Should Work from Home in Canada Be the New Normal?

For obvious reasons, the pandemic has seen organizations globally make a dramatic shift to working from home. In fact, researchers Mehdi and Morissette (2021) reported earlier this year that 32% of Canadian employees aged 15 to 69 worked most of their hours from home compared to 4% in 2016.*

With 61% of Canadians now having received their first vaccination, some organizations are considering bringing their teams back to work, but is it the best choice or should working from home in Canada be the new normal?

While work from home represents significant benefits from facilities cost savings to the environment to overall production, some organizations struggle to accept that it is possible to maintain company culture and employee engagement in a work from home scenario. But is this in fact a real challenge or simply a perception that isn’t really supported by data?

In April of 2021, the Canadian government released a new study looking at the productivity of teleworkers who work from home. Impressively, 90% reported being at least as productive from home as they were at their office. Roughly one-third (32%) even reported accomplishing more work per hour from home.

Only a mere 10% said they were less productive from home.

If employers are concerned with the time employees put in from home it should also be noted that 44% of those enjoying work from home also reported working longer hours. Meanwhile, none of the employees who worked better from home reported working less hours.

These numbers support the fact that organizations are reaping the benefits of increased productivity as a result of work from home. This is because an engaged workforce is a productive work force and many companies are starting to realize that fact.

A recent report from Randstad Sourceright highlighted that more than eight in ten (84%) of organizations surveyed said that they would consider a permanent work from home policy.

This seems to support that working from home in Canada will be the new norm and that company culture and employee engagement can thrive even in a work from home environment.

So how are organizations doing it? Technology, technology, technology!

Embracing technology like Teams, and other applications that support face to face meetings is a definite must. And not just using them for the purpose of work meetings – these applications can be leveraged to create digital team building events.

Employee rewards is another great way to promote engagement in a work from home scenario. A study by the Incentive Research Federation for the Incentive Marketing Association revealed that 62% of people surveyed indicated that they prefer non-monetary incentives over monetary ones. Some examples of non-monetary recognition include facetime with senior executives, a day off or something as simple as a badge or award. Non-monetary rewards are an efficient way to keep employees loyal and engaged as they are memorable and carry emotional value.

With all of the benefits work from home carries, organizations have a definite incentive to make work from home a permanent practice. Those who will thrive will be those who are forward thinking and have a strong plan and the right technology to support success.

If you lead an organization and are interested in more information about work from home and organizational transitioning in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, visit www.innovators.org. There you can learn more about how you can network with other leaders like you, in order to share and exchange ideas about interesting and timely subject matters that could improve your business.