If strikes in the education sector are headaches for parents and their employers, they can be beneficial for organizations that know how to adapt, believe three experts from HEC Montréal.
First of all, “it is perhaps an opportunity to capture best practices,” says Kevin Johnson, professor in the management department of HEC Montréal and expert in organizational transformation. “People will adjust naturally. Why not take opportunities to identify what is being done and what is interesting? »
Such a crisis forces teams to help each other, he notes. “There is really an opportunity to bring forward the issues of teleworking and work mobility. We come back to issues such as the need to find a balance between employees’ lives and being able to do their job, to remain productive and available. »
Seek fairness
For his colleague Olivier Doucet, professor in the human resources management department, this is the opportunity or never for companies to prove their flexibility. “In a context of labor shortage, for employee retention, it sends a strong signal that the company takes care of the needs of its employees,” he explains. There are organizations that listen more than others. If this is an important value to you, it can become an important attractive factor. »
He notes that organizations have had practically three years of pandemic to manage such a situation. “There is almost a copy and paste to be made of the pandemic. » The professor believes, however, that it will be necessary to take the time, after the strikes, to think about a more global issue which has been little mentioned, “to take a step back” on equity.
“How can we manage equity between people who can telework and those who must be 100% in the office or factory? […] We give a big benefit to people who can telework, who save between 60 and 90 minutes per day. Should we give the equivalent in hours to others? Organizations are at the very beginning of their thinking on this subject. »
Innovation engine
Pierre Lainey, lecturer in the management department, sees effects in these strikes that go beyond companies. “One of the positive elements is to highlight the issues that people experience in the field of education. When we have a problem that is clearly formulated, it is the beginning of the solution. This is a positive effect even if we are in a dynamic of adversity. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HEC MONTRÉAL
Pierre Lainey, lecturer in the management department of HEC Montréal
He is also delighted to see the feeling of solidarity that motivates the strikers, who also count on the support of a significant part of the population. “There are beneficial effects to certain crises. We close schools, we reduce services in the health network and that generates innovation, we have no choice. Yesterday’s solutions no longer work. »
He even sees it, in this era of disinformation and weakening of institutions, “a form of strengthening democratic values”.
“I think it highlights how lucky we are to live here in Quebec, to have the opportunity to express ourselves publicly about what is wrong, to do it in a very open way. »