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City encouraging employers to extend work-from-home programs

Torontosun.com
June 2, 2020

As Toronto recovers from COVID-19, the city has announced partnerships with a number of local companies who have agreed to extend their work-from-home programs.

Announced Friday at the city’s thrice-weekly COVID-19 news briefing, Mayor John Tory says the agreement with major downtown employers and post-secondary institutions will allow employees to telecommute until at least September.

“Such an approach will help take the pressure off our subway system in the downtown and help ensure we have a slower, steady and safe restart,” Tory said.

The newly established Toronto Office of Recovery and Rebuild (TORR) has been reaching out to large employers to get them on board with the plan, something Chief Recovery and Rebuild Officer Saad Rafi says he had little issue doing.

“We found a high degree of co-operation,” Rafi said. “It wasn’t that long ago that we were moving to a co-working regime where team-based models were the way to go,. Now they have to re-configure that office space to allow for physical distancing.”

Also on Friday, the city announced an outreach program seeking input on how best to recover from COVID-19.

TORR is inviting residents and businesses to get involved by downloading a discussion guide, providing feedback by June 30 or hosting meetings or discussions.