With a firm that has a great deal of focus on problems, both with existing structures and new, a hands on approach isn't optional.  Our team has a variety of skills and a diverse portfolio of past experiences, however there is no way to remove the boots on the ground, personal touch, from the type of consulting we do...

Our formal Second Set of Eyes (SSoE) process necessitates that not just one member of our team be involved in each project, but a minimum of two.  This second staff member, however, need not necessarily be in any particular location.  If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it is that our nine plus years of experience with remote work (to date) is something we can leverage and really utilize to accelerate work.  SSoE can happen anytime, and anywhere.

What if staff could meet, and then work together, throughout a 24 hour period each and every day?  This is the vision of our latest innovation:  We are opening hoteling and remote work locations for our staff in alternate timezones.  Fully employed by the Ottawa office and working exclusively for Canadian clients, these new locations will give us access to more daytime.  These short term, remote work opportunities are a voluntary opportunity for staff to combine work and play with travel.  Our remote work policies are already industry leading:  Before Covid ever affected our world, CEL staff had the option of reporting to work from any location so long as their meetings with clients and site visits were unaffected.  By having a team of staff working together and arranging for site visits in advance, we have had staff work remote for more than six months at a time without negative effect on our work.  CEL work has been carried out from Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and other locations globally.  In many cases, clients were unaware of the difference, and both family and personal responsibilities were easily met while not compromising the excellence of our work.  Pay continued to occur in Canada, as well as retention of earnings at source, etc., the staff remained fully engaged with the Ottawa office, and merely reported to work remote.

The continued success of this arrangement, and our staff's enthusiasm for this innovative approach, has inspired us to make the arrangement permanent.  As of 1 May 2023, our remote location in Harderwijk, Netherlands will become a permanent CEL remote office.  This fall (at least it will be fall in Canada!), a remote location will go live in New Zealand.  If the reader can cast their mind back to grade school, many a movie opening credits, or just generally think of the globe, these three timezones will then provide a design service in which the sun never sets on CEL Engineering.  Far from being inspired by any colonial enterprise or empire building, the opportunity for staff to report to work remote will further access more educational opportunities, and more access to the ever growing global bank of engineering knowledge.  It is with pride that we have leveraged knowledge gained through staff attending global conferences such as ICCRRR and USA-New Zealand-Japan seismic engineering conference, and we look forward to a future in which our staff are attending Timber Engineering Society of New Zealand courses, the FIB courses available in Europe, and similar opportunities.  Our access to world leading Te Tiriti o Waitangi program from Engineering New Zealand has us particularly excited.  It is with pride that we will be working to incorporate traditional knowledge into the everyday work of Engineers, and we both salute Engineering New Zealand's Kimihia Rangahaua strategy as well as look forward to actively participating in this very real and effective diversity inclusion and equality initiative.  Fair and technically valid outcomes flow from such validly equitable programs and initiatives, and we applaud this innovation and look forward to the fruits of our joint labour and improved outcomes for our colleagues, collegial members of the profession, allied professions, our clients and the public.  Bringing such world leading traditional learning to Ontario is but one additional advantage of our new approach.

Here's to the ever learning, our's the task eternal, CEL approach and our growth within an ever changing world and profession.  Here's to the future, success, and innovation.  Here's to you; our clients, partners, and staff as well as to working to continually justify your confidence in us.  Thank you.