A new report suggests the pandemic-induced shift to remote work is on a downward trend, with the percentage of Canadians working from home now half of what it was during the early days of COVID-19.

The report from Statistics Canada, released on Thursday, showed 20 per cent of Canadian workers were mostly working from home as of November 2023, down from the 40 per cent recorded during the early COVID-19 restrictions of April 2020.

This comes as more people are returning to work as companies mandate more in-office days.

However, there are still more Canadians working from home now than there were pre-pandemic. Statistics Canada said just 7.1 per cent of workers were mostly teleworking in May 2016.

The federal agency said this shift has wide-reaching implications.

“This increase in telework has potentially important implications for numerous aspects of the economy and society such as the housing market, office rental space and economic activity in downtown areas, productivity, wage growth, worker turnover, family-work balance, childcare, commuting, public transit, and greenhouse gas emissions,” the report states.

Statistics Canada found that the increase in remote work has put financial pressures on public transit systems, due to the reduced number of people using the service, but has “likely” helped with greenhouse gas emissions, as fewer people commute to the office.

“If all Canadians whose job could be done from home in 2015 and who worked onsite that year had started working exclusively from home, greenhouse gas emissions due to transportation could have fallen by 9.5 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent on an annual basis,” the report states.