Canada’s tech sector latest industry to experience shift away from remote work

While companies in other industries are also increasingly mandating workers back to the office at least a few days every week, the tech sector's shift is notable.

When Heather Aleinik was laid off from Shopify Inc. last summer, it was “one of the biggest curveballs” of her career.

The now 29-year-old Calgary woman had discovered remote work was conducive to her neurodivergence and love of travel while at the Ottawa-based e-commerce company, which launched a remote work policy at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – a policy it claimed would be permanent.

Aleinik eventually found a new job at a software firm advertising a “five-year remote commitment,” but just as she started to get comfortable, the company built a new office in Florida and its CEO started extolling the benefits of working on-site. She quit just before employees living near the office were ordered back three days a week.

“The idea of going back is terrifying. The idea of being on a bus, being in public transit and for all of it to be made mandatory and we don’t have a choice, that’s one of the biggest reasons why I’m fighting to stay remote,” Aleinik said.

“People get healthier when they’re at home. They have better relationships with their family, they can manage childcare.”

Aleinik’s experience is a sign of a shift rippling through the tech sector as employers move away from entirely remote roles and toward hybrid and in-person work arrangements.

While companies in other industries are also increasingly mandating workers back to the office at least a few days every week, the tech sector’s shift is notable – and even shocking to some – because the industry was an early champion of remote work.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke declared “office centricity is over” and said he’d let most of his workforce remain at home on a permanent basis.