Remote work's popularity has surged, but younger workers have concerns

When work from home was introduced two years ago in many Canadian workplaces, it was seen as a necessary, but likely temporary, measure to protect workers from COVID-19. But its popularity has surged among Canadians this year, with many wanting it as an indefinite option, a new report has found.

The report, released on Thursday, is based on the fourth survey of an ongoing project looking into the shifting natures of work in Canada since 2020.

It was conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with the Future Skills Centre and the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Ted Rogers School of Management.

According to Andrew Parkin, one of the report’s lead authors, remote work has been popular in Canada since its very beginning.

“When the first time we asked about working from home in late 2020 in our second survey, we (found) that it was as positive as it was right now,” he told CTVNews.ca on Friday.

“And, I think one of the things that we concluded was that even though we were asking about working from home, … before the pandemic, working in their regular place of work wasn’t always easy for people.”

Parkin said he was surprised that enthusiasm toward remote work hasn’t declined but rather surged.

“I think it would have been reasonable to think that, after two and a half years, people would have had enough, and want to go back. And we're just not seeing that,” he said.

YOUNGER WORKERS CONCERNED

However, while it was observed that Canadians of all age groups enjoyed remote work, younger workers were far less likely to prefer doing it regularly, worrying about the “potential impact” of it on their careers.

The survey’s data set was broad – 6,604 Canadians aged 18 years of age and older were polled across all provinces and territories from March 1 to April 18.

Forty-six per cent of this group has worked remotely for all or some of their days since the pandemic began. When originally surveyed in December 2020, 64 per cent of this subset preferred working from home to returning to offices. In April two years later, the number climbed to 78 per cent.

Seventy-six per cent want employers to allow a hybrid system once the pandemic is over, allowing at least a couple of days of remote work, up five points from 2020.

“While I can’t say if (permanent remote work) is sustainable or not, the way I’d put it is that it’s unavoidable,” Parkin said.

Many companies in Canada have started putting their foot down and are renewing efforts to get employees back into office buildings.

Rather than voluntary return-to-office guidelines, employers are mandating office attendance through corporate policies. Some big banks and Bay Street law firms appear to be leading the charge, issuing memos mandating a set number of days a week in the office in September.

Law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP said in a statement that on Sept. 6 its offices will move to a hybrid working model where most employees will work three to four days a week in the office, subject to operational requirements and local public health guidance.

But Parkin cautions that employers with rigid approaches may find a harder time retaining staff as opposed to those who are more flexible. He also points out the discrepancies in preference based on age group.

“Younger people for instance, want to keep working from home every now and then so they're just saying ‘look, I'd like a little flexibility and if I’ve got a lot on, I can work from home.’ Older workers are basically saying they're happy working from home all the time,” he said.

“And employers are going to have to manage those differences as well.”

The report found that concerns about the “potential impact” of working from home remains highest among younger workers and more than any other group surveyed, at 62 per cent.

While the survey didn’t ask respondents why, Parker suggested that younger workers could be more concerned than older professionals because they may want to establish a network in person.

MENTAL HEALTH IMPACTS 

The poll also looked into mental health. Employees who continued to show up for work on a regular basis frequently reported less favourable outcomes. The study found that remote workers were “no more likely to feel anxious or lonely compared to those who have been working at their regular place of work.”

But this wasn’t the case with younger workers aged 18 to 29. The risk of being anxious, lonely, and depressed was higher in the group that went to offices as opposed to those who worked from home.

The report additionally found that more men have grown enthusiastic about remote work than women.

In the subset of respondents who worked from home, 79 per cent of men and 77 per cent of women who were surveyed in March and April stated that they preferred working from home to working in an office. This is up from 60 per cent of men and 68 per cent of women who favoured remote work in December 2020.

As to continuing work from home, in 2020 only 69 per cent of men said they wanted to, as opposed to 75 per cent in April this year.

The bottom line, Parkin says, is that remote work isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“I just don't see (workplaces) going back. It is not going to just snap back in the last week of the pandemic,” he said.

With files from Canadian Press