(02-17-2021, 11:38 AM)westwardloo Wrote: I also worry that companies taking away the office environment is the first step to outsourcing a lot of these jobs to cheaper labor overseas.

(02-17-2021, 02:46 PM)Chris Wrote:

(02-17-2021, 11:38 AM)westwardloo Wrote: I also worry that companies taking away the office environment is the first step to outsourcing a lot of these jobs to cheaper labor overseas.

This isn't anything new. Most companies I know of didn't need a pandemic to do this. The current situation might accelerate this but it's been going on for years.

(02-17-2021, 03:02 PM)westwardloo Wrote:

(02-17-2021, 02:46 PM)Chris Wrote: This isn't anything new. Most companies I know of didn't need a pandemic to do this. The current situation might accelerate this but it's been going on for years.

I agree that this was already happening in some sectors of the workforce (customer service) but I wasn't aware of it happening for the "higher" skilled office type jobs (accounting, insurance, tech). I know one of the reasons that these jobs have stayed Canada are the quality of work (especiallyin the tech sector). 

I also worry about family life 5 years from now. I love my significant other, but I think our relationship would really be tested if they were to be working beside me 8 hours a day. In my opinion I think this mass exodus to work from home is going to have negative social effects on society. Would not be surprised to see an increase in divorce rates post covid. 
 
I do hope this pandemic will force workplaces to get creative to encourage employees to come back to the office entially. Whether is more flexible hours, allowing work from home some days a week, or providing creative spaces within the office. 

I don't know, I guess I am just thinking too negative, k-w was really hitting its stride pre covid with Google expansion and shopify, but the work from home is going to change how company invest in communities

(02-19-2021, 04:18 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: A couple of years ago Manulife collapsed its local offices into the Waterloo location and introduced a significant reduction in static workplaces. Employees no longer had a desk, their team or groups had clusters of desks and in general (there were accommodations made for certain roles that eg, required physical security, and for cases of disability and other exceptionalities). I was at Manulife when the process began, but moved to a different employer before my team was affected, so I don't know how it has gone since.

A few years prior to that experience, I was working at Communitech when they started the process to sublet Google's space. At that time, it was decided that Communitech staff would not have permanent desks (again, as a general rule and with some exceptions) and instead hotel. I also left while this process was underway (I swear neither time was that decision a factor, and in fact while at Communitech I advocated for the hoteling), but at the times I returned for events or visits, it very much seemed like most people were using the same spaces fairly consistently, though again it was pretty role dependant. The back office sorts stabilized and those who interacted more with customers tended to float more.

Manulife is by far the most remote-friendly company I've worked for, probably because they were a multi-national company where teams regularly were located in geographically and chronologically disparate locations, which forces the issue I think. When you start genuinely caring more about the work that is done then where and when it gets done, there's a lot of flexibility.

I don't have any predictions now, and am greatly interested in what new office conventions develop in the next 5-10 years. Pre-pandemic I'd have put money on more and more large organizations moving to flexible, hoteling-based work spaces and clearly now there's even more motivation to do so but once the pandemic eases (whatever that means, hand wave hand wave hand wave) I'm certain that there's going to be a lot of people who are flocking back to office spaces. I think the pandemic and the variances in safety of free movement are really going to emphasize the advantages of very flexible physical environments.

(02-19-2021, 06:47 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: Personally the hotel style you're describing seems quite unpleasant to me, but I could appreciate it working for others. I hope they offered both styles as an option.

(02-22-2021, 12:11 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Some of the assumptions underlying the hoteling schemes are that all the information has been digitized -- no paper files, or physical books! -- and that everyone is using a laptop.

Those assumptions don't work for all people and all organizations, though.

(02-09-2021, 01:36 AM)nms Wrote: This Record article first raised the issue in October 2020: Developer trims Waterloo towers, asks to tear down apartment building.

The Waterloo Bylaw in question is Demolition Control Area Bylaw 2013-014 (PDF). 

From the Bylaw:

Quote:The intent of demolition control shall be:
a. to prevent the premature loss of housing stock and the creation of vacant parcels of land;
b. to prevent the premature loss of assessment;
c. to retain existing residential units until new uses have been considered and zoning or site plans approved;
d. to prevent block busting within residential neighbourhoods;
e. to prohibit the use of Demolition as a means to reduce maintenance costs; and
f. to prohibit the use of Demolition as a tactic to obtain zoning or other City approvals.

I stand corrected that as of last fall, the building in question that was going to be demolished was vacant at the time of the application. The application was then withdrawn as of November 2.