This report was published in May 2023 by the Future Skills Centre (fsc-ccf.ca). Here are links to the English and French versions:
Download English report here
Download French report here
Executive Summary
Nearly three years after the declaration of a global pandemic, there is a growing body of research on how the pandemic has affected work and workers in Canada. Yet, lacking is a finely grained analysis, based on representative data, of how working arrangements, job quality and well-being, and worker’s future expectations and aspirations are changing in Canada as a result of the pandemic shock.
The Shaping the Future of Work in Canada project was designed to fill this gap. It contributes rich data that can inform public debates about evolving work arrangements, worker’s aspirations, and how employers can design healthy, high-quality, and productive jobs as Canada moves into post-pandemic recovery in 2023 and beyond.
The centrepiece of the project is the Shaping the Future of Work in Canada Survey (FWCS), a representative adult population survey involving over 5,000 respondents in Canada. Carried out in the Fall of 2022, the FWCS gathered detailed information on worker’s socio-demographic status and their work experiences during the pandemic, including their labour force activity, experiences of remote work, job satisfaction, well-being, and future expectations and plans.
Amongst the FWCS key findings:
- The pandemic has clearly reshaped established working patterns in Canada. Since the pandemic was declared in March 2020, over 40% of workers surveyed currently or until recently worked from home, and another 25% had worked from home for several months. Over one-third did not work from home at any point.
- The pandemic shock and sudden shift to virtual, home-based, work has accentuated existing labour market and social inequalities. Most remote workers are well-educated knowledge workers with high household income, typically aged 35-54 years. Between 70% and 90% of workers in sciences, government services, business and finance, education, law, social services, management, and arts culture and recreation worked remotely during the pandemic. One exception was in healthcare, where many professionals continued to provide in-person services in an increasingly strained system.
- Job quality and satisfaction differs significantly between remote workers and those who have continued working at an employer’s worksite. Across 14 distinct measures, remote workers report being far more satisfied with their work – often by more than 10 percentage points – than those working on-site. Between 70% and 83% of remote workers were satisfied or very satisfied with the respect they received from co-workers, independence, how they go about doing their work, job security, work-family balance, and doing meaningful work.
- Questions on well-being also find remote workers feeling more hopeful, having better self-rated mental health, and higher life satisfaction and well-being than non-remote workers. Remote workers also report a variety personal and family benefits flowing, including reduced commuting time and costs, and more positive financial expectations for the future.
- Yet, while remote work has enhanced workers’ job quality and overall well-being, it appears to have weakened the employment relationship. Notably 42% of workers who had been able to work remotely at some point during the pandemic agreed that “Remote work has shown me that I can work anywhere and, as a result, I feel less attached to a specific organization or employer.”
- When asked about C, 76% of remote workers indicated that they would prefer to work remotely all or most of the time. Only 4% did not want to continue working from home.
- Only half of remote workers in Canada have been consulted by their employer about their future work arrangements. And only 40% of this group were satisfied with their input into their employer’s post-pandemic work plans. Even fewer non-remote workers (35%) were satisfied with their input into their employer’s post-pandemic work plans.
- But amongst those FWCS respondents who did have input, 86% reported being satisfied with their jobs, and 73% said they were unlikely to switch careers. Only about one third of those satisfied with input would seek another job if asked to return to the workplace. This compares to 58% of those dissatisfied with their planning input.
The FWCS findings have direct implications for employers’ recruitment and retention strategies, and for how they go about planning their post-pandemic work arrangements. They also highlight for employers the need to provide all employees with meaningful input into post-pandemic work plans. Employers who succeed in doing this are more likely to build a loyal and committed workforce.