Where
Across the City of Toronto
Modes of Transport
Transit, Cycling, Walking, Hotelling/Hotdesking and Remote Work
Type of intervention
Outreach (website, guides, social media, webinars)
Project background
In late 2021, Smart Commute members’ employees began returning to the office in small numbers. With that came COVID-19 pandemic-related worries, and questions about the safety of sustainable transportation commuting options such as transit or carpooling. Employees who continued to work from home and those returning to new ‘shared space’ environments were also looking for much needed support.
In response, pointA worked with our City of Toronto Smart Commute partners and funders to develop a citywide campaign to support both employees returning to work and those in hybrid and remote work arrangements.
Project goal
The primary goal of the project was to support member companies’ own return to work efforts by providing free downloadable guides for employees and employers.
These guides offered flexible approaches based on workplace location, scheduling, and commuting to reduce pandemic-related worries, improve commutes though using technology , and make the work from home experience better.
Project activities
Website
On November 1, 2021, the City of Toronto Smart Commute partners launched the new Return to Office platform at www.SmartCommuteToronto.ca, which offered employees and employers free guides.
Guides
Online resources targeting employees included the Carpooling Guide, Transit Guide and Walking and Cycling Guide. Guides designed to support management included the Hybrid Work 101 Guide, Return to Office Employer Guide, Office Hotelling Guide, Hybrid Remote Work Guide, and Return to Office Survey Template.
Social Media
@SmartCommuteTO, along with @pointAtweets, @LiveGreenTO and @BusinessTO and many others combined to promote the program’s website, resources and series of webinars. Impressions reached 2,928 people and engaged 57 followers over the length of the campaign.
Webinars
Four webinars were delivered in November and December 2021 to put the spotlight on: Returning to Transit, Using Technology to Optimize Your Commute, Hotelling and Hot Desking 101 and Taking Remote Work to the Next Level. Two of the webinars were hosted by pointA team members. Of the nearly 250 attendees at all four webinars, ~70% found the online events ‘somewhat useful’ and ‘very useful’.
Blogs
To further the campaign, the pointA team published three blogs to address the key worries employees and employers faced whether returning to the office or not, including transit safety, hotelling and hot-desking and remote work’s impact on sustainability.
Results and achievements
2900+
people reached via social media
700+
visitors to the website
240+
people attended 4 webinars
170+
resources requested
Follow up
The 2021 Return to Office campaign was followed in early 2022 with the launch of ‘My Smart Commute’, a series of newsletters challenging all Toronto residents to adopt a ‘smart’ commute, at work and at home! The popular Bike Share discount offered to Smart Commute member companies was extended into 2022 as well.
