Canadian workers remain productive at home: StatsCan

After a year of remote working, research from Statistics Canada finds that the vast majority of workers report being at least as productive as they were in the office.

Thanks to public health restrictions, approximately a third (32%) of Canadian workers have been primarily working at home, up from about 4% before the pandemic, the agency reported.

Now, according to a survey of workers conducted in February, StatsCan found that most say that their productivity hasn’t suffered from the shift.

It reported that 58% of new remote workers say that they are completing about the same amount of work at home, and 32% claim that they are getting more done at home.

Only 10% admitted that they are getting less work done at home.

“Whether the productivity assessments made by Canadian workers regarding telework match those of their employers is currently unknown,” StatsCan said.

Of those who admit to being less productive, StatsCan found they cited a variety of barriers that come from being out the office.

The lack of interaction with co-workers (20%) and the demands of children or other family members (20%) were among the biggest curbs on productivity at home.

Other factors included tougher access to work-related information, insufficient work space and poor Internet speed.

The survey also found that 35% of new remote workers work longer hours while at home.

StatsCan reported that most respondents (80%) said that they would like to continue working from home at least half the time once the pandemic is over.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.