Building on our Transformation Strategy, my Department continues to innovate and evolve in our operations. We have revisited some policies and are exploring more ways to adapt to the current situation and create the flexibility to respond to the circumstances.
Before the pandemic, IRCC was working to transition employees from desktop to mobile devices to allow for more flexible working arrangements. Mobile equipment purchased during the pandemic will replace onsite desktop computers. 95% of IRCC’s workforce can now work remotely compared to 55% before the pandemic.
The cost of accommodating IRCC employees working remotely between March 13, 2020 and September 23, 2020 was 1.7M.
Equipping employees to work remotely or on site is necessary to maintain services to our clients. Those processing applications or providing services to our clients require more than a laptop and need to be set up for this crucial work.
As of September 26, 2020, the Department had the capacity of 90% of its operations workforce in the office or teleworking. This is up significantly from the low of 38% at the end of March 2020.
When COVID-19 disrupted call services, the Client Support Centre quickly moved to equip agents in 5 weeks so that they could work remotely to answer client enquiries via telephone.
Supplementary messages
Approximately 55% of IRCC employees were equipped to work remotely before the COVID-19 pandemic.
IRCC was in the process of enabling its employees to work at “anywhere, anytime”.
Its inventory served to the transition from desktop PC to mobile devices such as laptops and Surface Pro tablets.
Successful innovation, transformation and digitalization of business processes has resulted in 95% of IRCC employees now being able to work remotely.
Equipping employees remotely
The cost for accommodating IRCC employees working remotely between March 13, 2020 and September 23, 2020 was $1.7 M. Expenditures included: tablets, monitors and HDMI cables, laptops and mobile phone devices. (Response to MP Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge) (QP-23).
As of September 18, 2020, IRCC employees are eligible to a reimbursement up to $500 for the following authorized office equipment: basic office furniture (Chair and work surface [adjustable desk or other type]), earphone / headset, foot rest / head rest, monitor stand riser and Wi-Fi range extender.
As of December 1, 2020, the total amount for this type of reimbursement is $239K.
Supporting facts and figures
Out of the $30M figure shared by the Toronto Sun, IRCC accounts for 5% of the total expenditures.
Background
An example of how IRCC employees were re-tooled to work remotely is IRCC’s Client Support Centre. Prior to COVID, though IRCC’s Client Support Centre was set up to answer client email enquiries virtually, client calls could only be answered from the office.
The Client Support Centre had to shut down its call operations when COVID led to the closing of its Montréal offices in March except for responses to client email enquiries.
In order to re-open call operations, IT Operations quickly outfitted agents with laptops, phones and headsets that could be used at home and urgently rolled out a system upgrade to allow the Department's contact centre IT solution to work for distributed remote workers.
Thanks to this and the quick implementation of virtual training, agents were equipped and able to take calls from home five weeks after the initial office shutdown.
