the company and really work hard.”

The key to making quiet hiring work is communication. If a company is not transparent with their intentions, Candido says an employee may feel like they are being taken advantage of.

In these instances, it may be up to the employee to reach out and ask to be recognized for their efforts.

Chhinzer adds that employees should evaluate their capacity to add new responsibilities to their portfolio and not be afraid to ask that other tasks be removed.

“It's a desirable thing to have our jobs evolve. I think the challenge comes when new things are added without old things being taken off.”

This Ontario CEO told her employees they can work from anywhere. Here's how the policy works - Interview in CTV News

This article was originally published in CTV News.

Co-founder and CEO of Toronto estate management agency Willful, Erin Bury has announced that Willful has given their employees a ‘Work from Anywhere’ policy.

By summer 2021, vaccines were rolling out to the general public and there appeared to be a break between COVID-19 waves, so Bury once again opened her office up to employees by choice – but no one came, she says.

By that time, many employees had moved farther away from the office, or had adjusted to the routine of working from home. Bury says this realization, paired with employee feedback, prompted her and her husband to get rid of the space, take their company of just about 20 employees permanently remote, and implement a ‘Work from Anywhere’ policy.

The policy states employees can work from anywhere, and, as long as they are available from the 'core hours' of 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST, they can put whatever additional hours in they like.

Janet Candido, founder and CEO of Toronto-based human resources consultancy group Candido Consulting, says many companies are opting for a hybrid model right now, where employees work from home some days, and attend in-person others.

“Some people have developed a comfort level working from home, some are afraid of getting sick,” Candido told CTV News Toronto Wednesday. “Some have school-aged children, who can't go in one day because they have the sniffles… or immunocompromised people at home.”

“People are dealing with all sorts of different challenges. It's not that cut and dry.”

But no matter what policy companies choose, Candido says the successful companies tend to be the ones that provide more flexibility and listen to employee feedback.

“I always recommend when companies want to bring employees back to the office to consider the emotional and mental health of the employees."

640 Toronto Interview with The Kelly Cutrara Radio Program: Is it time Canadian companies finally embraced the 4-day work week?

With Ontario lifting mask mandates on TTC and in healthcare settings (doctor’s offices and hospitals), along with the rise of monkeypox, employers are once again facing the reality that some employees are still not comfortable with returning to the workplace.

Host Kelly Cutrara speaks with Janet Candido, HR expert and founder & principal of Candido Consulting Group, about how HR and employers can support/accommodate employees who aren’t comfortable with the office return due to health concerns, the benefits of enforcing a four-day workweek, salary increases due to inflation and employee retention, and more. Listen to the full interview below:

Employers should walk, not run back to onsite working: experts - Janet Candido Interviewed in Benefits Canada

Read the full interview in Benefits Canada.

More than two years after the coronavirus pandemic shifted many white-collar employees to remote working, some employers are planning their return to the office — even if it means bringing staff back kicking and screaming.

“Employers need to understand their employees more than they have in the past when they just offered a salary and a standard benefits program,” says Janet Candido, founder and principal of Candido Consulting Group.

During the last two years, employees have only interacted with colleagues through virtual calls, so a transitional, hybrid period will give them time to adjust to in-person interactions again, she points out. And there are positive aspects of telecommuting that have made the working environment more pleasant for some staff, including fewer microaggressions and unconscious bias for minorities, more accessibility for employees with disabilities and more work-life balance for caregivers. A hybrid working arrangement would also help reduce employees’ stress about the impending return, she adds.

Candido cautions that reverting back to old processes and policies after a disruption such as the current public health crisis isn’t always wise. She believes it’s an opportunity to evaluate whether past decisions and practices still make sense, noting employers can leverage data and performance metrics to build new policies.

In addition, it’s important for employers to consider whether remote working has impacted their businesses negatively, says Candido, referring to considerations like revenue streams, employee productivity, quality of work and employee engagement.