A recent report by EconPol, a CESifo economic policy platform, shows that Canada ranks highest among countries that offer employees work from home (WFH) options.
The report, entitled Working from Home Around the Globe: 2023 Report, takes an in-depth look at global trends in remote work.
According to the survey results shared in the report, WFH levels are higher in English-speaking countries.
The results in the report are based on numbers obtained from the Global Survey of Working Arrangements (G-SWA), which gathered data from full-time employees aged 20 to 64 with secondary or tertiary education. The survey was conducted in 34 countries earlier in 2023.
“Full-time employees worked an average of 1.4 full paid days per week from home across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US,” says the report. “By way of comparison, WFH levels average only 0.7 days per week in the seven Asian countries covered by the G-SWA, 0.8 in the European countries, and 0.9 for four Latin American countries and South Africa.”
Among English-speaking countries included in the survey, Canada ranks highest with an average of 1.7 WFH days per week.
The data gathered also shows that while employees worldwide would like to have more WFH days, they do identify some advantages of working onsite.
More than half (62 per cent) of the respondents say working onsite leads to socializing with co-workers. More than half (54 per cent) also believe there’s more face-to-face collaboration when working in-person. And 43 per cent responded that working onsite allows them to establish clearer boundaries between work and personal time.
On the other hand, 60 per cent of respondents said not having to commute was the top benefit of WFH. Connected to that, 44 per cent participants said savings on gas and lunch costs are among the top benefits of WFH.
