Canaccord’s more than 1,000 Canadian employees must work in their offices five days a week as of Sept. 8, according to an internal memo viewed by The Globe and Mail.Staff/The Canadian Press
Independent Canadian investment bank Canaccord Genuity Inc. CF-T is ending hybrid work as a growing number of financial services firms roll back pandemic-era allowances for staff to work remotely.
Canaccord’s more than 1,000 Canadian employees must work in their offices five days a week as of Sept. 8, according to an internal memo viewed by The Globe and Mail. The policy goes even further than those of major Bay Street employers such as Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia, which have both recently mandated employees return to in-office work four days a week.
“We recognize that this change will require adjustment,” Canaccord chief executive officer Stuart Raftus said in the memo distributed across the company on Monday.
“By providing advance notice, our goal is to give you the time needed to re-establish routines and return to the rhythm of attending the office every day. We are confident that the benefits – for each of you, for our clients, and for the business – will be significant.”
As the public health risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have subsided, employers have been gradually taking an increasingly harder line on returning to the office. The COVID-19 era quickly spawned a crisis in commercial real estate as large swaths of office towers sat empty and downtown businesses that catered to office workers – such as restaurants, gyms and bars – struggled to survive.
Executives also blamed declines in productivity and innovation on remote working policies. Royal Bank of Canada chief executive officer Dave McKay was among the first corporate leaders in Canada to make that claim in March, 2023, with the country’s largest lender moving to a three-day in-office minimum later that month.
In his note to Canaccord staff, Mr. Raftus also cited a need to improve productivity.
“To exceed our clients’ expectations and gain market share, we must be agile – making timely decisions, addressing complex matters quickly, and sharing information in real time,” he said. “These things are far more effective when teams are working in person.”
Remote work was never as common among financial-services companies as it was in other industries, even during the peak of pandemic-related restrictions. Many financial professionals continued to come into the office regularly, though the return-to-office trend appears to be growing more widespread.
According to commercial real estate services provider CBRE Group Inc., Canada’s average downtown office vacancy rate fell in early 2025 for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The decline was slight, falling to 19.9 per cent in the first quarter, though that was down from a record high of 20 per cent during the previous three-month period.