Remote Workers Have More Time for Housework, Child Care, Leisure Activities: StatCan Report

A woman using a laptop on a dining room table set up as a remote office to work from home on March 4, 2020. Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Canadians who work from home are spending more time on housework, leisure activities, and sleeping than those who go into the office, according to Statistics Canada.

In the agency’s first report since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, StatCan found that employees who work from home have higher levels of satisfaction with work-life balance when compared to those who work on-site.

The study, which collected data from July 2022 to July 2023, said the percentage of Canadians working from home increased to 24 percent in 2022, up from 7 percent in 2016. The number dropped to 21 percent in 2023.

The report was based on information collected from employees on a single day of work, called the “reference day.” The full sample of the survey was 12,336 respondents and included Canadians from 10 provinces aged 15 years and older.

Three groups of workers were analyzed: work-from-home teleworkers; on-site teleworkers who teleworked in the week before the reference day but worked on-site on that day; and non-teleworkers, who did not telework in the week before the reference day and worked on-site on that day.

The report says that those working from home were 12 percentage points more likely to be satisfied with their work-life balance when compared to non-teleworkers, and 14 percentage points when compared to on-site teleworkers.

Research found that employees who work from home sleep in about 23 minutes longer in the mornings than non-teleworkers, and 19 minutes longer than on-site teleworkers.

Additionally, without having to commute to work, work-from-home teleworkers saved on average more than an hour each day. The study found that non-teleworkers commuted about 63 minutes and on-site teleworkers commuted about 74 minutes in a typical day.

Those who work from home also spent more time on housework and child care, the survey found.

“Working from home was associated with about 16 more minutes, or 21 percent more time spent on unpaid housework,” the study said.

Both fathers and mothers who work from home spent about 1.2 hours or 71 more minutes caring for, supervising, or being with their children compared to parents who do not work from home.

Work-from-home teleworkers also had more time for leisure activities such as exercise, hobbies, or watching television. Employees who work from home spend about 30 more minutes engaging in leisure activities than the other groups.

Employees who go to work on-site were found to spend more time on personal care and grooming than those who work from home. Non-teleworker employees spend 24 more minutes on personal care than those who work from home. On-site teleworkers spend 17 more minutes getting ready than those who work from home every day.

One of the impacts that the shift to remote work has had is a reduced use of public transportation, said a seperate StatCan report “Research to Insights: Working From Home in Canada.”

Public transportation services saw a 12.6 percent drop in the number of commuters from May 2016 to May 2023, according to the report.

Statistics Canada said that the switch to remote work reduced the number of commuters by about 2.6 million nationwide.

Andrew Chen contributed to this article.