Canadians are returning to the workplace after the COVID-19 pandemic forced many to work from home, according to a new Statistics Canada report.
The data, published Thursday, shows that only about 20 per cent of Canadians worked mostly from home in November 2023, down from just over 40 per cent in April 2020.
That stands in contrast to May 2016, when about seven per cent of Canadians worked from home.
The study also delves into work from home trends, stating that the increase in teleworking has “potentially important implications for numerous aspects of the economy and society,” like productivity, family-work balance and child care and greenhouse gas emissions.
In February 2021, 90 per cent of workers who had started working from home during the pandemic said they were as efficient at home, reporting they accomplished at least as much work per hour at home as they did in the office.
But the report then notes “whether Canadian employers’ assessments of teleworkers’ productivity align with those of their employees remains an open question.”
And it states that a quarter of Canadians who usually work from home would like to work from home more, while one in eight would like to work from home less — which the report says is a challenge for employers.
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“A mismatch between employees’ preferences for telework and the hours they work from home may negatively affect employee retention,” the report cautions.
And the degree to which workers worked from home depended on whether they worked in an office and where they worked.
“Highly paid and highly educated workers ended up working from home to a far greater extent than their less educated or lower-paid counterparts,” it reads.
Those trends were often reflected within households and relationships as well.
StatCan found that dual-income couples who make among the most money in the country were nine times more likely to work from home between April 2020 and June 2021 than couples who both work and who are in the bottom 10 per cent of Canada’s earnings distributions.
Along with trends among higher-income workers, those living in larger cities and the National Capital Region were also more likely to work from home.
“In Ottawa, close to half (47 per cent) of all workers—many of whom work for the federal public administration—performed their tasks from home during the pandemic.”
Working from home also may have benefited the environment and given workers more time at home.
Citing another StatCan report, the document estimates less commuting could have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 12 per cent from 2015 levels, representing 9.5 megatons (though it notes this could be offset by increased power demands from workers at their homes.)
Eliminating or reducing commuting time could save Canadians an average of 55 minutes per day on average. Commuters in Toronto would have saved the most time, freeing up an average of 72 minutes.
Working from home also reduced public transit use, the report notes, putting financial strain on urban transit systems with fewer people using, and therefore not paying for, their daily bus or subway ride.
Conversely, the report states commuters could have taken advantage of less traffic and switched from using public transit to driving their own vehicles, while others with health concerns may have switched to using their own vehicles to avoid others.
Yet despite the return to the workplace, the StatCan study states hybrid work arrangements gained ground in 2022, especially for those who work in the information, finance and scientific sectors.
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