Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc.

THE TARIFFS THEMSELVES are one thing, but for many Canadians it’s just as much the chaos around it that is driving everyone a bit bonkers these days. One minute there’s tariffs, and then a couple hours later there aren’t, then there are new ones to stress about. “It’s as if a train wreck is happening right before my eyes,” one Stratford resident told the CBC. “As much as I am appalled, I can’t stop watching, despite the gore.”

There's economic reasons for this anxiety, obviously ― a Quebec poll of HR professionals there found that over half expect their company to reduce investment or freeze hiring to some extent, and the survey noted that “the degree of anxiety seems high among many workers.”

Thrity-three per cent of respondents said their staff were in a high or very high degree of stress ― a “situation that contributes to degrading psychological health, decreased motivation and engagement, and reduced productivity of workers.”

For workplaces, it’s becoming an additional thing to manage, which is not easy when you’re managing the impact of the tariffs themselves.

“Effectively managing employees and their fears can be easily lost in the legitimate focus on business concerns, but it should be a priority for employers in these times of uncertainty,” suggested employment law firm Hicks Morley. “Transparency, even if the concerns shared are troubling, can help alleviate anxiety and build trust and loyalty within the workforce, which can be key to maintaining productivity and mitigating negative effects of the proposed tariffs.”

Other employment experts suggest that businesses shore up employee wellness programs in a material way ― planning for the extension of benefits plans to employees who may need to be temporarily furloughed, if only to give worried workers one fewer thing to worry about.

And for workers themselves, experts suggest giving yourself a little space. Experts in media say that now might be the time to put some limits on how much news you consume. “When we’re bombarded with distressing stories, it can create a sense of powerlessness,” wrote McMaster’s sociology prof Marisa Young. “This is something sociologists call stress proliferation, where one type of stress spills over into other areas of life.”

Maybe that’s limiting your news intake to twice a day, as one Manitoban told the CBC she was doing: “I have limited my looking at the news to twice a day. Once in the morning ― to spoil my day ― and once at night, so that I can't sleep.” 

HUMAN RESOURCES

The cost of not training

At the heart of Canada’s productivity crisis: We underinvest in employees

AMID ALL THIS talk of the productivity crisis in the Canadian economy, attention is turning to what some see as a deficit in training investment among Canadian employers. A recent StatsCan survey from early 2025 found that only 34.9 per cent of Canadian businesses plan to provide staff training over the next 12 months, and only 25 per cent plan to use mentoring to develop staff.

“Canadian companies, by and large, spend less money on training for their entire employee base than our competitors in other OECD nations,” noted Jeff Doucet, CEO of Thrive Career Wellness. That’s part of the reason, he thinks, that “in Canada, our productivity output per capita has been shrinking in relative terms.”

The numbers help show why experts are alarmed. According to the Future Skills Centre, Canadian employers invest around $240 per employee each year in training ― whereas the OECD average sees companies spending $750 per employee, on average. “It’s safe to say that if employers don’t step up to help train its workforce, Canada will be left behind,” said ABC LifeLiteracy Canada.

Data is limited on this point, but surveys seem to suggest that the training that is provided is concentrated in large firms, and that much of our already low spending mainly goes to onboarding and orientation, rather than true upskilling.

This is despite a lot of demand for training among Canadian employees. Eighty-three per cent of employees polled by the Future Skills Centre said that training would be helpful in doing their job effectively, and 71 per cent said they would use it to better employ new technologies in their work; these numbers are even higher among new immigrants, who often struggle to integrate their skills into the economy.

“The reasons for employers to invest in employee training are clear,” said the Future Skills Centre. “Yet many employers face barriers to providing training opportunities to new and current staff, while others are unconvinced that the benefits justify the costs.”

All of this matters now, in times of economic vulnerability, since businesses may be faced with major pivots, or demands placed on their efficiency.

“Putting in upskilling programs will drive improved employee productivity across the organization,” said Doucet, “but, as well, make it easier for you to have the infrastructure to take someone who did a very similar job in a completely different country, with a different work style, a different organizational dynamics, potentially even different rules at their workplace, and adapt them to be able to become more productive in our your environment.”

SUSTAINABILITY

B Corp, be gone

Once the social and environmental performance darling, growing skepticism among stakeholders is taking the shine off B Corp certification

LAST MONTH, THE famed natural soap company Dr. Bronner’s dropped its B Corp status. “The integrity of the B Corp Certification has become compromised and remaining certified now contradicts our mission,” wrote David and Michael Bronner, in a statement.

The move was the culmination of many years of lobbying on Dr. Bronner’s part to see B Corp address mounting criticisms of the certification program, specifically focused on the exclusion of many parts of the supply chain at large multinationals. And Dr. Bronner’s isn’t alone here ― more businesses are growing blase about B Corp status, once the darling of the business-with-a-conscience movement.

“We’re done with B Corp,” wrote Aneisha Soobroven, founder of cat-treat company Scrumbles, “B Corp was meant to stand for businesses that put purpose over profit. But as we’ve watched its membership grow, we’ve seen companies with questionable ethics gain certification, diluting what the certification represents. Even individual contractors can now certify. B Corp is supposed to separate the good from the bad, but in its current state this doesn't hold true.”

B Corp’s big fumble probably came when it awarded Nestlé-owned megabrand

Nespresso (best known for its single-serve coffee pods) B Corp status in 2022, which infuriated many in the coffee industry. For them, B Corp status held a certain status of being, well, not like companies like Nespresso. To some, it was a sign that B Corp had effectively sold out.

“Any company can become a B Corp,” said former CEO of the World Fair Trade Organization Erinch Sahan. “It is its biggest strength, but also its biggest weakness. It doesn’t require the big changes in business that we urgently need. When you tell everyone you’re now a B Corp…people expect that you really do prioritize people and planet. But that’s not necessarily the case.”

Indeed, as B Corp has grown, some see a roster of businesses that is hard to parse. There are 6,400 certified B Corps around the world, according to the Financial Times, which points out that “once largely made up of smaller businesses trying to change how business was done, the pool of B Corps now also includes major companies” such as Unilever, Danone and Nestlé.

But that said, most of the quitters aren’t quitting the spirit of the certification. “The decision to step away from B Corp is about principles, not convenience. We don’t need a logo to tell us to do the right thing,” said Soobroyen on LinkedIn. “B Corp isn’t what it used to be. But business as a force for good? We’re still all in.” 

TECHNOLOGY

A solution in search of a problem?

From fear to FOMO: The AI whiplash in the workplace

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