Fewer Canadians working from home: StatCan

A report shows fewer Canadians are working from home than at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also found working from home had potentially important implications for society.

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.

“A mismatch between employees’ preferences for telework and the hours they work from home may negatively affect employee retention,” the report cautions.