Co-founder and CEO of Toronto property management firm Willful, Bury and her husband, Kevin Oulds, first opened an office space in downtown Toronto in February 2020.
“We built the company to have a very personal culture and we were in the space for about six weeks before the first lockdown,” Bury told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday.
By the summer of 2021, vaccines were being rolled out to the general public and there seemed to be a lull between the COVID-19 waves, so Bury once again opened her office to employees by choice — but no one came, she says.
By this time, many employees had moved further away from the office or adjusted to the routine of working from home.
“People would come in maybe once or twice a month, and so we always joked that it was like a $1,000 office visit every time someone went, because they actually took advantage of it,” he said.
Bury says that realization, combined with employee feedback, prompted her and her husband to get rid of the space, take their company of about 20 employees permanently remote and implement a “Work from Anywhere” policy .
The policy states that employees can work from anywhere in Canada and, as long as they are available from “core hours” of 12 p.m.  until 4 p.m.  EST, they can put in whatever extra hours they want.
“I was tough, no work from home, in the office before the pandemic, but now I’ve completely changed my tune,” he said.
Amanda Li, an employee at Willful, says she didn’t realize how much the policy change could positively impact work-life balance until it changed.
“It allowed me to move [to Windsor, Ont.] where the cost of living is lower,” Lee told CTV News Toronto.  “And recently I was lucky enough to buy my own house here.”
On politics, Bury says “I don’t care when or where people work.”
“We just don’t watch it — as long as people get their stuff done, I don’t really care if you’re working Sunday night vs. Monday morning vs. from Paris.”
The policy allowed Bury and Oulds to move to a home in Prince Edward County, Ont.  “As a new mom, it also allows me to go out and breastfeed in between appointments,” she said.
To date, he says there has been no problem with worker productivity.
“I think it’s such an antiquated view that just because people are working from home they’re not working hard,” she said.  “They tend to be the old-school skeptical employers who want to spy over your shoulder and make sure you’re actually doing your job.”
Bury says Willful has taken a different approach in which employees are held accountable using a “rigorous” goal-setting framework.
Janet Candido, founder and CEO of Toronto-based HR consulting 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 on Wednesday.  “Some have school-aged children who can’t go in a day because they have runny noses … or immunocompromised at home.”
“People face all kinds of different challenges.  It’s not so cut and dry.”
But no matter what policy companies choose, Candido says 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 that they consider the emotional and mental health of the employees,” he said.
Bury acknowledges that while the option to work remotely provides a degree of flexibility, employees still crave interpersonal connections.  To combat this, she says her group basically meets several times a week and gets together for a hangout twice a year.
“We believe that personal connection matters,” he said.  “It just doesn’t have to be everyday or in an office – it can be a few times a year, with virtual opportunities to make connections.”
Li says she hopes more companies will become open to the idea of ​​working from home.
“I think flexibility really brings a better work-life balance for people and gives them time back in their day to spend with their families or do things they love.”