Canada's Top 100 Employers (2026) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 17
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L.DUARTE/SCOTIABANK
( 2026 )
Like the majority of Canada’s banks, Scotiabank aims to bring staff back to in-office work four days per week to create more opportunities for collaboration, career
development and a stronger workplace culture.
In-office or hybrid work?
Employers choose different strategies based on what works best for their business model
I
n recent months, there has been an
increasing number of news headlines about “return to the office”
directives from major organizations,
including several Canadian banks,
telecom companies and governments.
Employees have been told they need to
return to more familiar pre-pandemic
patterns, spending the majority of their
workdays on-site with colleagues after
years of working remotely from home for
at least part of the week.
So is this the end of the pandemic-created move to remote and hybrid work? It
depends on what and whom we’re talking
about. It’s true that some of the country’s
largest organizations, with tens of
thousands of employees, are going back to
office mode, though flexible options often
remain. And there is certainly no one-sizefits-all scenario. Across Canada’s workplaces, you can find employers who
strongly support hybrid and employees
who love going into the office. Policies
continue to evolve in both directions.
Leaders at Scotiabank, one of Canada’s
Top 100 Employers (2026), have carefully
thought through the benefits of in-office
work. “We know having our teams
working together in-person has many
benefits – greater collaboration, higher
engagement, more career development
opportunities, and a stronger culture and
sense of belonging – and we are already
seeing the positive impact this is having
across the bank as we focus on executing
on our strategy,” says Claire Dawson, a
spokesperson for Scotiabank. The goal,
she says, is “four days on-site across the
bank over time.”
But others among Canada’s Top 100
Employers (2026) continue to expand
hybrid work options, and often see it as a
competitive advantage in recruitment.
Among them is John McKenzie, CEO of
TMX Group, which includes Toronto
Stock Exchange and employs 2,300 people.
TMX is a “hybrid-first” organization where
the current policy is to be in the office 50
per cent or more of working days per year.
“We aren’t seeing productivity gaps in the
organization, whether it’s remote or
in-office,” says McKenzie. “Our engagement scores as an organization have been
increasing year after year for five years.”
Office capacity can also be an issue for
employers that, like TMX, have grown
substantially in the interim. McKenzie
says he would happily increase space if he
thought it would enhance performance, as
some argue. But he responds: “What we’re
seeing for TMX is that our hybrid design
works for our output, our culture and our
employees. For us, the proof is in the
results.” The return-to-office debate is far
from over.
– Berton Woodward
