HR UPDATE
REMOTE WORK UNLOCKS NEW TALENT MARKETS FOR OTTAWA EMPLOYERS
Work-from-anywhere trend means local businesses are seeing new opportunities to hire outside the National Capital Region
B
y now it’s clear remote work isn’t going away, even once the global pandemic is over and it’s safe for everyone to return to the office.
While this shift opens a raft of questions for employers and their current staff, it also opens new opportunities for companies grappling with the city’s longfelt tight talent market. Ottawa companies are hiring employees who live outside the National
Capital Region to work remotely as a way of addressing a skills shortage in the city. But abandoning a long-held mindset that an employee must live in the same region as their employer is raising new questions for companies. What roles are suitable for remote
work? How far from Ottawa is too far? And, if Ottawa businesses are looking to hire employees in other cities, how can local firms prevent their staff from being poached by employers outside Canada’s capital? Continued on next page
SPRING 2021 HR UPDATE 35
By Caroline Phillips caroline@obj.ca