FlexGC Network flexes its muscles to support colleagues with remote work transition
By now, you know the story. Prior to March 2020, the vast majority of public servants worked primarily out of a traditional workplace provided by their employer. But in mid-March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a sudden transition to remote work for much of the public service in what was already a time of deep anxiety and uncertainty.
One month later, the FlexGC Network was created by a group of caring public servants who saw an opportunity to help our colleagues. The FlexGC Network is a grassroots collective of federal public servants from all levels, backgrounds, and locations who work across the Government of Canada (GC). We came together with the aim of supporting the many public servants directed to work from home as part of the public health response to COVID-19.
The FlexGC Network uses a human-centered approach to helping our colleagues identify and adapt to the tools, practices and mindsets needed to have success working from wherever they may be. We provide a variety of service offerings from 1:1 and 1:team support, workshops, and curated resources on a variety of topics related to remote and distributed work. As part of our efforts, we are researching the realities of remote and distributed work in workplaces across the GC and elsewhere.
While every experience is different, here are some of the things we are hearing from employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic:
- Employees have shared stories of feeling less stressed, and finding more balance as a result of working from home. At the same time, employees with caregiving responsibilities have shared that it’s been taxing to feel pulled in so many directions.
- We’re hearing about employees using the time they would have spent commuting on healthier activities like walking, biking, mindfulness, cooking, and more family time.
- Some of us are working with kids underfoot, or just getting used to a quiet house again after sending them back to school. Meanwhile, others have faced constant loneliness and isolation.
- Employees have shared their challenges with constant anxiety and feelings of uncertainty as a result of COVID-19.
- We’re hearing about employees who have adapted to the idea that working from home could be a longer-term shift, while others are struggling with a less than ideal home office setting. Still other have shared concerns that their managers may ask them to return to their former workplace sooner than they feel comfortable doing.
- We’re hearing that some employees miss seeing their colleagues in person, and the feelings of team cohesion they had previously.
Do you see yourselves in these stories? Tell us by using the #FlexGC hashtag on twitter or emailing FlexGC.Canada@gmail.com.
What all of this tells us is that there’s no one-size-fits-most way to creating healthy workplaces. Since March 2020, employees across the GC have demonstrated that being productive is not about where we work but how we work. We have been enabled with digital tools to work remotely in a pandemic, and we have proven that we are competent, capable, and can efficiently serve Canadians while working away from the traditional workplace. While it isn’t always easy, many of us have been able to achieve all this while working through a pandemic, with all the stressors, uncertainty, anxiety, and competing family priorities that come with this reality.
We are at a pivotal moment in time. There is no “normal” during a pandemic. Strengthening our capacity and ability to work in flexible, digital environments will position us to adapt to even more agile, inclusive, and equipped approaches to Public Service through, and beyond the time we are currently living through. Since April, the FlexGC Network has been here to help build this capacity across the system by providing open and experience-based support to our colleagues.
We are launching something exciting in October, and we’d love you to be a part of it. Curious to be the first to know? Attend our upcoming Canada School webcast with the Federal Youth Network on October 23, 2020.
In the meantime, if you’re committed to flexible working across GC, collaborating, or supporting your team or organization in working remotely, connect with us at:
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