please make a full analysis of the following organizational behavior report as instructed below

FALL / WINTER TERM 2023 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR GROUP REPORT ASSIGNED: Wednesday, February 7, at 4:00pm ET, 2024 DUE: Thursday, March 7, by 11:55pm ET, 2024 AGILUS WORK SOLUTIONS: BACK TO THE OFFICE? ASSIGNMENT: As a consultant to Craig Brown, perform whatever analysis and make whatever recommendations you deem appropriate. Support your recommendations with a detailed action plan.. All reports must be typewritten. Each group must submit one electronic copy of the repor. Maximum report length: 8 pages (8.511"), plus a maximum of 3 pages of exhibits, as appropriate. All pages of text in the report should be formatted with 1-inch margins on all sides, double-spaced. Times New Roman, 12-pt font in MS Word. The report should be written in concise and complete sentences and should include headings. a) Page Penalty: Ten (10) marks (out of 100) per page will be deducted from the final report grade for any pages exceeding the stated page limit. If the report is not formatted according to guidelines, instructors may choose to reformat the report and/or apply the appropriate deductionis). Clearly indicate the following in a title page (title page not included in the stated page limit): The name of your instructor The course section number The names of all group members (include team name if applicable) Reports should include a one-page executive summary, which will not be included in the stated page limit. This summary should also be formatted with one-inch margins on all sides, Time New Roman, 12-pt font. The executive summary may be single-spaced. This summary should appear at the beginning of the report and should include a statement of the major issue(s) and a summary of major analysis and recommendations from the report. Groups contain six to seven members. Every student in the group will receive the same grade. Therefore, it is the group's responsibility to ensure that each member contributes to the report. All reports must be typewritten. Each team will only submit one report per group. The document must be submitted in .doex (MS Word) format as one single document. Use the cut and paste function to merge content if needed. When submitting on OWL, the title of your Word document should be your team name. One report per group must be submitted electronically on OWL via the Turnitin tab by 11:55pm ET, on Thursday, March 7, 2024 This deadline applies to all groups. You may only upload the report once, anytime between the assigned date and the due date. You are responsible for saving and backing up your files and submitting the correct file that follows all report rules. a) Late Penalty: Ten (10) marks (out of 100) will be deducted from the final grade for any submissions received after 11:55pm ET on Thursday. March 7. 2024, Another ten marks will be deducted for each additional 24-hour period after this date. Absolutely no extensions. matenals of the highest quality; submit any ermata to publishcases@ivey.ca. G it & 2022, wvay Business School Foundation Version: 2022-12-13 As Craig Brown walked off the tennis court after his regular Saturday moming doubles round robin in April 2022, there was more on his mind than his hard-fought victory on the court. The COVID-19 pandemic had changed much about the way Agilus Work Solutions (Agilus) operated. As chief executive officer (CEO), Brown contemplated the positive and negative impacts that these forced operational changes had had on the overall effectiveness of the organization. Perhaps the largest of these forced changes was the move to remote work for all Agilus employees. With the pandemic (hopefully) in retreat, Brown was contemplating a potential move back to Agilus's physical office spaces for the company's employees. Whatever plan he chose, he knew it would have to be implemented fairly and seamlessly. Additionally. a strong rationale for the decision would need to be communicated to employees, many of whom had conflicting desires and viewpoints. AGILUS WORK SOLUTIONS Founded in 1976, Agilus had grown and evolved to become one of the largest employment service firms in Canada. The company provided employment placement (recruiting) services alongside temporary and contract staffing and a variety of other ancillary services. Agilus had particular expertise and experience in providing these services within the engineering, information technology (IT), prefessional, and light industrial sectors.! As of 2022, Agilus operated fourteen branches from coast to coast with approximately two hundred employees (see Exhibit 1). CRAIG BROWN Brown had become CEOQ of the newly rebranded Agilus in 2019, after leading one of three specialized brands that had merged under the new Agilus umbrella. Brown had previously held senior management roles at a variety of other leading employment services firms and had more than twenty years of experience in the industry. He held a master of business administration degree from the University of Calgary as well as a bachelor of science degree in aquatic science from the University of British Columbia. He was looking forward to continuing to grow Agilus within a dynamie, ever-changing environment. ! The light industrial sector included a wide variaty of roles in manufacturing, warehousing, supply chain, and logistics. Brown enjoyed an active family life with his two adult children and his wife, who was an optometrist. In his spare time, Brown considered himself a \"sudoku enthusiast as well as a \"weekend warrior.\" with particular sporting passions in tennis and basketball. He also sat on the board of directors of a variety of youth sports organizations and other businesses. As he was about to hit the half-century mark in age. Brown was also looking to check off a variety of bucket-list items, including attending the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, England, and a Stanley Cup finals game featuring his beloved Colorado Avalanche. EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDUSTRY? In 2019, the employment services industry in Canada had a market size of CA$17 billion.