With many companies mandating returns to onsite offices, a disconnect has been gradually building in how employers are approaching remote and hybrid work versus their employees.
According to Benefits Canada’s 2025 Future of Work Survey, nearly half (48 per cent) of employees reported working fully onsite, while roughly a third (33 per cent) were in a hybrid arrangement and a fifth (19 per cent) worked remotely. Among employer respondents, 37 per cent said their employees work fully onsite, compared to 57 per cent whose workers were in a hybrid arrangement and just seven per cent that were fully remote.
“Figuring this [disconnect] out is one of the key paths forward to maintaining an engaged workforce and protecting against burnout and the associated costs,” said David Drewery, associate director at the University of Waterloo’s Work-Learn Institute, during a panel discussing the survey results at Benefits Canada’s 2025 Future of Work Summit.
Read: Most Canadian employees prefer hybrid work: survey
The Work-Learn Institute has run several studies that found roughly eight in 10 entry-level workers said they prefer hybrid work. “Almost none of them want to work fully remote, so the perspective that [generation] Z is lazy or something, I think we can put that to bed. This is more an issue of job design on the part of the employer. Being intentional about how we get people to work together when they’re remote versus in person, I think that’s actually the challenge.”
Among employee respondents who said they work hybrid or remotely, 27 per cent reported being worried about feeling disconnected, followed by specifically feeling less connected to their colleagues (25 per cent), their managers (12 per cent) and the organization overall (11 per cent).
Niagara Casinos has voluntary committees to help employees feel connected no matter where they work from, said Bryan Crisp, the company’s human resources operations manager. Based on employee feedback, the organization realized it had to gradually bring back a certain amount of workplace culture that was lost during the coronavirus pandemic, he added.
“For us, peer-to-peer recognition and culture is a huge component of our success and what we continue to focus on.”
Read: Recognition, employee connections driving retention risks for 2026: report
Work-life balance and caregiving are important considerations for employees who work in a hybrid arrangement or fully remotely. Three-quarters (74 per cent) of caregivers working in a hybrid or remote roles said it helps them balance these responsibilities, though this is a significant drop from 99 per cent who said the same in 2024. As well, 20 per cent of employees ranked caregiver-specific programs among the top priorities to support their work-life balance in this year’s survey.
Corus Entertainment provides a generous mental-health and well-being program, including an employee assistance program that provides employees with multiple resources focusing on different parts of caregiving, said Aastha Juneja, the company’s head of compensation and benefits, during the panel discussion.
Read: Employers can support caregivers with enhanced benefits, inclusive conversations: experts
“We believe people leading needs to be done through compassion [and one person’s] caregiving stage may be very different from someone else’s. We trust . . . our people leaders to have these conversations and any time they feel there is a reason to extend a little more accommodation, those are important conversations to be had.”
Being a caregiver can be emotionally draining, she added, so it’s important for people to also take care of their own mental well-being and make work-life balance a top priority.
Download a copy of the 2025 Future of Work Survey report here.