Experts say lens can reshape pay, flexibility, AI and governance in Canadian workplaces
When Mark Carney urged “value-based realism” on the world stage at Davos, he was talking about middle powers navigating a more fractured, less predictable global environment.
In the same vein, Canadian employers face overlapping transitions – digital, environmental and demographic – that make old management playbooks less reliable.
The concept of value-based realism (VBR) is “promising” in the face of uncertainty that now defines the context inside Canadian organizations, according to Tania Saba, BMO chair in diversity and governance and professor of industrial relations at the Université de Montréal,
“We live in a period of uncertainties, whether we look at the environmental transition or at the digital transition that workplaces are going through,” Saba says.
The researcher, whose work has focused on value differences, organization transformation and future skills, says these transitions are creating sharper divides between employers and workers, and between different types of organizations
Like large organizations versus smaller organizations, they’ve always operated under different conditions and with varying access to resources — but that divide is widening, she says.
“Now, the differences are even more acute,” Saba says.
“Also, the differences [are widening] between those who have access to technology … those who are developing the technology, those who are adopting the technologies, the ones who have the knowledge to do so, those who have no digital literacy.”
Governance, objectives and technology
In this environment, Saba says, employers can’t assume they will get transformation right on the first try. For her, value-based realism means accepting that unpredictability and building it into how organizations evolve: “The only way to work with the technologies, especially the adoption of the technologies, it’s through experimentation.”
But this cannot be ad hoc. It has to sit within clear governance and purpose. One of Saba's main concerns is how organizations treat technologies.
“We start with the technology as the end, instead of the means,” she says, stressing that it should be the other way around, with organizations being clear on what they are trying to improve in work processes, equity and performance – and only then deciding how technology fits.
Fairness, well-being and workforce fractures
Carney’s framing of value-based realism emphasizes protecting sovereignty and resilience while acknowledging trade-offs. Saba applies a similar logic to workforce issues, arguing that fairness and well-being are not peripheral considerations but central to how organizations manage risk under uncertainty.
Employers need to measure fairness and well-being explicitly, Saba says – for her, this is not just about engagement scores, it’s about recognizing human capital as a strategic asset, and that new systems are putting pressure on employees.
Recognizing that pressure and measuring it will draw the divide between successful and unsuccessful firms, she adds; in this context, value-based realism is not about ignoring constraints, it’s about making sure decisions about technology or restructuring are tested against their impacts on employee health, not just cost or speed.
“We have to make sure that fairness and well-being metrics are accounted for … because it’s part of human capital, and because the AI systems are putting high burdens on well-being,” says Saba.
Linking Carney’s foreign-policy to workplace realities
In his Davos speech, Carney framed Canada’s stance as striving “to be both principled and pragmatic,” and as “building that strength at home” through investment, skills and diversification.
Economist Rohinton Medhora, distinguished fellow at CIGI and professor of practice at McGill University, notes that value-based realism emerged in diplomacy but may be clarified by what firms do in practice.
“It’s being used in foreign affairs, mainly to say, especially as democracies, ‘We have certain values, but the world around us is changing,’” says Medhora.
“This is a new concept, and we’re still finding our way. And it may well be that it’s the firms that teach governments how to do it.”
Asked to define value-based realism, Medhora offers a short explanation that fits both Carney’s speech and Saba’s focus on workplace change.
“For me, value-based realism is about being true to what we stand for, while recognizing that not everything and everyone around us shares those values,” he says.
“And yet we have to deal with them.”
Pay, flexibility and everyday applications
Carney’s emphasis on building economic strength at home translates in workplaces into decisions about pay, conditions and how employees are treated.
Medhora says value-based realism does not remove constraints, but it does shape how employers navigate them – for example, when considering compensation, employers can meet minimum standards or choose to go further.
“One could pay them and give them benefits at the going rate, or you could pay them slightly more, because you believe in it,” he says.
“Or it could be what we call enlightened self-interest.”
He points to flexibility during COVID-19 as an example of value-based realism in practice that did not necessarily increase costs.
“Instead of imposing a nine-to-five work shift, you let the employee work in a way that it adds up to 40 hours a week, in principle, that doesn’t change your budget constraint, doesn’t change your wage bill, but it has given a measure of flexibility to your employee,” Medhora says.
“It doesn’t cost you any more to be more pleasant to your employees, or to communicate regularly or to be transparent with them … these are all things that employees value. They would fit the value-based realism concept, and they’re not costing you anymore.”
Ecosystems, trust circles and business incentives
Carney’s middle-power strategy for Canada emphasizes building networks and coalitions with partners that share enough common ground to act together. Medhora says a similar logic can apply to firms that commit to certain standards under constraints.
He notes that when employers, clients and other stakeholders share similar approaches, they create a mutually reinforcing environment.
“It might actually be good for business. If consumers are discerning, or if your lenders value lending to someone that they trust, then it might lead to lower costs or it might lead to higher prices gained,” he says.
“Or, if your workers believe in you as an employer, they might be more productive. So there’s both economic as well as non-economic gains.”
