Canadians are feeling uncertain about the future of their workplace, with half of employees working from home saying that they expect to regularly return to the office in 2022, according to a new poll.
And while there doesn’t seem to be a clear consensus on whether a return to the office is guaranteed for the majority of those currently working from home, a growing majority is now beginning to show a preference in where — and how — they want to work.
The poll, conducted by Ipsos exclusively or Global News, revealed working Canadians’ experiences in 2021, and what their expectations were for the new year “given the ever-shifting context” of COVID-19 in Canada.
While half of Canadians expect to either return to the office — and the other half expect to continue working from home — the majority, or about 64 per cent claim, say they achieved a better work-life balance in 2021.
Darrell Bricker, Ipsos’ CEO of Public Affairs, said that while there has been a consistent number of Canadians expressing reluctance at wanting to go back to their office, their reasoning behind not wanting to do so may have changed somewhat.
“Part of it seems to be concern about safety, but an increasing part of it — and this is the really interesting finding here — is about a preference,” said Bricker.
“It’s no longer about ‘I’m not going to go back to the office because I don’t think it’s safe.’ It’s ‘I’m not going to go back to the office because I feel like I actually prefer to work at home.’”
The poll also found that nearly nine out of ten Canadians enjoyed working from home in 2021, and that 58 per cent said they missed being with their colleagues in person.
2:17 Canadian township approves 4-day work week
Canadian township approves 4-day work week
Many Canadians have over the past year expressed desire to continue working remotely from their homes or out of the office.
In May, a poll done by Leger in collaboration with the Association for Canadian Studies suggested that four out five respondents didn’t want to go back to their pre-pandemic schedule — with 35 per cent who were still working from home at the time indicating they would quit their job if their employer made them come back.
Another poll, released in June by the Business Development Bank of Canada, suggested that about three out of four businesses would continue to let their employees work from home post-pandemic, and that over half of employees said they would like to continue working remotely as much or more than they currently did then.
Though while the new work from home situation for Canadians has been widely seen as a boon, experts and some workers themselves have pointed to its potential downsides as well — including a certain difficulty in “unplugging” during their time off.
“We’ve seen an increasing trend in organizations to expect employees to be reached after hours, and that emails that are sent in late afternoon hours [or] evening hours will indeed be replied to same day,” explained Matthia Spitzmuller, associate professor of organizational behaviour at Queen’s University in a previous interview.
An April poll conducted by KPMG, which surveyed 1,000 Canadians, found nearly half of Canadians saying their workload was heavier than it was pre-pandemic.
While a majority of Canadians say their work-life balance has been better during work from home, nearly four in ten say that they would be fine earning 20 per cent less money if they could work 20 per cent fewer hours than they currently do, according to the Ipsos poll.
4:07 Latest mental health index shows deteriorating work relationships
Latest mental health index shows deteriorating work relationships – Nov 25, 2021
“There’s a significant number of people who are saying that the work life balance is better working from home,” said Bricker.
“So I expect that if they start getting forced to go back to the office, there is going to be some interesting discussions and debates with their employers.”
Ultimately, Bricker said that the nature of Canadians’ work-life continued to evolve over the past year, with the majority of them who started a new job in the last year was their decision indicating that it was their decision to do so.
Bricker said the “Great Resignation” that was occurring in the United States wasn’t happening in Canada yet, though the polling data was beginning to point to more people willing to make tradeoffs in terms of the amount of commitment they make to work relative to time, and to the amount of pay that they’re getting.
“What we’re seeing here in terms of work is it’s not just a question of whether or not the disease is in the right place or the wrong place — really what’s emerging here is a preference for how you want to live your work life,” he said.
Exclusive Global News Ipsos polls are protected by copyright. The information and/or data may only be rebroadcast or republished with full and proper credit and attribution to “Global News Ipsos.” This poll was conducted between Dec. 12 and 15, 2021, with a sample of 1,001 Canadians aged 18-plus interviewed online. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. This poll is accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18-plus been polled.
TORONTO – Will Taylor Swift bring chaos or do we all need to calm down?
It’s a question many Torontonians are asking this week as the city braces for the massive fan base of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Hundreds of thousands of Swifties are expected to descend on downtown core for the singer’s six concerts which kick off Thursday at the Rogers Centre and run until Nov. 23.
And while their arrival will be a boon to tourism dollars, it could further clog the city’s already gridlocked streets.
Swift’s shows collide with other scheduled events at the nearby Scotiabank Arena, including a Toronto Raptors game on Friday and a Toronto Maple Leafs game on Saturday.
Some locals have already adjusted their plans to avoid the area.
Aahil Dayani says he and some friends intended to throw a birthday bash for one of their pals, until they realized it would overlap with the concerts.
