Most Canadian employees are as productive working at home as they were at their usual place of work.

Many report not only being able to accomplish more at home.

A number also say they are putting in longer hours.

Moreover, an overwhelming majority of Canadian employees want to continue working at home after the COVID-19 pandemic passes.

These are some of the highlights of the results of a study released by Statistics Canada on April 1 this year.

The agency reported that 90 percent say they are “at least as productive” working at home.

This means that they accomplish “at least as much work per hour, at home as they were previously at their usual place of work”.

In addition, more than half or 58 percent reported accomplishing about the same amount of work per hour.

Also roughly one-third or 32 percent reported accomplishing more work per hour.

The remaining 10 percent mentioned that they accomplished less work per hour while at home.

About one in five of those who reported being less productive indicated that “lack of interaction with co-workers as the main reason”.

Meanwhile, close to 20 percent reported having to care for children or other family members.

“While the vast majority of new teleworkers reported being at least as productive at home as they were in the past, several of them ended up working longer hours per day at home than they did at their usual place of work,” Statistics Canada reported.

Some 48 percent reported that they “accomplish more work per hour”.

In addition, 44 percent who “do less work per hour…reported working longer hours per day than they did in the past”.

“Furthermore, virtually none of the workers who accomplish at least as much work per hour at home as they did previously now work shorter hours per day,” Statistics Canada stated in its report.

Overall, 35 percent of all new teleworkers reported working longer hours.

Managers work longer hours in greater proportions, or 51 percent.

Statistics Canada also reported that 80 percent of new teleworkers indicated that they would like to work “at least half of their hours from home once the pandemic is over”.

“The degree to which these longer hours affect family–work balance and the extent to which they will persist once the COVID-19 pandemic is over remain to be seen,” the agency stated.

Some 3.1 million Canadians were working from home as of February 2021.