A new survey says that nearly half of Canadians who have come to prefer working at home during the pandemic would look for a new job if forced to go back to the office when life returns to normal. And while many acknowledge that being at home brought social, mental health challenges, they say productivity was as good or better than at office.

The study from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute reveals that half of Canadian households had someone working from home over the past year (53%) and among those who continue to work from home, a considerable group (29%) would like to continue doing so in perpetuity, while the largest group would do a mix of both telecommuting and office work (44%). Only 27% would prefer to return primarily to the office.

The future is also a source of apprehension. What would those Canadians who want to continue working from home do if they were asked to return to the office? This condition has the potential to create some tension in employer-employee relationships in the coming months. While two-in-five say they would return to work at the office full time without much issue, 25% say they would go back begrudgingly and likely start looking for another job. One-in-five say they would lean toward quitting immediately.

Younger people (ages 18 to 34) and men in particular, say they are likely to reconsider their employment if such a demand is made of them, while fully half (50%) of 18-to-34-year-olds say this would be the case.
More key findings:

• Among those currently working from home, one-third (35%) are anticipating a hybrid model and a further one-in-10 are already doing a mix of both working from home and the office. The largest group (37%), however, anticipate working from home entirely for the foreseeable future and just one-in-five (18%) believe they will be going back to their workplace full time at some point.

• 71% say their productivity at home was good or great. Fewer, but still three-in-five (61%) say this of their mental state. One-in-five (21%) say the social aspect of working from home has been terrible, while another 45% say it was challenging. Half of those aged 18 to 24 say their productivity was “awful” or “challenging.”

• While Canadians from different gender and age groups are mostly aligned on their expectations of whether or not they’ll continue to work from home, there is a split on preferences. Women are more likely than men to want to continue working from home all the time. Those 55-plus have the strongest desire to never return to the office.

• Two-thirds of people in households with less than $50,000 in annual income say no one worked from home in the pandemic; only one-in-five in households with greater than $150,000 annual income said the same.

In conclusion, the report suggests that the hybrid office will evidently be in high demand as Canadians return to their pre-pandemic activities with post-pandemic expectations.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted the online survey from July 9-13, 2021, among a representative randomized sample of 2,040 Canadian adults.