Overview
This study explores how teleworking has changed based not only on employees’ expectations of the future, but also based on teleworking rates experienced after the pandemic. Moreover, this study explores what teleworking changes are likely to mean with respect to early fears that downtowns will become hollowed out.
Study Purpose
This research makes new contributions in three critical areas:
- Provides an empirical update on the current and future state of telework in six major Canadian regions.
- Explores how the changing geography of teleworking is unfolding in major cities.
- Provides evidence not only on how teleworking changed between 2021 and 2023, but also on how employees’ expectations of past, current, and future teleworking changed.
Methods
This study uses survey data from the two waves (2021 and 2023) of the Future Mobility in Canada Survey (FMCS).
Key Findings
- Overall, both teleworking and “ideal” teleworking decreased significantly between 2021 and 2023, it has decentralized out of the downtowns, and it no longer disproportionately offsets transit use.
- Teleworking is becoming more common in households with two or more vehicles.
- Growing divides between younger in-person workers and older virtual workers suggest workplace challenges.