CIRANO’s expertise mobilized to shed light on telework challenges

Since the pandemic, telework has become a lasting transformation of the world of work. Organizations are now facing a major challenge: finding the right balance between performance, team cohesion, and attractiveness.

In this context, CIRANO has developed recognized expertise on telework by combining empirical research, rigorous analyses, and knowledge dissemination to public and private decision-makers.

In 2024, a large-scale survey was conducted among 71,420 employees in the Quebec public service. With a response rate exceeding 50%, the study is based on the perceptions of 37,572 respondents (including 2,690 managers), providing unique insight into the impacts of telework.

Overall positive perceptions

The results show that telework is widely perceived as beneficial, particularly in terms of productivity and quality of life:

• Efficiency
  • 62% of employees believe they are more efficient working remotely than in the office (35% consider their performance equivalent in both contexts).
  • Among managers, 58% consider team efficiency to be similar, and 27% believe it is higher when working remotely.
     
• Work organization
  • Nearly 63% of employees would like to increase the number of telework days per week to 4 or 5 days.
  • Managers tend to favor a hybrid model centered around three telework days per week (30.2%), followed by two-day (24.5%) or four-day (17.6%) models.

Real benefits … but also challenges

The main advantages mentioned include the absence of commuting (64%) and greater quietness (65%). However, challenges remain, such as social isolation (44%) and a loss of team spirit (37%).

These results highlight the need to design flexible telework policies adapted to the diversity of organizational and human realities.

➡️ Consult the full report by Benoit Dostie and Ingrid Peignier:
Politique-cadre en matière de télétravail sur les perceptions des employés et des cadres au sein de la fonction publique québécoise