Grappling with the impact of tariffs, Cascadia Metals and North American Pipe and Steel are focused on listening to employees to build trust during uncertain times
When Neelam Puri-Narayan joined Cascadia Metals and North American Pipe and Steel as the head of HR in 2020, employee confidence in HR and management communication was down to 12%. Two years later, that number had jumped to 79%.
Puri-Narayan's secret? Keep talking to employees - especially in times of instability.
The challenge of maintaining staff morale, let alone increasing it, was highlighted in a global state of the workplace report by Gallup that found a drop in engagement levels.
According to the report, engagement slipped from 23% in 2023 to 21% in 2024, with the two-point drop “equal to the decline during the year of COVID-19 lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders". Worryingly, one of the biggest drops was among the people in charge of motivating teams - managers, with engagement down from 30% to 27% year on year.
For Puri-Narayan, it’s about building a workforce that trusts leadership enough to move with it through tough times.
“We want to make sure that people understand the ‘why’ behind the decision that we're making, so we can help build trust and keep morale steady; morale is huge for us,” she says.
On the ground, this has meant holding town halls, internal newsletters and adopting an open-door policy.
Maintaining morale comes not only from open discussions between management and employees but also from adapting to changing circumstances. Rather than laying off or scrambling for talent at the wrong time, Cascadia is cross-training and upskilling its warehouse staff.
“I think the tariffs really shook things up, and from an HR perspective, it meant we needed to stay in tune with what the business needs are,” Puri-Narayan says. “Sometimes that means slowing down the hiring or shifting the roles to operate more efficiently, so teams can pivot when needed,”
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” she says. “We are hiring for needs as opposed to hiring for the sake of hiring."
With Canadian businesses facing tariffs and uncertainty, Puri-Narayan and her team are prioritizing stability across its footprint.
“As steel distributors, we know our customers rely on us for consistent dependable supply,” she says. “That means we have to be the adults in the room staying grounded, acting within integrity and maintaining a very resilient supply chain," she said.
“My team and I regularly check in with employees and encourage our managers also to do the same,” she says. “We want to make sure that their employees’ voices are heard, but management is also on the ground.”
But transparency means nothing if it doesn’t land, so Puri-Narayan makes accessibility a priority—especially with a multilingual workforce.
“Sometimes you have a diverse group of employees where English is a third language,” she says. “So, for our benefits plan, we have a fact sheet in several different languages, and for our RRSP matching, we translate [the details].”
These factors are key for employee engagement and retention, particularly in today’s economy, but ultimately, it all comes down to communication.
“Keep the dialogue open,” she says. “Staying connected with your employees, letting them say what they have to say is key.”
