Katie Thibeault of Cognition+ says her company succeeds with WFH thanks to clear policies, manager training, culture of trust
While many organizations have been contemplating or implementing return-to-office (RTO) mandates, remote work remains a popular feature of the Canadian workplace.
Robert Half’s latest analysis of job postings finds that fully onsite roles still account for the majority of opportunities — 61 per cent, and 65 per cent of HR roles in the third quarter of 2025 — even as hybrid and remote options inch up.
A recent study from the Angus Reid Institute shows three in five Canadians (59 per cent) would prefer to spend most of their working time at home if they could, and among workers who were told to spend less of the week at home, nearly six in 10 said they would either look for another job or at least think about it.
But as RTO mandates increase and organizations express a desire to see employees in person more often, some companies have gone all-in with remote and hybrid work and are finding success.
Remote work success
Cognition+, a London, Ont.-based software firm, went remote during the pandemic and decided to permanently shift to “remote-first” after with much success, according to Katie Thibeault, human resources manager.
“We still maintain a head office here in London that we use for customer meetings, and we have a board of directors that use it monthly, so we'll continue to maintain that office space,” says Thibeault. However, other than the handful of hybrid staff, the Cognition+ workforce is entirely remote, she says.
WFH strategy based on trust
Cognition+ is finding the remote workplace to be working well, but it required a well-thought-out plan that addressed issues of trust, responsibility, and a shift in mindset for managers, according to Thibeault.
Trust is a huge factor with people working from home, as seen with a recent incident in the U.S.: A remote worker posted on OnRecord Networks, a site with reviews of employers and co-workers, about a rule by his direct manager that any employee who steps away from their desk for any reason, including for a bathroom break, must “notify the team.”
The manager emailed the worker after a delay in responding to an online group chat. The post generated thousands of responses, calling the rule “insane and inappropriate.”
There’s a line between healthy accountability and micromanagement — oversight based on clear goals and transparent workflows is different from surveillance that treats time away from the keyboard as suspect, says Thibeault, who adds that there are various digital tools that can allow managers to see progress without demanding constant presence, depending on the work.
“With working remotely, we have to trust each other — that really is the foundation to being remote-first,” she says.
Remote work policy outlines expectations
Thibeault sees that U.S. example as a training opportunity for managers and a reminder to set clear expectations in a remote work policy. Without explicit guidance from HR, individual leaders may introduce restrictions that feel reasonable to them but invasive to employees, while employees may be unsure of boundaries.
“We have what we call a remote work best practices document for leaders and employees that sets out parameters around 'How do I show I'm available, I'm online, and I'm working,'” says Thibeault. “We use Outlook and we use Slack heavily, so we set out what does that look like and what are the expectations around core working hours and things like cameras for meetings.”
Thibeault points out that in a physical workplace, employees can “feel the norms” just by observing how colleagues arrive, meet and take breaks, whereas remote workers are often left wondering what’s acceptable. By spelling out expectations, HR can avoid oneoff reactions that drift into overreach and alienate employees such as in the U.S. story.
Organizations can also tackle sensitive issues that might otherwise paralyze managers, says Thibeault.
“We even had situations where a male manager is meeting one-on-one with a female manager virtually and it could go either way, and he’s saying, ‘I really don't feel comfortable asking my female employee to turn on her camera,’” she says. “So sending out this document that sets the expectations for everybody is how we approach that.”
“When you're in a meeting where you're mostly listening, you have your camera on, have that initial chatter, but then you turn your camera off, mute yourself, and you can just listen,” she adds. “But if you're in a meeting where you're expected to participate and engage, communication is definitely not just your voice, so we ask that you have your camera on and take yourself off mute.”
Training managers on ‘different way of leading’
A clear remote work policy plays a dual role by protecting employees from intrusive or inconsistent demands and protecting managers from uncertainty by providing a clear, equitable standard they can reference. In an environment where the majority of workers would prefer to spend most of their time at home, Thibeault believes that clarity on such basics can influence whether hybrid arrangements feel sustainable or not.
While having such a policy established the norms, management may have to be guided into the mindset shift so incidents of overstepping with remote workers don’t happen.
“We put our management team through training for managing a remote team,” she says. “It’s a different way of leading, and you have to be on top of those little signals, like someone who maybe was really engaged and all of a sudden isn't checking in with people.”
Thibeault believes that different way of leading means: not relying on in-person proximity as indicators of engagement or wellbeing; being able to recognize early behavioural changes; and having timely performance conversations. Additionally, training itself should model remote-friendly practices, such as using virtual platforms, and simulations that reflect how work is actually done, she says.
Thibeault suggests that regular companywide staff meetings and regular one-on-ones with managers are part of the communication architecture that replaces ad-hoc hallway chats as a way of staying connected.
Communication key to performance management
For HR, the lesson is that communication strategy is inseparable from performance management in remote settings. Thibeault says that clear rhythms of information-sharing and recognition can reduce the perceived need for intrusive tracking — managers gain visibility into work and sentiment through dialogue, not dashboards or a “five-minute rule.”
The most fundamental shift for many managers is psychological, not procedural; being asked to lead hybrid or remote teams challenges longstanding assumptions about what productivity “looks like,” according to Thibeault.
“When we made the switch, I had a conversation with a manager who said, ‘I don't see them in their seat, so how do I know they're working?’” she says. “As a manager, you need to be a strong manager and really have an understanding of what your employees are working on — you can probably do that in a variety of ways — one-on-one check-ins and setting annual goals and expectations can be helpful in tracking their progress.”
