Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, April 2020 to June 2021
BRITISH COLUMBIA – The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the work location of thousands of Canadian workers. From April 2020 to June 2021, 30 per cent of employees aged 15 to 64 who worked during the Labour Force Survey (LFS) reference week had performed most of their hours from home. In contrast, about 4 per cent of employees did so in 2016.
These unprecedented changes in the proportion of Canadians working from home raise several questions for employees and employers regarding the work arrangements that should prevail once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
For employers, the optimal amount of telework will likely depend on many factors, including the degree to which working from home affects productivity and worker turnover, facilitates the hiring of employees living far from the workplace, fosters or inhibits teamwork, makes training more or less difficult, and affects employees’ sense of belonging.
These factors are likely to impact the types of investments that businesses will make in the near future to improve employee training, office design, and the security and performance of their telework systems.
In contrast, workers’ preferences for telework will likely depend on how much working from home will lower their commuting expenses, affect their ability to perform most of their tasks, reduce their social interactions, and facilitate or hinder work–life balance.
For the first time, the February 2021 Labour Force Survey measured the preferences of Canadian employees regarding working from home in a post-COVID-19 context. For more information on workers’ preferences for telework, see the study titled “Working from home: Productivity and preferences.”
To inform discussions on these issues, today Statistics Canada sketches a detailed profile of workers and families who worked from home from April 2020 to June 2021.
High-Income Families Were More Likely To Work From Home
From April 2020 to June 2021, 45 per cent of dual-earner salaried couples in the top 10 per cent of the earnings distribution had both spouses working from home. This was nine times the rate of 5 per cent observed for their counterparts in the bottom 10 per cent of the earnings distribution.
The greater propensity of high-income families to work from home largely reflects the fact that these couples generally hold jobs that are more amenable to telework than lower-income couples.
Roughly 7 In 10 Workers In Finance And Insurance, As Well As In Professional, Scientific And Technical Services, Worked From Home
As expected, the propensity to work from home varied substantially across industries. Roughly 7 in 10 individuals in the finance and insurance and professional, scientific and technical services sectors worked from home from April 2020 to June 2021. At the other end of the spectrum, 5 per cent of workers in accommodation and food services performed their jobs from home during that period.
Working from home was also fairly frequent in information and cultural industries (65 per cent) and public administration (56 per cent).
In many industries, employees in large firms—those with 500 employees or more—were more likely to work from home than those in small firms (those with fewer than 20 employees).
In the private sector, 36 per cent of employees of large firms worked from home, twice the rate of 18 per cent observed for those working in small firms.
The large differences observed across industries and firm sizes from April 2020 to June 2021 suggest that employers’ preferences for telework in a post-COVID-19 context might differ along these two dimensions.
Virtually All Self-Employed Workers Who Could Work From Home Did So
Working from home was more frequent among self-employed workers than among employees.
Of all self-employed workers aged 15 to 64 who were working during the LFS reference week, 38 per cent worked from home from April 2020 to June 2021. Since 39 per cent of them held jobs that could actually be done from home, these numbers indicate that virtually all self-employed workers who could work from home did so.
This was not the case for employees. While 43 per cent of them held jobs that could be done from home, 30 per cent worked most of their hours from home from April 2020 to June 2021.
Overall, 31 per cent of all workers—employees and self-employed—worked from home during that period.
The propensity to work from home increased with educational attainment, in line with the fact that highly educated workers hold jobs that are more conducive to telework, compared with less educated workers. For example, 58 per cent of workers who have more than a bachelor’s degree performed most of their hours from home, compared with 7 per cent of workers with no high school diploma.
Likewise, highly paid employees were more likely than other employees to work from home.
Men And Young Workers Were Less Likely To Work From Home
Partly because they are overrepresented in retail trade as well as accommodation and food services—two sectors where working from home is rarely feasible—workers aged 15 to 24 were at least half as likely to work from home than older workers.
Regardless of marital status and whether they had children or not, men worked from home to a lesser extent than women.
Read full report here.
