Episode #59: How "Work from Home" is Transforming the Workplace

Talking Shop Podcast

We have dedicated a whole show to a subject that will affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide: flexible working hours and "work from home".

While staff in many Asian countries have been back to the office for a while now, companies in the United States and Canada are now rolling out announcements for an imminent return to the office. The problem? Not everyone wants to go back.

Aside from the pandemic, Ewan looks at some of the demographic changes that are giving the WFH movement an extra push, and shares his ideas on how employers and employees can prepare.

Then Cam gets specific -- with Apple. The company's CEO Tim Cook told staff last week they can return to the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday each week, while granting remote work on Wednesdays and Fridays -- a step widely seen as very accommodating for a company with an old school outlook when it comes to work. But that change wasn't good enough for thousands of employees who penned a lengthy letter taking the company to task for not doing more.

We look at this issue from every possible angle and hopefully stumble on some solutions.

In Check This Out, Ewan recommends an editorial on a horrific mass grave found in Canada, while Cam has bookmarked a New Yorker piece on the strange radio waves targeting US officials worldwide.

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Links and Show Notes

• Workers are Gaining Leverage Over Employers Right Before our Eyes - The New York Times
• New Report Says 'Demographic Drought' will Worsen Labor Shortage - Forbes
• The Decline of Young People in America - Emsi
• Real Estate Newsletter: Home Prices Hit an All-Time High - LA Times
• Apple Asks Staff to Return to Office Three Days per Week Starting in Early August - The Verge
• Employees are Quitting Instead of Giving Up Work from Home - Bloomberg

Check This Out

• Kamloops Residential School's Unmarked Graves a Painful Reminder of Why We Need Leadership - The Globe and Mail

Hosts

Ewan Christie is an employment lawyer and partner at Duntrune LLP in Toronto, Canada.

Cam MacMurchy is a corporate communications executive with a multinational technology company listed in Hong Kong and curator of the Digital Bits PR and Communications newsletter. He also contributes to Apple news website 9to5Mac and shares his thoughts on PR, media, travel, and technology on his website.