this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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Fewer Canadians working from home: StatCan (globalnews.ca)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A report shows fewer Canadians are working from home than at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also found working from home had potentially important implications for society.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'm in IT, and ALL of my work is remote, even when I'm in the office. My company started out at 2 days/week. A few months ago they bumped up to 3d/week in the office.

It's a small change, but it's very much a power move. Two days says "We would like to see you in the office, socializing with your coworkers, building a team." Three days says "We can't trust you to work from home. This is only the first squeeze."

I push it to the limit during the winter because winter sucks and it takes longer to drive or bus than walk (45 minutes). If they fire me, they fire me. I will not make myself miserable over a particular job; and if they try to make things miserable, they'll lose a lot of talented staff.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

and if they try to make things miserable, they’ll lose a lot of talented staff.

This is what a lot of workplaces are finding out: you can squeeze staff, but you'll end up with a retention problem and you'll have a shallower pool of talent to draw from.

My local paper referred to the anti-lockdown protests as "a revolt of the bosses" and I don't think they were wrong: COVID struck fear into the capitalist class not just because of the loss of income, but because, after decades of having it all their own way--to the point where they were getting resentful of customers not spending enough money!--business-owners were rudely reminded that they needed labour to both make their goods and services, and buy their shit.

They desperately want the late-2010s back, when money was cheap and the poors had to fight for a job.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

"socializing with your co workers"

DANCE P P P P ARTAAAAYYYYY

COME ON GWEN STOP THAT SPREADSHEET AND LETS BOOGIE

ok quick break everyone I'll microwave this fish curry.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I mean, yeah? Basically everyone who could work from home in April 2020 was forced to do so, regardless of whether they or their employer wanted them to. Now there's more of a mix.

Still some interesting nuggets in the report and article, though:

StatCan found that dual-income couples who make among the most money in the country were nine times more likely to work from home between April 2020 and June 2021 than couples who both work and who are in the bottom 10 per cent of Canada’s earnings distributions.

It's one of those situations where it seems obvious that a lot of lower-paying jobs require manual labour that can't be done remotely, but the discrepancy still feels really large.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There's probably also an element of people who make more being more valued for their skills and therefore having greater negotiating power to preserve their desired work arrangements.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

They may also be able to afford a bigger house or apartment, allowing then to dedicate more space to their office, maybe even ending up with a bigger office than their workplace would have provided.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

The more money you have, the more breaks you get. That's true all the way down the scale.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

I don't give a shit, I'm home since March 2020, I'll never go back to office. I'm in Montreal suburb and never again I'll commute 1h morning and 1h evening.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Full report from Stat Can: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2024001-eng.htm

After rising to about 40% in April 2020, the percentage of Canadians working most of their hours from home in a given week was 20% in November 2023

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The summary misses that the baseline seems to be around 7.5% pre-pandemic. So we have almost 3x the number of people working from home now versus before.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I don't understand how that's possible if only 40% of jobs could feasibly be done from home (2019 statistic). That means about half of all jobs that can be done remotely, are? That seems improbable. Thanks for that link BTW.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

YW! BTW, the report does a good job showing how actual and potential work-from-home rates vary a lot by industry, education, earnings, and urban/rural

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Yeah but I really wouldn't have thought the numbers would be so high. No wonder commercial office space is in such bad shape.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Workplaces are open so no surprise.