• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
SPECIAL REPORT: ‘Defuse the Climate Time Bomb’ with Net-Zero by 2040, Guterres Urges G20 March 20, 2023
Devastating Impacts, Affordable Climate Solutions Drive IPCC’s Urgent Call for Action March 20, 2023
Window for 1.5°C ‘Rapidly Closing’, IPCC Warns March 20, 2023
Swift Action, Inclusive Resilience Vital in Face of Overlapping Climate Hazards March 20, 2023
Shift from Fossils to Renewables is Quickest, Cheapest Path to Cut Emissions, IPCC Report Shows March 20, 2023
Next
Prev

Two-Thirds Working from Home Expect to Continue, but ‘Luxury’ Option is ‘Skewed Toward the Privileged’

June 14, 2020
Reading time: 3 minutes

15
SHARES
 

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians now working from home because of COVID-19 restrictions expect to carry on doing so after the pandemic is over, the Angus Reid Institute reports.

“Among those working from home (just under one-third of Canada’s adult population), only 36% say they will likely go back to their place of work when COVID-19 concerns subside,” the non-profit polling agency reports. “Most who work remotely anticipate splitting time between their workplace and home, while one in five (20%) say they will remain primarily at home.”

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Among the one-third of 18- to 34-year-olds and two-fifths of 35- to 54-year-olds who’ve been working from home, 15% say the experience has been terrible for their mental health, 16% say it’s been great, and 68% report that it’s been “okay”.

Angus Reid notes the speculation about how and whether to return to traditional workplaces is nice for those who can engage in it, but “something of a luxury” for many others. Among the 28% of the Canadian adult work force who’ve lost hours or been laid off during the pandemic, 29% say they doubt they’ll get the same number of hours back, and 9% report their jobs are gone forever. Those numbers have doubled since the end of March.

Some of the same trends are taking shape in the United States, where the New York Times cites an estimate that half of the country’s work force is now working remotely, up from 15% pre-COVID and 5.3% in 2018. The feature profiles a travelling salesperson who previously spent 80% of his time on the road (selling vacuum cleaners, but in the 2020 version of the story, robotic ones—you can’t make this stuff up!), but now says he and his colleagues are wondering “what’s crazier: being forced to work from home, peering into a webcam all day? Or the way they used to work?”

The Times says the shift is “deeply skewed toward the privileged: Many employees who work in health care, public transportation, or the service sector, for instance, have never been given the option to work remotely, during the crisis or before.”

But “the coronavirus crisis is forcing white collar America to reconsider nearly every aspect of office life. Some practices now seem to be wastes of time, happily discarded; others seem to be unexpectedly crucial, and impossible to replicate online. For workers wondering right now if they’re ever going back to the office, the most honest answer is this: Even if they do, the office might never be the same.”

And in both countries, the differences in commercial and residential energy use patterns, commute times, and the congestion and tailpipe emissions that used to be standard features of a regular work day are only beginning to be sorted out. It’s early days, but studies are beginning to show that people working from home are more productive and happier in their job, while companies are paying attention to the money they can save on leased work space.

“There’s all kinds of habits and practices that develop that aren’t effective,” Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield told the Times. “You think you can’t do something — and then you have to do it. And so it turns out you can.”

On the retail side, the federal and Ontario governments announced a new program last week worth nearly C$58 million to help small businesses move their operations online. Most of the money will support the expansion of Digital Main Street, a new initiative by Toronto-area Business Improvement Areas.

“Storefront small businesses were among the first forced to close because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, driving revenues down to the point where many struggle to pay bills—and a growing number have shut down for good,” the Globe and Mail reports. Now, the two governments “hope to help as many as 21,900 Ontario businesses boost their digital presences through Digital Main Street while creating 1,400 student co-op jobs to develop e-commerce stores.”



in Canada, Culture, Jobs & Training, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

icondigital/pixabay
Supply Chains & Consumption

New Federal Procurement Rule Requires Biggest Bidders to Report Net-Zero Plans

March 27, 2023
84
Faye Cornish/Unsplash
Culture

Abundance, Not Austerity: Reframe the Climate Narrative, Solnit Urges

March 26, 2023
21
TruckPR/flickr
Hydrogen

Opinion: Hydrogen Hype Sabotages Potential to Decarbonize

March 25, 2023
196

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

TruckPR/flickr

Opinion: Hydrogen Hype Sabotages Potential to Decarbonize

March 25, 2023
196
icondigital/pixabay

New Federal Procurement Rule Requires Biggest Bidders to Report Net-Zero Plans

March 27, 2023
84
U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement/flickr

Willow Oil Project in Alaska Faces Legal Challenges, Economic Doubts

March 19, 2023
686
IFRC Intl. Federation:Twitter

Devastating Impacts, Affordable Climate Solutions Drive IPCC’s Urgent Call for Action

March 21, 2023
952
Prime Minister's Office/flickr

Biden’s Ottawa Visit Highlights EVs, Clean Grid, Critical Minerals

March 25, 2023
69
Faye Cornish/Unsplash

Abundance, Not Austerity: Reframe the Climate Narrative, Solnit Urges

March 26, 2023
21

Recent Posts

EUMETSAT/wikimedia commons

Cyclone Freddy Leaves Over 500 Dead on Africa’s Southeast Coast

March 23, 2023
54
Kern River Valley Fire Info/Facebook

SPECIAL REPORT: ‘Defuse the Climate Time Bomb’ with Net-Zero by 2040, Guterres Urges G20

March 20, 2023
315
U.S. National Park Service/rawpixel

Window for 1.5°C ‘Rapidly Closing’, IPCC Warns

March 20, 2023
87
FMSC/Flickr

Swift Action, Inclusive Resilience Vital in Face of Overlapping Climate Hazards

March 20, 2023
83
Kenuoene/pixabay

Shift from Fossils to Renewables is Quickest, Cheapest Path to Cut Emissions, IPCC Report Shows

March 20, 2023
276
Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine/Wikimedia Commons

IPCC Report Charts a Course for Ottawa’s ‘Clean Technology’ Budget

March 23, 2023
194
Next Post
Ld. Ata/wikimedia commons

Post-Pandemic Land Use Changes Could Cut Emissions in Urban Centres

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}