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With several major employers enforcing return-to-office (RTO) mandates and increasing the number of in-office days this year, new research suggests there could be significant negative effects on worker engagement and productivity.
According to a global study conducted by online job marketplace WorkL, hybrid workers are the most engaged, followed closely by those who are fully remote, while those who rarely work from home lag behind.
“Flexibility is one of the biggest drivers to employee engagement,” says Jonny Wilson, WorkL’s head of data and insight. “The highest performing companies in terms of financial returns have highly productive workforces, and a large proportion of that is driven by how happy and engaged their employees are.”
The study analyzed six factors – including empowerment, communication, pride, wellbeing, job satisfaction and recognition – to come up with an engagement score out of 100. Hybrid workers had an average engagement score of 77, followed closely by fully remote workers at 76, while those who rarely work from had an average engagement score of 66.
Companies with an engagement level of 70 and above are considered top-tier employers.
“Anything below 70 you see quite quick drops in terms of engagement and productivity,” Wilson says, adding that engaged companies tend to be 20-per-cent more productive.
The Canadian experience
Canadians who only work from home saw an average engagement score of 77 in the WorkL, study, just 0.6 points higher than the average among hybrid workers, while those who rarely work from home had an engagement score of 68, two points higher than the global average.
“Canada’s an interesting one in that the most-engaged employees actually work from home all the time or have very frequent opportunities to work from home,” Mr. Wilson says, adding that the difference between fully remote and hybrid worker engagement is small.
He says people who used to work from home but have been forced back to the office are even less engaged, “because they feel that some level of flexibility of freedom has been taken away from them.”
“Even if companies aren’t forcing employees to go back into the office full-time, when they increase the number of days in the office we see lower employee satisfaction levels.”
More Canadian companies are risking a potential drop in employee engagement productivity with tougher RTO mandates. As of 2026, employers such as Rogers, the City of Brampton, the Province of Ontario and most major banks are requiring their staff to spend more time in the office, with most only permitting employees to work one day a week at home.
Many employees aren’t thrilled
A recent Indeed study shows 80 per cent of Canadians prefer a flexible or hybrid work arrangement, while 20 per cent prefer to be fully remote.
A vast majority (89 per cent) said in-office work presents personal challenges, with the most-cited conflict being less time with family. More than a third of respondents also suggest that it in-office work results in less sleep, busier days, more financial pressure and greater feelings of burnout.
“When your workforce is unhappy, at some point there are going to be consequences on the company’s productivity,” says Alexandra Tillo, a senior talent marketing consultant at Indeed. “A happier workforce, however, is a more productive workforce, is a longer lasting workforce with less turnover, and that benefits the overall health of the organization.”
While that survey found that Canadians prefer hybrid work over being fully remote, both outranked in-office work by a significant margin – apart from young people.
“Eighty-two per cent of Gen Z prefers to have some time in the office; outside of that generation no one preferred being full-time in the office, so the preference is still hybrid,” she says.