What is the Working for Workers Act and How
Will Bill 27 Impact Me?
Bill 27, the Working For Workers Act was recently passed. It empowers employees to “switch off” at the end of the day. It will push employers to change policy, process, and technology. By January 1st, 2022 any business that has more than 25 people will have to accommodate the new law.
What Is The Bill 27 (The Working For Workers Act)?
The Working For Workers Act can be down into two significant components:
- There must be a written policy that addresses things like burnout. It will focus on strict requirements surrounding the effort or work done outside core business hours. Thereby giving the employees the right to refuse work.
- Some employment contracts will now be subjected to the removal of a non-compete clause. Allowing anyone under that contract to seek employment in a competing market immediately after separation.
Burnout Policies & The Right To Refuse Work
Now, let’s talk about the scary part. For point number one. What we are talking about here is minimizing information exchange and running a business process into an 8 hr window. Imagine being forced to reduce a potential 12 hr workday into 8 hours, it’s not easy, is it? Not only is every business feeling time pressure, but Murphy (from Murphy’s law) can also no longer be managed. He always shows up at 4:59 pm and that’s when we really need people to work some “extra time”. Now, with the law in place, If I want to go – I can go. The right to disconnect in Bill 27 creates a path for employees to speak and be heard while it also creates a significant risk to work execution for employers alike.
Non-Compete Clause Is Now Illegal
If switching off is not enough for you, how about this one? For most employers having a non-compete clause in an employment contract will now be illegal. Picture this scenario. An employee works for an employer for 5 years and within a blink of an eye, they can be working directly for the competition. Employers will need to build strong retention strategies and highly automated processes as the risk of losing an employee can also mean losing business.
If you’re not worried now then must you have everything under control, right? I’ll admit it threw me back a bit when I read what the bill entailed. As if having the pandemic wasn’t enough, now this.
Bill 27 Is A Challenge The A Digital Strategy Can Solve
As challenging as it sounds, it takes a different perspective to the problem which can identify this as one incredible opportunity. First, let’s understand why we work long hours focusing on information movement from within a business as the primary driver. I’m talking about project status updates, reconciling financial data, communication at unnecessary meetings, data refresh rates on reports, and don’t forget to make 100 PowerPoint presentations to summarize what happened last month – information is always late and we’re always working in the past. Working with historical information drives those late nights in the office.
We need to work smarter.
Now imagine a real-time dashboard that tells a real-time story. All the information you could possibly need, right there, in one spot.
Can you picture it?
If information moved seamlessly and we had access to it in real-time, how much work would you be doing at home?
Zero.
By incorporating technology into your digital strategy NOW you can avoid what is soon to become a very challenging landscape. We often leave the “evening” work to more cognitive decision-making, where intuition, experience, and gut feeling play a huge role. We do this because we spend most of our time during the day on manual tasks. By incorporating technology into your business process and automating the non value add you will only need 8 hrs of your employee’s time.
Have You Relied On Non-Compete Agreements? How Workflow Automation Helps
Now, how do you solve the non-compete clause? The more manual your process, the more you share about it. If I watch you make the world’s best hamburger and you teach me, I can at least make the second-best and there is always a market for that. Organizations naturally expose themselves via the structure of their business process. Whereby needing people to execute the process with high manual touchpoints acquiring valuable knowledge along the way and hence the current need for a non-compete.
What if the work you did was strictly customer-facing and the process was highly automated?
You’re performing high-value work and are no longer responsible for moving the process along.
Truthfully speaking, your employees are happier now with workflow automation because they feel and add value.
Our technology can turn your process from visible to invisible making a non-compete under Ontario’s Bill 27 unnecessary.
Conclusion
The right to disconnect in Ontario under Bill 27 is real. It’s a real challenge that has a real solution. Industry 4.0, IoT, A.I and Machine learning are all creating massive opportunities for both employer and employee. We have extensive experience in workflow automation and real-time information systems leveraging the latest technologies. Bill 27 does not have to be a hurdle but more so it should be seen as a springboard opportunity for the next phase of growth in your business.
