Canada’s big banks are calling workers

back to the office

, a movement that is likely to spread through Corporate Canada as the pendulum swings away from remote work.

Over the past two months,

Royal Bank of Canada

, Bank of Nova Scotia, TD Bank and

Bank of Montreal

have requested that their employees return to the office for at least four days a week in the fall.

“The expectation is this is the tip of the spear for the push to return office employees into desks in corporate towers across the country, as the banks, some of the largest employers in the country, often “set the tone” for “in-office attendance,” said the Angus Reid Institute in a survey this week.

According to the poll, almost 60 per cent of Canadians say they would prefer working most of their time at home. Among those who have worked at home or are doing so now, that percentage jumps to 76 per cent.

And workers who have been called back are not happy.

Over half said they were upset or “very upset” about the return to the office. Only 17 per cent were pleased.

“With a majority of Fortune 100 companies now requiring desk workers to be fully in office, and major banking institutions like TD, RBC, and BMO upping the required days in office, a face-off is setting up among workers who evidently prefer to stay at home, and employers who want them back on site,” said the study.

The roots of the conflict date back to the pandemic when 40 per cent of Canadians spent most of their working hours at home — a big change from the 7 per cent who were doing so in 2016.

Since the pandemic those numbers have fallen to 20 per cent, according to the most recent data from Statistics Canada, but

hybrid work has risen

.

Among the Canadians who now work hybrid, 35 per cent told Angus Reid that they have to be in the office for more than half the work week. Thirty-eight per cent say their employer only asks for one or two days on-site.

Whether they meet that requirement is another matter.

Last September the federal government imposed a mandate that public service workers spend three days a week in the office. But a

Canadian Press report in February

found that thousands of federal employees were breaking that rule.

The Department of National Defence, which employs about 28,700 people, had the lowest compliance rate, especially among Ottawa-based workers.

In the government’s three largest departments — Defence,

Canada Revenue Agency

and Employment and Social Development Canada — the compliance rate ranged from 60 to 80 per cent, but dropped as low as 31 per cent in some months.

The Angus Reid survey found that 58 per cent of respondents said they always follow their employer’s policy, 28 per cent said they mostly do, while 7 per cent almost never do.

Quitting is another option, though so far it is not common. Of those surveyed who have been asked to return to the office for more days, only 5 per cent said they quit.

“That said, the story among those who are still currently working at home is evidently more precarious for employers,” said the study.

Of this group, only 28 per cent said they would go back to the office without complaint. Most, 32 per cent, said they would go back but consider other options, while 24 per cent said they would likely quit.

But this is not the pandemic, when workers were few and far between and job vacancies were skyrocketing.

The push to return to the office represents a change in the business environment, but the labour market has changed as well, said Angus Reid.

With job vacancies declining and the unemployment rate rising, employers are gaining more sway to set terms over employees.

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Wall Street might be keen on

Donald Trump,

but Main Street is having its doubts, according to today’s chart by Bank of America.

Financial markets are favouring that Trump pivots to lower U.S. tariffs, taxes and interest rates, and the S&P 500 has climbed 9 per cent year to date, said strategists for BofA Global Research led by Michael Hartnett.

“Main St less adoring,” they said, with Trump approval slumping back towards April lows. The strategists note that Trump “bro billionaire” stocks are up 71 per cent since the U.S. president’s election, while Trump small-cap “base” stocks are down 1 per cent.

  • Today’s Data: United States Conference Board consumer confidence, S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price indices
  • Earnings: Air Canada, George Weston Ltd., Intact Financial Corp, Toromont Industries Ltd., Kinross Gold Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., Boeing Co., George Weston Ltd., Broadwalk Real Estate Investment Trust

  • U.S. companies, investors ‘kicking tires’ and quietly shopping in Canada’s oilpatch
  • B.C. has the wealthiest households on average. How does your province fare?
  • Freedom Convoy lawyer dropped as a bank customer after cryptocurrency transactions. Could you be debanked?

The roadblocks that lenders put up to breaking a mortgage are bigger this year than they have been in years. Mortgage Professionals Canada pegs the average mortgage prepayment charge at $6,732, almost double what it was last year. But reworking your mortgage doesn’t always result in a punishing penalty.

Find out more from mortgage strategist Robert McLister.

Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at wealth@postmedia.com with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we’ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we’ll keep your name out of it, of course).

McLister on mortgages

Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister’s

Financial Post column

can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won’t want to miss. Plus check his

mortgage rate page

for Canada’s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily.

Financial Post on YouTube

Visit the Financial Post’s

YouTube channel

for interviews with Canada’s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.

Today’s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.

Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at 

posthaste@postmedia.com

.

  • Fasten your seatbelts, we could be in for a wild ride in markets this week
  • If a 15% tariff is the ‘new normal,’ would that be a ‘bitter pill’ for Canada?

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