\" Consisting of placement services, temporary and contract staffing, executive recruitment services, and more general human resources outsourcing and consulting, the industry had grown by an annualized rate of 5.4 per cent over the last seven years (see Exhibit 2). Brown remarked that, since 2019, the industry had experienced significant challenges and upheaval amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Further general industry challenges included an uncertain economic environment, a shift to non-traditional work, increased competition, and a significant talent shortage. The talent shortage in Canada was substantial, with almost one million job openings at the end of 2021 * Employers were struggling to fill open positions with qualified applicants, with over half of job vacancies remaining unfilled for over sixty days. Although the shortage affected almost all industries, it was particularly severe in the food and beverage, construction, and social work sectors. The talent shortage was attributed to a variety of interconnected factors including the exit of baby boomers from the labour force, lower immigration rates amid the pandemic, upskilling workers, and increased employee mobility.* Competitors The employment services industry was very competitive. Brown identified Agilus's main competitors as large firms with billions of dollars in global revenues. These included Randstad, Adecco, ManpowerGroup, Allegis Group, and Kelly Services. While these companies operated internationally, within Canada, they were each roughly double the size of Agilus. While there were many other smaller competitors, Brown noted that there was a strong correlation between scale and the ability to succeed in the industry. PANDEMIC IMPACTS & TIMELINE Brown actively followed the news about the COVID-19 pandemic as it began spreading from its origins in Wuhan, China, during the winter months of 2020. As the first cases hit North America, media, governments, and organizations of all types began to take increased notice. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Information in this section was largely taken from \"The Staffing Industry in Canada=Statistics & Facts,\" Statista, February T, 2022, www slalista comitopics/5384/the-staffing-industry-in-canadal. * All fioures are in Canadian dollars. 123 1o Tr31/2024 . VT and BUS 1299E fic BUS 1220 ntha v menght v Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.\" During the course of the pandemic, governments introduced and reintroduced a variety of restrictions to limit the spread of the virus. One of the first major organizations to make a major decision in response to the pandemic was the National Basketball Association, which decided to suspend its season beginning on Thursday, March 12, 2020." Other organizations soon followed, including Agilus. Spring 2020 On Sunday, March 15, 2020, Brown and his leadership team at Agilus made the decision to move from fully in-person to fully remote, work-from-home operations beginning on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. This change required a significant shift, including the need to ensure that [T systems were in place to facilitate a seamless transition. Within five days, all employees at Agilus were set up on Microsoft Teams and had received a company laptop or Microsoft Surface tablet. In many ways, the first few months of the pandemic created significant cohesion both in the broader society and at Agilus. Individuals generally felt that they were in this crisis together, which fostered a strong sense of common purpose. While societal cracks would soon become apparent, so would the myriad of ways in which the pandemic affected Agilus's business operations. Fall 2020 In 2020, the pandemic significantly reduced the hiring needs of organizations. As a result, Brown was forced to make some difficult decisions to ensure the ongoing financial health of the company. Unfortunately, this included temporary furloughs that decreased the size of the Agilus team to 120 employees. In the summer of 2020, Agilus formed a return to office (RTO) committee. The RTO committee's mandate was to work with senior leaders to recommend a timeline and the specifics of the approach for plans to return to an in-person working environment. In September 2020, Agilus initiated its RTO policy on a one-day-per-week basis. However, this lasted for just over a month until the reintroduction of public health restrictions. 2021 Remote work at Agilus continued throughout 2021, However, as the economy began to recover from the initial impacts of the pandemic, general hiring levels increased. As they did, Agilus brought back previously furloughed employees and brought on board several new hires. Virtually onboarding new hires presented challenges that Brown and Agilus attempted to alleviate by establishing an online leaming portal, delivering technological equipment directly to new employees\" homes, and providing significant virtual coaching and mentorship. Brown planned to keep many of these new processes in place moving forward. Generally, he felt that the overall culture at Agilus and the collaboration within the firm had weakened slightly compared to pre-pandemic times. 3172 79093 BUS 1220E and BUS 1299E fram 9 n thi lwe Another trend that occurred across much of North America as the pandemic persisted was that many people decided to move from inner cities to suburbs, and from suburbs to more rural areas.\" This was also true for many of Agilus's employees who, with no need to be concerned about commuting while working remotely, decided to move to the outskirts of the urban areas where Agilus's offices were located. Here they were more likely to qualify for financing to purchase a more spacious property. Brown wondered how this trend would influence these employees\" motivation to return to the office. given that they would face even longer commute times. On the other hand. several of his employees were eager to return to the office for a variety of reasons, including more socialization, improved collaboration and oversight, and better ability to meet with and manage clients. Many employees wanted to return to an in-person setting to simply get out of their houses again. 2022 In late 2021 and early 2022, the world was hit with a new, more transmissible variant of COVID-19, omicron.