Future of Work
A curated resource of recent research on trends shaping Canada's labor market.
Key Takeaway: The shift to remote work has lasting, important implications for workers who do non-routine cognitive work.
This research explores the impact of COVID-19 on pandemic work practices and focuses on information workers — people who do non-routine cognitive work such as engineers or designers.
Work practices have rapidly changed since the start of the pandemic, leading to significant shifts impacting collaboration and meetings; personal productivity and well-being; IT and security; devices and physical ecosystems; software engineering; and societal implications.
The authors find that information workers prefer a hybrid mode of work and believe this model increases productivity and job satisfaction. The ability to have meetings and social engagement with colleagues is the primary reason for this choice, confirming the importance of in-person connection.
The study also finds that managers can impact employee productivity and well-being. Employees who received one-on-one support from managers were able to maintain productivity levels and work–life balance compared to those who did not receive similar support. This accentuates the need for managers to have soft skills to provide holistic support to employees.