'Engagement is an outcome of your culture'

As companies move past the adrenaline-fueled early years of hybrid work, leadership teams are increasingly forced to confront a more complex challenge: keeping employees productive and accountable without burning them out.

HR leaders from several of Canada's biggest companies recently reflected on how they’re navigating this hybrid environment while acknowledging tensions, empowering managers and employees alike, and reshaping accountability without losing sight of employee wellbeing.

For Dasha Stupak, there’s a clear generational reckoning in employee priorities, where individuals are increasingly making deliberate choices to prioritize their own well-being over traditional notions of overwork. Rather than accepting long hours as the norm, more employees are saying, "I'm going to choose me. I'm going to choose balance in my life," said Stupak, VP of human resources and employee wellness at Pet Valu Canada at the HR Leaders Summit this week. 

Whereas Shubhankar Purandare noted that only a small portion – about 20 per cent of his workforce operates remotely, while the majority work in essential, in-person retail roles. Yet, “the employees who do work off-site want to come back to work,” he said, highlighting a reversal of the common narrative around return-to-office resistance.

Rather than backlash, most employee requests have been practical, referring to flexible start and end times to avoid traffic rather than full remote options. As director of HR at Kettlemans Bagels, he highlighted an example where one employee showed him a detailed hour-by-hour chart of when they’re most productive versus when they’re commuting, leading to simple but impactful changes like shifting work hours.

Notably, he stressed that engagement can’t be solved by a single solution as “everyone’s needs are going to be different.” While flexibility is easier to implement in smaller teams, he believes that department-level tweaks can still have a big impact.

“Engagement is really an outcome of your culture,” emphasized Purandare, noting that ultimately starts with leaders giving timely, meaningful feedback and staying closely attuned to their teams’ evolving needs.

No more 9-5?

Purandare told BPM about how Kettlemans has adapted scheduling and flexibility to fit the unique demands of its 24-hour operations, emphasizing that rigid 9-to-5 models are no longer practical or effective. He believes flexibility isn’t just about remote work but about adjusting shifts in ways that support both the business and employees' personal lives. That flexibility has a direct impact on engagement.

“Once we’re able to give that flexibility, managers are much more productive, they’re much more psychologically balanced,” he said, noting it also fuels a stronger service culture.

“Once you come here, you always have to put a smile on your face, it’s that infectious,” he added.

Yet, Carmen Klein, VP of people, culture and brand Management at Cadillac Fairview cautioned against relying too heavily on external narratives about employee engagement, noting that organizations often “over-listen to what the media is saying and under-listen to what’s going on in your actual organization.” For her, real insight comes from consistently tracking employee sentiment and acting on it.

She noted how her team conducts engagement surveys three times a year, measuring productivity, commitment, and retention indicators. That data, she said, is paired with informal feedback gathered by HR, allowing them to pinpoint problem areas early

“We’re laddering up the qualitative and quantitative data together to generate some insights that roll all the way out to execs,” she explained.

However, Kris Martin, manager of people operations at Ontario Energy Board (OEB) asserted flexibility must be balanced with compliance obligations, noting employers need to ensure that “any changes align with collective agreement provisions, including negotiated hours of work, scheduling requirements, notice periods, and consultation obligations. Fair and consistent application is critical to avoid grievances and maintain equity,” she told BPM.

“When done correctly, this evolution toward flexibility can strengthen organizational culture, improve work-life integration, and enhance accountability because trust and autonomy often drive better outcomes than control and rigidity,” added Martin.

Stupak agreed that tracking engagement requires both data and personal insight, but emphasized the value of close, individual relationships with employees. By paying attention to subtle behavioural shifts, leaders can often spot disengagement before it escalates.

For her, early detection often comes from noticing when someone stops showing up in the way they once did—whether that’s in participation, energy, or communication.

"Building the connections, building the relationships, getting to know people on a more personal level allows you to see the indicators early," she added.

RTO policies a 'contentious issue'

Still, Martin acknowledged that return-to-office policies remain a contentious issue in the public sector, particularly when applied to employees who have been consistently delivering results while working remotely. The difficulty, she said, lies in making a convincing case for why coming back is necessary.

She recognized that for many employees, the flexibility gained during the pandemic created a new sense of balance and autonomy - something that now feels at odds with mandated in-office requirements

However, for Klein and Cadillac Fairview, an organization in commercial real estate, return-to-office mandates aren't just supported, they’re welcomed.

With rising demand for office space in downtown Toronto, the company’s core purpose centers on community, physical spaces, and bringing people together, which made remote work a partial but temporary solution.

During the pandemic, only 15 per cent of their workforce worked remotely, while the remaining 85 per cent mainly operations staff were on-site, explained Klein. Over time, the dynamic reversed, and it became clear that in-person connection played a critical role in maintaining culture and morale.

Martin described a workplace climate where both employees and HR teams are stretched thin after years of ongoing disruption and rising demands. The burden, she said, is coming from all directions - social, economic, and organizational - while resources remain limited.

She acknowledged that companies are still trying to process the aftermath of major workplace shifts, and many are unsure how to move forward.

"We're in that really uncomfortable phase of what's next, what do we do next, how do we navigate this," said Martin. “I think it's a lot of competing priorities and a lot of strong desires to have a presence at work and their best abilities, have a presence outside of work and achieve that desire to balance.