“Ultimately, everybody agreed they just didn’t want to deal with that,” he said.
“Something as simple as getting together and having dinner is now thrown out the window.”
Dayani says the group rescheduled the birthday party for after Swift leaves town. In the meantime, he plans to hunker down at his Toronto residence.
“Her coming into town has kind of changed up my social life,” he added.
“We’re pretty much just not doing anything.”
Max Sinclair, chief executive and founder of A.I. technology firm Ecomtent, has suggested his employees stay away from the company’s downtown offices on concert days, since he doesn’t see the point in forcing people to endure potential traffic jams.
“It’s going to be less productive for us, and it’s going to be just a pain for everyone, so it’s easier to avoid it,” he said.
“We’re a hybrid company, so we can be flexible. It just makes sense.”
Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green says the public agency has been preparing for over a year to ease the pressure of so many Swifties in one confined area.
Dozens of buses and streetcars have been added to the transit routes around the stadium, while the TTC has consulted with the city on how to handle potential emergency scenarios.
“There may be some who will say we’re over-preparing, and that’s fair,” Green said.
“But we know based on what’s happened in other places, better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Electronic Arts has incorporated the Professional Women’s Hockey League into its NHL 25 video game.
The six teams starting their second seasons Nov. 30 will be represented in “play now,” “online versus,” “shootout” and “season” modes, plus a championship Walter Cup, in the updated game scheduled for release Dec. 5, the PWHL and EA Sports announced Wednesday.
Gamers can create a virtual PWHL player.
The league and video game company have agreed to a multi-year partnership, the PWHL stated.
“Our partnership with EA SPORTS opens new doors to elevate women’s hockey across all levels,” said PWHL operations senior vice-president Amy Scheer in a statement.
“Through this alliance, we’ll develop in-game and out-of-game experiences that strengthen the bond between our teams, players, and fans, bringing the PWHL closer to the global hockey community.”
NHL 22 featured playable women’s teams for the first time through an agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Toronto Sceptres forward Sarah Nurse became the first woman to appear on the video game’s cover in 2023 alongside Anaheim Ducks centre Trevor Zegras.
The Ottawa Charge, Montreal Victoire, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens round out the PWHL. The league announced team names and logos in September, and unveiled jerseys earlier this month.
“It is so meaningful that young girls will be able to see themselves in the game,” said Frost forward Taylor Heise, who grew up playing EA’s NHL games.
“It is a big milestone for inclusivity within the hockey community and shows that women’s prominence in hockey only continues to grow.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. continued to navigate weaker consumer demand in the third quarter as it looked ahead to the spinoff of its pork business in 2025.
“This environment has a particularly significant impact on a premium portfolio like ours and I want you to know that we are not sitting still waiting for the macro environment to recover on its own,” said CEO Curtis Frank on a call with analysts.
Frank said the company is working to adapt its strategies to consumer demand. As inflation has stabilized and interest rates decline, he said pressure on consumers is expected to ease.
Maple Leaf reported a third-quarter profit of $17.7 million compared with a loss of $4.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company says the profit amounted to 14 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of four cents per share a year earlier. Sales for the quarter totalled $1.26 billion, up from $1.24 billion a year ago.
“At a strategic level … we’re certainly seeing the transitory impacts of an inflation-stressed consumer environment play through our business,” Frank said.
“We are seeing more trade-down than we would like. And we are making more investments to grow our volume and protect our market share than we would like in the moment. But again, we believe that those impacts will prove to be transitory as they have been over the course of history.”
Financial results are improving in the segment as feed costs have stabilized, said Dennis Organ, president, pork complex.
Maple Leaf, which is working to spin off its pork business into a new, publicly traded company to be called Canada Packers Inc. and led by Organ, also said it has identified a way to implement the plan through a tax-free “butterfly reorganization.”
Frank said Wednesday that the new structure will see Maple Leaf retain slightly lower ownership than previously intended.
The company said it continues to expect to complete the transaction next year. However, the spinoff under the new structure is subject to an advance tax ruling from the Canada Revenue Agency and will take longer than first anticipated.
Maple Leaf announced the spinoff in July with a plan to become a more focused consumer packaged goods company, including its Maple Leaf and Schneiders brands.
“The prospect of executing the transaction as a tax-free spin-off is a positive development as we continue to advance our strategy to unlock value and unleash the potential of these two unique and distinct businesses,” Frank said in the news release.
He also said that Maple Leaf is set on delivering profitability for its plant protein business in mid-2025.
“This includes the recent completion of a procurement project aimed at leveraging our purchasing scale,” he said.
On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it earned 18 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 13 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
The results were largely in line with expectations, said RBC analyst Irene Nattel in a note.
Maple Leaf shares were down 4.5 per cent in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at $21.49.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
