Two in five (42 per cent) plan members who work remotely at least one day per week report their employer is mandating they spend more time working onsite at their workplace, according to the 2026 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey.
Plan sponsors said an average of 39 per cent of their workforce works from home regularly, about the same as last year (40 per cent). But this year’s result was a notable drop from 49 per cent in 2023 and a pandemic high of 58 per cent in 2021 and 2022.
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On average, plan sponsors estimated their <a href="https://bitcomme.com/harmonic-security-raises-50m-to-govern-how-employees-use-ai-tools/” title=”Harmonic Security raises $50M to govern how employees use AI tools”>employees who work remotely do so for half (51 per cent) of their week, continuing a steady year-over-year decline from a high of 65 per cent in 2022. Among plan members, 41 per cent said they work from home at least one day per week, down from 47 per cent in 2024.
Respondents worked an average of 3.1 days remotely. More than a quarter (27 per cent) reported they don’t work from home, 31 per cent indicated their job can’t be done remotely and eight per cent said their employer doesn’t allow remote work, up slightly from six per cent last year.
Plan members who worked remotely and were mandated to spend more time onsite were asked which perks or policies would encourage them to be at work more often, while plan sponsors with remote workers were asked which of the perks/policies they offered, from a list of 12 options.
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Plan members were most incentivized by commuting benefits such as free or reimbursed parking or public transit reimbursement (35 per cent), free lunch or office snacks (35 per cent), flexible working arrangements for caregivers (23 per cent) and ergonomic office chairs (23 per cent).
Meanwhile, plan sponsors were more likely to say they had a more casual dress code than pre-pandemic (38 per cent) and common areas such as lounges to work in (38 per cent), followed closely by free lunch and office snacks (37 per cent), ergonomic office chairs (37 per cent) and flexible working arrangements for caregivers (35 per cent).
“When it comes to returning to the office, plan sponsors need to dig into what’s meaningful for their employees,” said Valérie Fernandez, senior advisor of workplace health, best practices and strategic support in group insurance at Beneva and an advisory board member. “We see plan members aren’t that interested in social activities at work, so the social aspect won’t appeal to some of the people obligated to return. But highlighting that one’s social environment is an important protective factor for psychological health and other dimensions of well-being might resonate more with employees.”
Download the full 2026 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey report here.
