Canadian employers are increasingly requiring new hires to work from the office, even as many job seekers continue to prioritize remote and hybrid arrangements, according to a new study from recruiting firm Robert Half Canada.

The results were not surprising, according to Sandra Lavoy, metro market manager at Robert Half, who spoke to PeopleNX in an interview.

“A lot of our candidates, will say: ‘I want fully remote. I want hybrid,’ and a lot of our clients have a different expectation. So we did this research to see exactly where it stands.”

This expectation gap is evident in the survey results, she said. “Eighty-four per cent of the job postings are fully on-site compared to Q4 last year, 63 per cent. So within six months, it went up over 20 per cent, and only three per cent . . . is fully remote.” 

“And I can tell you, if we do 10 (candidate) interviews, at least four will ask for fully remote,” Lavoy said.

The survey included responses from executives from small, medium and large private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada.

Gap present between workers, companies

Employers should be aware that there is a large disparity between what both sides are looking for, according to Lavoy.

“What our clients want and what our candidates want do not mesh; they’re not aligned. And if you looked at our survey a little bit more in-depth, of the people looking for a job right now, 66 per cent say they want flexible work schedules: it is the most important benefit they’re looking for.”

“That flexibility, and hybrid at times, are more important than money. People will take a little less money to have flexibility in hybrid,” she said.

For those workers currently employed, 33 per cent are looking for a new job and work schedule flexibility is what they are most looking for in the new position, according to the survey. “And then you have another 46 per cent are staying where they are because they like the flexibility they have and they don’t want to lose that,” Lavoy said.

Lavoy saw this first-hand recently at her Ottawa office. “I went downstairs this morning to get a coffee, and I said to somebody that I haven’t seen around much, ‘Are you still working the same place?’ She said, ‘I don’t love it, but I only have to go in the office once a week, and that allows me a lot of flexibility with my family.’”

How to respect employee expectations

Employers must begin to communicate clearly the benefits of an on-site workforce, in order to convince workers to embrace it. 

Managers are not only interested in “controlling” or “micro-managing,” but it’s clear “companies are looking to strengthen collaboration for teamwork for employee relationships,” Lavoy said.

It’s also much easier to coach and mentor younger workers face-to-face, she said.

Additionally, in the post-COVID world, many working conditions have changed and this is also affecting what employees are looking for at work.

“Some of them could not get daycare after the pandemic, and the cost of living has gone up so much that people are saying, ‘I need to save (money) wherever I can,’ and we’re seeing a lot of that happen,” Lavoy said.

Advice for managers

Flexibility is crucial for today’s worker, and people managers need to keep this in mind. “You have to look at what the output is like and what did we accomplish individually and as a team, and often managers have not made that leadership shift when you’re offering flexibility.”

Keep decisions consistent and offer the same flexibility to all workers, she said. “You’ve got to be fair to everybody; that everybody has the same opportunity.”

And for those firms who believe they can just replace a reluctant employee with someone who is willing to work on-site, the biggest “misconception is that there’s a ton of people looking for a job, and they’ll fill the position easily, and there’s not a problem,” Lavoy said.

“The reality is there are less people on the market now because a lot of them have taken retirement packages.”

For recruiters and HR professionals, the message is clear, according to Lavoy. 

“To recruit the best candidates doesn’t mean you need to offer hybrid, but you need to be flexible. Like maybe start at seven, finish early, or a windowed workday where they can leave at three, but then they get back online after dinner. I recommend that to companies because (employees may have) different reasons: it could be religious reasons; children, ailing parents, sports, whatever.”