Photo credit: CBC
A new national survey from Catalyst Canada reveals a growing disconnect between what employees want and what workplaces are offering.
The findings show that most Canadian employees (64%) prefer hybrid or fully remote work. But women are less likely than men to have access to it, putting their participation and progression in the workplace at risk.
The research comes as the federal government and corporate return-to-office RTO mandates and policies intensify across Canada. These mandates have sparked national debate about the future of work, with growing concern related to how RTO policies affect women, caregivers, and people living outside major urban areas.
Just one third of survey respondents say their organization allows hybrid work, and nearly 1 in 5 say they do not have access to flexible arrangements of any kind.
Although women (67%) are more likely than men (60%) to prefer working in a hybrid or fully remote environment, 22% of women compared to 15% of men say their employer does not have any flexible working arrangements available.
Flexible working arrangements benefit all employees and are essential for women’s full participation in the workforce. Previous Catalyst research shows that a lack of flexibility is linked to women leaving the workplace. Additional research by other organizations has found that women are less likely to experience everyday gender discrimination and gender-based hostility when they work remotely (26%) compared to when they work on site (58%).
