41% of U.K. employees no longer working from home at all in 2024: survey

Read: 76% of Canadian employers mandating partial, full return to office: survey

While 15 per cent said they’d prefer to never work from home, 17 per cent said they’d still work from home five days a week if they could — an increase of three per cent from last year. Similar to in 2023, the preference among respondents was to work from home two (19 per cent) to three times (20 per cent) per week.

Among commuters, 45 per cent said they drive alone, 15 per cent said they carpool, 10 per cent take the bus and nine per cent commute by train. Respondents also noted driving alone and carpooling were still more economically friendly than taking the train, with rail fares rising by up to 4.9 per cent earlier this year. However, among those who said they travel by bus, cost was the top reason (56 per cent) for their chosen mode of transportation — a 12 per cent increase from last year. When asked about top barriers to travelling by public transportation, respondents cited distance as well as a lack of public transport options and/or reliable service.

Half (50 per cent) of employees said they’d like more support from their employer to commute sustainably. Roughly a fifth said they’d be encouraged to support Scope 3 emissions reduction goals with a monetary award from their employer and one in seven employees said they’d be encouraged to travel more sustainably if they were rewarded with more annual leave entitlement. The survey noted employees could also be incentivized by perks such as reduced parking costs, lunch vouchers and branded merchandise.

Read: 29% of Canadian employees want to work remotely to save commuting costs, time: survey