Re-Opening Alberta

Re-Opening Alberta Post-Pandemic

Re-opening Alberta. What does that even look like? Truth is, it will be different for everybody and for a variety of reasons. The past 15+ months has affected all of us in some way or another but we’re nearing what we all hope will be the end. And as we cautiously approach that goal, and amid the reuniting and celebrating, business will also begin to readjust – but will things ever go back to exactly the way they were?

When the pandemic hit Canada with a vengeance in March 2020, I closed the Alberta One-Call (AOC) office. Our operations, and our AOC family, couldn’t risk infection, but we were more prepared for an event like this than we knew. AOC’s Disaster Recovery Plan kicked into full gear March 15, 2020. While the majority of the operational transition was seamless, we had just started 3 weeks of training for our seasonal Damage Prevention Agents (DPA). Training was interrupted for 24hrs while our Contact Centre Manager readjusted and with hardly a hiccup, training resumed remotely with all new hires logging in from home.

Technology has allowed us the ability to work remotely for quite a while. That’s nothing new. But there was always a stigma about it because we weren’t physically “reporting for duty”. Fifteen months later, that stigma has evaporated. 2020 was AOC’s busiest year in over ten years – and we successfully managed it all while working remotely. 

Our office remains closed and will continue to be until all staff who wish to work from the office have received their second dose. Every day, one of us heads into the office to collect the mail and carry-out a walk-thru inspection. And at least once each week, one of us will work an entire day from the office to accommodate special deliveries or use office equipment and programs that aren’t available from home or that traditional internet bandwidth struggles with. Fifteen months later, though, all 35 DPAs continue to work from home. Our Team Leaders continue to coach, mentor, troubleshoot and lead from home; and, AOC Administration continues to manage the wide-ranging goals, objectives and challenges of the business, including unification with the former Alberta Common Ground Alliance and rebranding.

So I ask again, “What does re-opening Alberta look like?” For AOC’s business, it means we’ve turned a corner. Remote working is here to stay and the stigma once associated with it is gone. We’re embracing it and making it work for us.

Mike Sullivan