![]() If some of these individuals-most of whom cannot work from home-return to their former employers after the pandemic, the share of hours worked from home by all employees will end up being lower than the share estimated above. Note Second, the pool of workers in February 2021 excludes many individuals who were not employed, but had worked in retail stores, restaurants, hotels and the entertainment industry. First, the preferences of some new teleworkers for working from home might not be fully satisfied by their employers once the pandemic is over. This overall share likely represents an upper bound for the overall share of total hours that employees will work from home after the pandemic. Adding the estimates obtained for the two aforementioned groups of employees and dividing the resulting sum by the total number of hours usually worked by all employees, the overall share of total hours that employees might prefer working from home once the COVID-19 pandemic is over can be computed. ![]() Note Note Furthermore, if one assumes that other teleworkers, who usually work from home, will work all of their usual hours at home once the pandemic is over, one can estimate the total number of hours they will work from home after the pandemic. The remaining 20% would prefer working most (11%) or all (9%) of their hours outside the home.īy combining information on employees’ preferences for telework with data on the hours they usually work, it is possible to estimate the total number of hours that new teleworkers might prefer to work from home once the pandemic is over. ![]() In February 2021, new teleworkers-individuals who usually worked outside the home prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but worked most of their hours from home during the week of February 14 to 20- were asked the degree to which they would prefer working from home once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.įocusing on employees who had been with the same employer since at least March 2019, Mehdi and Morissette (2021) show that 80% of these new teleworkers would like to work at least half of their hours from home once the pandemic is over-41% would prefer working about half of their hours at home and the other half outside the home, while 39% would prefer working most (24%) or all (15%) of their hours at home. Using a supplementary question, which was added to the February 2021 Labour Force Survey, this study estimates the overall share of total hours that employees might prefer working from home once the pandemic is over. Since the former preferences are currently not available, Note a partial answer can be provided based on employees’ preferences for this work arrangement. To estimate this share rigorously, data on employers’ preferences for telework as well as employees’ preferences for telework need to be combined. To capture both the proportion of employees who work from home and the number of hours they work there, one needs to estimate the overall share of total hours that employees might work from home after the pandemic. If relatively few employees work from home, and if those who do so work relatively few hours from home every week, traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions-to name a few variables-will decrease to a lesser extent than if a large proportion of Canadians telework and work most of their hours from home. It depends not only on the proportion of Canadians who will work from home but also on the number of hours they will work from home every week. This development raises an important question: to what extent will Canadians work from home once the COVID-19 pandemic is over? The answer to this question has potentially significant implications for future traffic congestion, public transit use, greenhouse gas emissions, demand for office space in city centres and for housing in suburbs, and the dynamism (or lack thereof) of retail trade stores and restaurants located in downtown areas. In January 2021, 32% of Canadian employees aged 15 to 69 worked most of their hours from home, compared with 4% in 2016 (Mehdi and Morissette 2021). As is now well known, the COVID-19 pandemic substantially increased work from home in Canada and many industrialized countries.
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