The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has most recently shared its plans to implement a new type of working model for its employees. Since certain positions provide enough flexibility, the Crown agency will implement a hybrid model for staff from the Roberta Bondar Place and its office in Toronto. The new model should be officially implemented in January.
Like many other business institutions during the unprecedented situation, the OLG resorted to working from home as a way of protecting its employees from the dangerous virus. Now, the implementation of the new working model over 600 employees of the Crown will not be required to physically report to the offices and instead work from the comfort of their homes.
Implementing Flexibility
Tony Bitonti, director of external communications for the OLG said the change of the working model is consistent with many other institutions from the province. According to him, staff can also be productive while working from home and many employees have also expressed their interest in continued flexibility when it comes to working without physically reporting to the OLG offices.
The Crown organization conducted a survey among its employees which determined that 90% of the staff at the Foster Drive headquarters will be willing to work under the proposed hybrid model. The plan is still under development, but it will be formed in a way to determine how often a certain member should visit the office, based on their department and type of position.
Mr. Bitonti said that the notion behind the new plan is for employees to continue to feel safe, comfortable, and protected. According to him, the Crown has made some modifications to its offices to provide a safer environment to its staff which is in compliance with the provincial health and safety protocols. But as of now, it is unclear how much office space will be needed for the new work format.
Additionally, in his recent statement, the spokesperson for the OLG shared that the company is working with landlords to determine future real estate arrangements in order to comply with the local directives for the use of office space. He added, that the Crown continues its committment to Sault Ste. Marie as both an employer and sponsor of many events and charities.
Job Relocation
Recently, MPP for Sault Ste. Marie, Ross Romano expressed his desire to see more OLG job positions being transferred back to the agency’s main office in Sault Ste. Marie. Since, currently out of the 1,300 jobs, 800 are located in the Toronto office and he wants to see the jobs return to Sault Ste. Marie. According to him, the OLG positions are of huge importance to the economy of the city and it would be great to have more back.
Q2 Payment Received
At the end of October, the OLG issued its quarterly casino payment to the municipality of Sault Ste. Marie for the hosting of Gateway Casinos Sault Ste. Marie. For the second quarter, according to the Municipality Contribution Agreements, the city received an allocation in the amount of CA$325,000. The non-tax gaming revenue will now be used for the support of the region’s economy.
Source: Della-Mattia, Elaine “Plans underway for OLG employees to implement ‘hybrid’ office-home work week system”, The Sault Star, November 4, 2021
