The Quebec-based Canadian insurance and wealth institution lifts the lid on its plans for a hybrid and flexible model
Over the past year, the impact of the global pandemic forced the world to take on countless experiments.
As they imposed lockdowns and travel bans to limit the spread of COVID, developed countries like Canada and the U.S. unleashed hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus to sustain struggling industries and citizens. With unprecedented urgency, pharmaceutical firms around the world raced to develop vaccines against the global threat.
For financial companies who could no longer require their staff and executives to come to the office as they used to, telecommuting was the answer. But now, as the impact of the pandemic slowly recedes, those same organizations are having to grapple with the question of what the post-pandemic workplace will look like.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic we have used external and internal assessments to maintain a pulse on market trends and to receive feedback from our employees directly,” said Marie-Claude Girard-Jauvin, employee experience director at iA Financial Group.
As Girard-Jauvin told Wealth Professional, iA Financial Group met with several organizations and market leaders that were comparable in size and operated in the same industry. The company also looked at external benchmarks, and came out with frequent employee surveys and discussion groups to guide its decision-making process.
Based on those inputs, the company has decided to adopt a hybrid and flexible model that incorporates elements of both remote and in-office work. With that, the company hopes to provide most of its 8,000-plus employees the freedom to choose where they want to work on a daily basis.
A number of financial firms are holding on to their tradition of requiring attendance at the office, arguing that the environment plays a strong role in determining how effective an employee is. But over the course of the pandemic, iA Financial Group’s employees demonstrated the commitment and agility required to maintain their usual performance.
"Despite the pandemic, we continued to deliver strong results and value to all our stakeholders," Denis Ricard, president and CEO of iA Financial Group, said in a statement unveiling the company’s back-to-work strategy. "Our employees have been able to take full advantage of the benefits of remote working. This is why we are moving enthusiastically and confidently towards a hybrid model with undeniable efficiency.”
iA Financial Group is allowing its employees choose to work from home or come back to the office, whichever mode lets them perform more effectively. For everyone’s protection, those opting to return must comply with safety protocols and policies, which are continuously updated and adapted based on public health recommendations.
“Employees may volunteer to work from an office location, provided they complete a daily health form and respect several sanitary protocols,” Girard-Jauvin said. Aside from body temperature checks and requirements to wear masks, employees who come to iA Financial Group branches must adhere to social distancing and building capacity requirements, and, of course, they’re provided with facilities to sanitize their hands.
“In the long term, our model will account for enhanced and new employee services with physical and mental health in the forefront,” Girard-Jauvin said.
Beyond safety and health concerns, she said iA is considering other needs for collaboration, socialization, training, and the evolving nature of individual work in designing its future workspaces. Aside from that, the company is also looking at hybrid collaboration technologies and spaces to promote a more inclusive experience across locations.
“To account for the multiplicity of sites, we’re also optimizing key organizational processes and shared services,” Girard-Jauvin said. “We also want to explore manager and employee enablement programs for effective flexible-hybrid upskilling and readiness.”
