Max Shapinko

The arrival of the Omicron variant in November is untimely, coming at a point when many companies had signaled a return to office at the start of 2022. Although not unexpected, COVID-19 case counts have elevated in the past few months and will slow down the pace of the return. The expanded eligibility of booster shots has been announced in key provinces to help curb the spread.

As summer progressed and health restrictions eased across most of Canada, optimism for a post labour day return to office increased. However, as Q3 2021 drew to a close and COVID case counts increased, many companies pushed back their return to office plans, with some delaying their plans to Q1 2022.

Most of Canada only recently began to reopen as lockdowns began to ease in the second half of Q2 2021.