The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a global shift to remote work, with the latest evidence suggesting almost half of workers in Canada are still regularly working remotely. Employers are grappling with how to strike the right balance between flexibility for work from home and expectations for in-person time together.
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a global shift to remote work, with the latest evidence suggesting almost half of workers in Canada are still regularly working remotely. Employers are grappling with how to strike the right balance between flexibility for work from home and expectations for in-person time together.
In November, Elon Musk announced the end of remote work at Twitter—a move 80 percent of Canadians said would cause them to quit. Some of Canada’s largest companies are taking diverging approaches, from Shopify’s “work anywhere” policy to some of the big banks moving to two or three in-person days a week.
A new survey by Toronto Metropolitan University with the support of the Future Skills Centre provides new insights into the ongoing transition to hybrid workplaces. The study, conducted in October 2022 with 1,500 employees and 500 supervisors who regularly work remotely, aimed to shed light on how Canadian workers are feeling and being supported.
Remote workers like remote work
The study’s first major finding will come as no surprise: remote workers like remote work. Both employees and supervisors were more likely to rate their job satisfaction as somewhat high while working remotely (78 percent) than when working in person (41 percent).
Compared to before the pandemic, 60 percent of remote workers said their work-life balance has improved. More than half of employees (54 percent) said the amount of work they got done increased as a result of remote work. A similar proportion of supervisors agreed (52 percent), while just 15 percent said their employees’ output decreased because of remote work.
What’s the catch?
Remote work has impacted workers’ sense of connectedness and can result in loneliness and lack of social support.
