Before the pandemic, Danielle N. and her husband were faced with a difficult choice: stay in Toronto so she could maintain her career in asset management at a major bank or relocate so he could pursue a significant career opportunity in another city.
“That was always kind of looming over us, but then during the pandemic when remote work became the norm and I proved I could be successful at my job remotely, we thought, ‘okay, here’s a silver lining to the pandemic; we can make this move and we can both be successful in our careers,’” she says. “That was a really exciting moment for us.”
After relocating, Danielle welcomed her first child and later her second. As she prepared to return from maternity leave in July, she reached out to her manager at the bank, who informed her that her employer was ending its remote work policy starting in September, just weeks after her scheduled return. The Globe is withholding her full name due to sensitivities around her accommodation negotiations with her employer.
“At the end of that I conversation, I didn’t know if I had a job to go back to,” she says, adding that it would have been difficult to manage even if she lived within reasonable commuting distance. “It is a full-time job taking care of your children – making sure they get fed and bathed and into school and organizing their extracurricular activities – and these idle commuting hours can be put toward work or home life, which allows you to perform better at both.”
There has been an ongoing push-and-pull between employers and employees over remote and hybrid work since the pandemic. However, employers appear to have made the hardest shove this year, forcing many Canadians to make difficult choices about returning to the office in a labour market with limited options.
The recent return-to-office shove
In May, Royal Bank of Canada became the first major bank to require all staff to work from the office at least four days a week starting in September, followed by the Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal in June and Toronto-DominionBank in July. Many cited concerns over productivity, a claim recently undercut by strong third-quarter earnings reports.
Also in July, Rogers announced it would require its roughly 24,000 staff to work from the office four days a week in the fall and five days starting in January. In August, the province of Ontario ordered public servants back into the office full-time starting in January and soon after the City of Brampton did the same.
“I believe everyone’s more productive when they’re at work,” Premier Doug Ford said during a news conference following the announcement. “All the companies I’ve talked to, from the banks to the insurance companies to everyone else, everyone needs to go back to work.”
According to a recent Cisco survey, 68 per cent of Canadian employers have implemented a return-to-office mandate. Many cite concerns over worker productivity, with only 30 per cent believing their staff are most effective when working from home.
Most workers prefer flexibility
Staff, meanwhile, continue to show a strong preference for flexible work, with 30 per cent preferring to be fully remote and 26 per cent wanting a hybrid option, according to the Cisco study.
“There’s a clear disconnect between the preference of employees and the new mandates,” says Cisco’s hybrid work leader Courtney Elling, who is based in Minnesota. “Employees are very clear that they want to come back to the office with purpose.”
Ms. Elling says workers have come to view the office as serving a specific function. According to the survey, 92 per cent prefer to collaborate at the office and 86 per cent prefer to brainstorm and interact with colleagues in person.
“What I think is coming out in the data is that for employees, it’s about trust,” she says. “Employees want that flexibility to say, ‘when does it make sense to come into the office?’”
Recent data suggests that employees who work on a remote or hybrid schedule may even be healthier than their in-office peers. In a survey by International Workplace Group (IWG), 44 per cent of Canadian workers said they take fewer sick days, 71 per cent experience less stress-related healthcare conditions, and 78 per cent report lower anxiety levels when working on a hybrid rotation.
“It really boils down to giving them time back,” says IWG executive vice-president and Canadian country manager Terri Pozniak, adding that the extra time allows for more doctor visits, workouts and opportunities to prepare healthier meals.
Ms. Pozniak also suggests that commuting time has increased in recent years as real estate prices in and around major cities have skyrocketed.
“Because of affordability [challenges] they’re having to live farther away,” she says. “If you’re continuing to demand that your teams are coming in, even though they’re living farther and farther away, then you’re adding stress to their life, because that travel time is their personal time.”
Why employers chose this moment to mandate a return
Though many factors are driving the return-to-office push, one potential catalyst is a slowdown in the labour market amid ongoing trade policy volatility and fears over AI-related job displacement.
Research shows the uncertainty has led many Canadian workers to prioritize salary and stability over flexibility, suggesting employers are likely to see less turnover in reaction to those mandates.
In a recent Indeed survey, pay was cited as the most important factor for job seekers, followed by job security. Benefits such as health and dental insurance, paid sick leave and retirement plans also outranked benefits related to work-life balance and flexibility.
Furthermore, just 14 per cent of those currently employed said they are seriously considering switching jobs, compared to nearly 75 per cent in late 2024.
“The market is really tough right now – there are more job seekers in the market than jobs – meaning that there’s a lot of insecurity,” says Alexandra Tillo, Indeed Canada’s senior talent marketing consultant.
Flexible workers are staying put
Among jobs posted to Indeed as of June 30, 13.8 per cent mentioned remote or hybrid work. Ms. Tillo believes those who currently enjoy a flexible work arrangement that suits their lifestyle may be more hesitant to change roles.
“If we look at people who are currently in that remote and hybrid configuration, 75 per cent say they are satisfied with their job, compared to 63 per cent of those who don’t [have flexible work],” she says.
According to a recent survey by Robert Half Canada, 26 per cent of Canadians plan to look for a new job in the second half of 2025, down from 38 per cent six months ago, echoing the decline in job hopping found in the Indeed survey.
“With 74 per cent of employees choosing to stay – which is higher than what we typically see – I think it’s reasonable to conclude that there is a correlation [to the timing of return-to-office mandates] with what’s happening in the economy and the market in general,” says Robert Half Canada managing director Deborah Bottineau.
Among those who plan to stay, the highest proportion, 36 per cent, said they didn’t want to risk losing their current level of flexibility. That outranked factors such as compensation, fulfillment and positive relationships with managers.
“The shift to bringing workers back in office across all industries is happening very quickly and the response from employees is not surprising,” Ms. Bottineau says. “There’s still a very strong desire for flexibility in the workplace.”
Meeting in the middle
Ms. Bottineau urges employers mandating a return to office to consider ways to make the transition smoother for their most affected staff.
“Caregivers would be one category of employee that is going to have to make a big adjustment, which leads me to really question what is the employer’s plan to help support them in that transition?’” she says. “For many people, it’s going to be a dramatic lifestyle shift, so how will organizations support these valued employees through this transition? Are there programs that can be put in place to help them achieve that balance?”
When Danielle brought up those concerns with her manager, her employer ultimately agreed to make an exception, allowing her to continue working remotely rather than move her family back to Toronto.
While she’s grateful for the accommodation, which she says allows her and her husband to both keep their jobs, Danielle is concerned about what it will mean to be the only member of her team working remotely.
“It’s definitely going to affect my career going forward, now that I can’t be in the office five days a week,” she says. “Will I get the next promotion? Will I get the next opportunity? I’m not sure about that.”
Danielle adds that some colleagues – and especially primary caregivers with roles that can be done from home – have made similar requests and that her employer seems open to making those accommodations.
“It’s really hard to have a blanket policy for tens of thousands of people,” she says. “But at the same time, it’s also really hard to look on a case-by-case basis when you have that many employees. I don’t know what the answer is, but there’s definitely going to be some growing pains.”