Canadian home work They saved more than an hour of commuting time each day, and telecommuting also improved their sleeping and eating habits, a new Statistics Canada The report found.
National Bureau of Statistics Wednesday Release Highlights The 2022 Time Use Survey results show data on the impact of remote work on Canadians. The proportion of Canadians working from home increased from 7% in 2016 to 24% in 2022.
The report said teleworkers save an average of more than an hour by not commuting during their work-from-home hours, compared with an average of 63 minutes per day for non-teleworkers.
Teleworkers tend to use the time they save working from home to balance unpaid household chores. Compared to non-teleworkers on a paid workday, those who work from home spend about 16 minutes more, or 21%, on unpaid household chores.
The report found that there is a gender gap in unpaid domestic work, with women always doing more housework than men, even when both spouses work from home.
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For parents, teleworking also means more time spent caring for children. Fathers and mothers who work from home spend approximately 71 minutes more per day actively caring for, supervising or spending time with their children than parents who do not telework.
However, the report found that mothers spent an average of 52 minutes more time with their children than fathers, regardless of whether they worked from home.
The report also said remote work had an impact on people's sleeping habits, with the study finding that remote workers slept 23 minutes longer than non-remote workers.
Not having to commute also means teleworkers have more leisure time. Teleworkers spend about 30 minutes more on leisure activities than non-teleworkers. This includes more time spent on active leisure activities, such as exercise or hobbies, as well as passive leisure activities, such as watching TV.
However, teleworkers spend only half as much time on personal care as non-teleworkers — 24 minutes less. This may be because teleworkers feel less pressure to spend time on activities such as grooming, the report said.
Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, told Global News that while the number of people working from home has declined since the peak of the pandemic, it is likely to continue for many people.
He noted that occupancy rates in many of Canada's city centres remain below pre-pandemic levels, adding that hybrid working also appears to be a long-term trend.
“On average, if you combine all industries and different job types, a three-day work week is now the norm in offices.”
Kavcic said this could have an impact on where people live and on property values.
“Being able to work in a hybrid way is a major advantage for housing affordability because it enables people to extend further out from the core of a major city and actually take advantage of real estate, which in the past they wouldn’t have been able to do if they had to commute downtown every day of the week.”
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