Who can work from home, and who needs to be in the office?

To work from home or not to work from home.That is the question.

The answer, however, isn't straightforward, say employers struggling to stay afloat while trying to do the right thing to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Not all workers can work from home, says Philip van Leeuwen, vice-president of communications for Nordia, which bills itself as "Canada's largest provider of customer service solutions."

While many New Brunswick call centres have sent some of their employees home to work remotely, Nordia's two locations in Saint John and Moncton are relatively business as usual.

"Very few of our operations people are able to work from home because we need them online," said van Leeuwen.

While Moncton has several administrative positions and those people have been encouraged to work from home van Leeuwen described Saint John as an "operational centre."

That means working from home isn't an option.

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"I'm not aware of anyone [in the Saint John office] who could work from home," said van Leeuwen..

"Most of those folks have to come into our centres. That's why we're spending so much effort in maintaining the safety and security of those centres. It's really our top priority."

He said the company has stepped up cleaning and sanitizing protocols and is ensuring that employees work at a safe distance from each other.

As of Wednesday, the temperature of every employee will be taken before they're permitted to start their shift. If they have a fever, they are sent home, said van Leeuwen.

Elsewhere, it's work at home

Other call centres, however, are sending employees home to work.

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Public spaces were urged to close by Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell.

TD Insurance, for example, is trying to send as many of its Saint John staff as possible to work from home without compromising service for customers, says spokesperson Elizabeth Goldenshtein.

After all, some of their clients may be travelling abroad and need information on health and travel insurance, she said.

"Like many regulated and vital functions, insurance is obligated to remain open, and some of our colleagues are still working from TD locations as a necessary function of their role for Canadians," explained Goldenshtein in an email.

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She said many are "working tirelessly to help get Canadians who are travelling abroad home. These customers need our support more urgently than ever to understand their insurance coverage and policies."

With staffing levels reduced at their offices, Goldenshtein said the company is able to allow for social distancing at work. They are also moving employees "between locations or floors or both in order to limit the spread and impact of the virus."

Figuring it out

John Wishart, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, said employers are doing their best in a difficult situation.

He hasn't heard any pushback from employers about sending employees home to work, nor any complaints from employees who are asked to report to the office.

"I haven't heard any reports of employees being forced to stay at work," he said. "That's a good sign. I think it means that the business community is certainly taking the public health scare seriously."

Since everything happened so fast, Wishart said, most employers didn't have time to prepare.

"We are directing our members, if they have inquiries about how to work from home remotely, to some resources that we're aware of, some software that's out there, especially free software."

He said one of the issues that has already surfaced is a strain on communications infrastructure.

Wishart said he's already experiencing difficulties with conference calls and was warned by the service provider that there may be delays or other glitches in the coming weeks.

Lessons for next time

He said the company acknowledged it wasn't ready for the avalanche of traffic caused by the increase in remote workers.

If there's a silver lining in all of this, Wishart said companies can use the COVID-19 experience to help develop future contingency plans.

"So, the next time around if there is a next time we'll be more capable or ready," he said.

The CEO and co-founder of Beauceron Security Inc., a New Brunswick-based cybersecurity software firm with clients across North America, sees the same silver lining.

"When we come through this," said David Shipley, "I think we'll all be better for it, in terms of being more resilient. I do believe that the painful things we're going through now will help us in less dire situations.

"In the next flu season, maybe people will take it more seriously about working from home if you're not feeling well. And employers will feel more confident that people can still be productive at home and not have to come into the office. I think there is a lot of good that can come from this terrible situation in the long run."

And for those struggling with the prospect of sending employees home to work, Shipley's company has prepared an information document titled "Cybersecurity for Remote Workers" to help them through these tough times.

No readymade solution

"Unfortunately, due to the speed of this pandemic, a lot of organizations have not had the opportunity to think through these things," he said.

"There's no technological silver bullet. There is no hardware or software that you can buy and immediately you've got a fully productive, remote workforce."

But there are things that employers can do to ensure the safety of their workers and their business.

"The first thing is to understand that people are not going to work the same way that they did at the office," said Shipley.

The next step is to make sure that the equipment and networks are secure.

As their PowerPoint presentation stresses, "if remote workers aren't following security best practices, the whole organization is still at risk."