\" In response, governments reintroduced a variety of public health restrictions. However, as the initial omicron pandemic wave subsided in the Spring, governments across the country eased restrictions significantly, and more in-person activities resumed. With most organizations engaged in back-to-the-office planning and implementation, Brown wondered what was best for Agilus. In January 2022, Brown and Agilus announced the second of two significant acquisitions in a four-month period. In September 2021, Agilus had acquired the Bowen Group, the nineteenth-largest staffing firm in Canada." The company acquired the Delivery Group, an Ontario-based IT-focused staffing firm, in January 2022." Integrating new managers, employees, and clients post-acquisition was a delicate balance during the best of times, and Brown wondered if this integration could benefit from Agilus's back-to-the-office planning. BACK TO THE OFFICE? Brown reviewed a variety of studies and research on various alternatives for Agilus's workplace options, which could generally be grouped as a fully in-person model, a fully remote model, or a hybrid model with both in-person and remote elements. In addition to designing the right approach for Agilus, he also had to consider the appropriate timeline and strategy for implementation and communication. Fully Back to the Office When Agilus first moved to a remote operating model in March 2020, Brown had not imagined the company would still be mostly operating remotely over two years later. At the onset of the pandemic, Agilus had just completed a rebranding initiative and consolidated its offices in the Greater Toronto Area from five to three. The company's newly renovated eastern flagship branch in Mississauga was ready to open in April 2020, full-time basis, every day of the week. Remaining Fully Remote Continuing the current operating environment where all employees worked remotely was another option that Brown considered. This meant that all employees could work from a location of their choosing, often a home office. As a fully distributed organization, this would mean Agilus would no longer need their physical office spaces. While this could quite possibly result in significant costs savings, Brown also considered the drawbacks of such a model. Among other concerns, one of the most pressing for Brown pertained to the challenges of building and sustaining a cohesive, innovative, and collaborative culture in a fully remote workplace. Hybrid Models Brown also considered the option of moving to a hybrid model, which would offer a mix of in-person and remote working options." Employees would spend a portion of each week or month working remotely and the other portion at an Agilus office. Brown wondered if this would allow him to maximize the benefits of both options for Agilus. Or, on the other hand, would it be the worst of both worlds? If Brown decided to pursue a hybrid workplace model for Agilus, he also had to consider the specifics of how this would best be implemented. Many questions arose if such a model were to be pursued, including the following: How many days should employees be in the office? Which ones? Would employees be allowed to self-select which days they worked remotely and which days they came to the office? Would managers have different hybrid requirements compared to their direct reports? How would fairness between employees be managed and maintained? THE FUTURE OF WORK"3 Brown was also interested in the research being conducted on the future of work due to the many economic, societal, and technological shifts resulting from the pandemic. He wanted to ensure that Agilus was ready to adapt to these shifts, both for its own workplace as well as for his clients'. In eight of the world's main economic markets, " one hundred million workers were projected to need to switch occupations by 2030. These transitions were predicted to occur in greater numbers in the developed world, so Canada would surely also see significant labour market transition in the forthcoming decade. In addition to these dramatic occupational shifts, three additional broad trends were projected to affect the future of work:1. Remote work, virtual meetings, and work-from-home arrangements, especially in the office work arena, were projected to remain, but less so than at the height of the pandemic. This would have follow-on effects on business travel, housing, and the nature of cities. 2. Automation and artificial intelligence, and corporate investment in these new technologies, was projected to increase dramatically, particularly in industries and workplaces with a high degree of physical proximity, where shifis resulting from the pandemic were expected. 3. As the mix of occupations shifted, growth was projected to be limited in lower-wage occupations and highest in higher-wage occupations. Brown wondered how he should incorporate research on these trends into his decision-making. While it seemed that many of these trends would increase the need for employment services, how would the sectors where Agilus's clients were concentrated be affected? Additionally, given that some level of remote work was projected to be incorporated into workplaces of the future, how should Agilus organize its own workplace to attract and retain employees? CONCLUSION As Brown basked in his victory on the tennis court, he sat down for lunch with his doubles partner that day, who happened to be a lecturer at the Ivey Business School. Together they discussed Brown's impending decision and ideas for the future of work at Agilus. Top of mind were benefits and drawbacks relating to company culture and collaboration, employee work-life balance, talent recruitment and onboarding, employee productivity, and Agilus's ability to service its clients across the country. Page 7 W31126 EXHIBIT 1: AGILUS WORK SOLUTIONS EMPLOYEE BREAKDOWN BY LOCATION, APRIL 2022 Province Number of Number of branches employees British Columbia 2 10 Alberta 90 Manitoba 5 Ontario 90 Nova Scotia 5 14 200 Note: Agilus Work Solution's corporate services team, including accounting and information technology personnel, was located in Alberta. Source: Created by the case authors, based on company files. EXHIBIT 2: OPERATING REVENUE OF EMPLOYMENT SERVICES SECTOR IN CANADA, 2012-2019 (CA$ BILLIONS) 18 16 14 12 10 HIIII 2 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Source: "Employment Services Operating Revenue in Canada from 2012 to 2019 (In Billion Canadian Dollars)," Statista, accessed June 21, 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/481946/revenue-of-employment-services-in-canada