Canadian Government's Work-From-Home Guidelines Are More People-Friendly Than Any Company's

With the coronavirus outbreak and the resultant lockdowns in various countries, the concept of working from home has really picked up. In the US alone, reportedly more than half the working population has been trying to manage office work from the confines of their homes.

Canada, as usual, has made things a shade better for its citizens. Understanding the effects of a pandemic and a subsequent lockdown, the government is paying more attention to everyone's well-being rather than ways to increase employee productivity, which understandably may have been affected.

I work for the Canadian federal government and they sent out an email with work at home guiding principles. It¡¯s amazing to work for a place that speaks like this. pic.twitter.com/idkFMoHxHE

¡ª Mark Richardson (@slavetothehat) May 11, 2020

Mark Richardson received an email from Canadian Federal Government where he works. The government seems to be testing some of the most reassuring remote work principles. The Ottawa-based man shared the guidelines on Twitter, which are said to have originated with Parks Canada. The tweet soon went viral and is just more proof of how Canadians love being ¡®nice¡¯ and ¡®accommodating¡¯.

These are some of the principles listed in the email:

• You are not "working from home", you are "at your home, during a crisis, trying to work".
• Your personal, physical, mental, and emotional health is far more important than anything else right now.
• You should not try to compensate for lost productivity by working longer hours.
• You will be kind to yourself and not judge how you are coping based on how you see others coping.
• You will be kind to others and not judge how they are coping based on how you are coping.
• Your team's success will not be measured the same way it was when things were normal.

This is how some people responded to it:

serious question: how does an American get a job with the Canadian federal government

¡ª Gus Andrews (@gusandrews) May 12, 2020

This is actually super encouraging as a newbie who has been applying for Gov of Canada positions ?

¡ª Brittany C (@CormierBA) May 12, 2020

Yeah it's really great to get emails like that.

Now...it needs to be put into practice by all managers.

¡ª Scholarly K-Poppa (@ScholarlyGamer) May 11, 2020

hahahaha I'd kill for any one of these let alone all of them

¡ª The Essential Kelsey (@FunWithKelsey) May 12, 2020

I have them as my background on my monitor. It¡¯s a great reminder!

¡ª Blaise H¨¦bert (@BlaiseHebert) May 12, 2020

This is excellent. I am so happy for workers who are being treated with kindness and encouragement. All you WFH people, especially those with children in the house, your efforts are truly appreciated. ? (I know it's a struggle for you but I am laid off & I miss my job SO MUCH.)

¡ª Marnie Wellar (@okaymarnie) May 13, 2020

A survey run by Statistics Canada on March 22 revealed that 4.7 million Canadians who didn¡¯t normally work from home started to in response to the pandemic. For the people who normally did work from home, the number increased to 6.8 million people. This was nearly 40% of Canada¡¯s total workforce, CTV News reported.

Vancouver-based polling agency Research Co. reported that 73% of surveyed Canadians believe that the remote working trend will continue after the crisis ends. The same survey showed that 46% found it difficult working from home because of distractions, but 65% said they would like to continue doing it.

Representational Image/Unsplash

No one was prepared to work from home for so long. For many, doing so can mean dealing with more distractions. However, more and more people are trying to find ways to get comfortable with the work-from-home lifestyle, because it seems like even in the post-pandemic world, it will be there to stay.