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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, M ay 27 ,2 02 1 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira nparreira@metroland.com Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar hdunbar@starmetrolandmedia.com Advertising Representatives Fran Hendry, Katrina Anderson, Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Zaid Shahabuddin, Cassandra Dellow Managing Editor Robyn Wilkinson Online Editor Adam Jackson Reporters Bill Jackson CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 475 Thompson Dr., Units 1-4 Cambridge, ON N1T 2K7 Phone: 519-886-2830 Fax: 519-623-9155 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519- 894-3000 OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA EDITORIAL The way we work has changed dramatically. Some of these changes have been for the better, with work from home boosting flexibility and productivity. Some, however, have been for the worse. We've been operating in crisis mode for the past year. In the early days of the pan- demic, operating in crisis mode was essential. The processes and procedures were in place to enable us to keep doing our jobs. In the long-term though, operat- ing in crisis mode isn't sus- tainable or frankly, desir- able. My company, Dialectic, in partnership with Jostle, recently completed a survey with over 400 workers. Eighty-five per cent of par- ticipants report feeling so- cial isolation, 83 per cent feel disconnected from the workplace culture and 76 per cent say they are strug- gling with work/life inte- gration challenges. Crisis mode is pushing people to the brink. But on the other hand, remote work, or some hy- brid form is here to stay. Seventy-five per cent of par- ticipants said they wanted to keep working remotely at least some of the time. So what do we do? First, we need to get out of this crisis mode. Talk to your employ- ees or leaders frankly about what is and isn't working. Think about how your team can bring back the human side of work. We have an unprecedent- ed opportunity to change the way we're working for the better. Studies, like ours (blog.jostle.me), offer key in- sights and actions that your company can try as we move toward this future together. Strike a balance between productivity and belonging. Are you giving every em- ployee the space to set their own schedule and work hab- its that are best for them? Are you focusing on output vs. time spent? Are you en- couraging your employees to take time off when they need it? A little over a year ago many of us cleared out our desks and workstations. We've been flexible, resil- ient and adaptable, and we've made it work. It's time for companies to adapt and think about how they can in- vest in their remote teams, too. Melissa Horne, PhD, is a diversity, equity and inclusion advocate and the director of client experience at Dialectic, heading the Diversity and Inclusion Learning Snippets Plat- form aimed at moving the needle on real behavioural change in the workplace. Melissa was born and raised in Guelph and is committed to highlighting changemakers in her com- munity. REMOTE WORK IS CHANGING OUR LIVES THERE HAVE BEEN ENORMOUS CHANGES TO WORK-LIFE BALANCE, WRITES MELISSA HORNE If you're one of the Ontarians who've had the AstraZe- neca COVID-19 vaccine, you've probably developed a seri- ous case of buyer's remorse. One moment, you were told to take the first vaccine available -- and did. The next moment -- on May 11 -- this province halted the use of AstraZeneca for first doses because of a rare but dangerous blood-clot condition. That sudden, official 180-degree turn understandably left people feeling betrayed, confused and, for those vacci- nated with AstraZeneca, possibly at risk. But while the messages from politicians and public health officials have changed far too many times during the pandemic, on this occasion the Ontario government made the right call. Throughout this pandemic and for the sake of public health, governments at all levels have had to make rapid- fire decisions in real time and based on the best available scientific data. That's what Ontario did when it first rolled out AstraZeneca. That's also what convinced it to put the brakes on AstraZeneca this week. But before getting angry at this stunning reversal, think back a few months and remember how elated every- one was when the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccines arrived. It felt like a liberation day. The problem was that in the early going, supplies of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines were only trickling in. Based on the best information at the time, health officials considered all those vaccines to be safe, which is why they recommended getting any one available. To be sure, the biggest mass vaccination program in the country's history took a while to rev up. Finally it's producing the desired results. With 15.8 million people across Canada -- including 6.6 million in Ontario -- hav- ing received their first vaccination as of Thursday, hopes of reaching "herd immunity" seem realistic. Of course, the longer we live through this pandemic, the more we learn about it. Health officials in Ontario recently learned the incidence of the blood-clot syndrome had shifted from one for every 100,000 people vaccinated with AstraZeneca to one for every 59,000. That's still a rare situation. But knowing that in- creased risk and aware the Pfizer and Moderna supplies have dramatically increased, Ontario health officials wisely decided to adopt the precautionary principle and put a hold on AstraZeneca jabs. This doesn't mean people were wrong to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca. Those who did shouldn't second-guess themselves. In the coming days, health officials will have to review the best data and decide whether people who have had one dose of AstraZeneca can proceed with a second, or whether they should be offered another vaccine. In the meantime, we should understand and accept the inevitable twists and turns in the vaccine rollout. We should also celebrate the medical miracle that in less than a year, scientists developed not only the first ever coronavirus vaccine, they developed four of them. That's how we'll beat this thing. ONTARIO RIDES A STEEP VACCINE LEARNING CURVE MELISSA HORNE Column