Xero : 08/10/2020 - Xero unveils new data on the wellbeing and work-life balance of at-home workers in Canada

MEDIA RELEASE

Xero unveils new data on the wellbeing and work-life balance of at-home

workers in Canada

Independent survey finds disconnect between wellbeing and work-life balance

Toronto - October 8, 2020 - While​ Canadian professionals working from home noted an improvement in quality of life, there was little movement in relation to their work-life balance according to a new survey commissioned by global small business platform Xero​ .​

Findings from the independent online survey of 1,000 Canadian professionals1 suggest that while remote work has given Canadian professionals more flexibility to tend to personal needs throughout the day, thereby improving mental wellness, the overall workload remains unchanged.

Just over half of home workers agree that their physical and mental wellness has improved while working from home, due to more quality time with family (75%) and more time for tasks around the home (79%), among other factors. In contrast, less than half of respondents (49%) reported no changes to the quality of their work-life balance, and 15% say it has worsened.

"It's okay to not be okay, and the survey findings reinforce the need for working professionals in Canada to acknowledge the importance of mental health," said Will Buckley, Canada Country Manager, Xero. "As employers, we must remove the stigma around mental health and shift the focus to wellness, rather than illness, in order to provide employees with a safe and supportive working environment."

As part of its ongoing commitment to mental health, Xero granted all of its employees one additional wellness day in honour of World Mental Health Day this October 10, 2020.

Additional survey highlights include:

World Mental Health Day: Survey highlights, national

• ​Methodology: Based​ on an online study conducted from August 31 to September 2, 2020 among 1,000
  Canadian Professionals (Canadian adults who are employed full-time,part-time and/or business owners). The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender, and region. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.

• Just over 50% of home workers agree that their physical and mental wellness has improved while working from home, citing more quality time with family (75%) and more time for tasks around the home (79%) among their answers.
• Half of Canadian professionals working from home (49%) report no change in the quality of their work-life balance. However, women were more likely to say the quality of their work-life balance had improved.
• 18-34year old Canadian professionals reported the greatest improvement to the quality of their work-life balance (36%), compared to 28% among those aged 35-to-54 and 24% among those aged 55 and over.
• 35-54year old Canadian professionals reported the greatest improvement to their physical and mental wellness (55%), compared to just 43% among those aged 18-to-34.
• More than half of Canadian professionals working from home (52%) have had happy hours at home, with 17% saying they do this every workday.

World Mental Health Day: Survey highlights, provincial

Ontario

• 54% of home workers in Ontario agree that their physical and mental wellness has improved while working from home, citing more time to tend to tasks around the house (84%), more quality time at home with family (82%), and more time to prepare meals throughout the week (78%).
• 33% of professionals in Ontario say that the quality of their work-life balance has improved since working from home, while 44% say the quality of their work-life balance has remained the same.
• 67% of working professionals in Ontario say they have been able to make their own homemade lunches, every day, while working from home during the pandemic.

British Columbia

• 45% of home workers in BC agree that their physical and mental wellness has improved while working from home, citing more quality time with family (70%) and more time for tasks around the home (90%) among their answers.
• Half of BC's professionals working from home (51%) report no change in the quality of their work-life balance.
• Nearly a quarter of BC's professionals working from home (22%) have happy hours at home every workday.

Alberta

• 42% of home workers in Alberta agree that their physical and mental wellness has improved while working from home, attributing this to more time to tend to duties around the house (87%) and more quality time spent with family (76%).

• Over one-quarter (27%) of Albertans say the quality of their work-life balance has improved while working from home, while 58% cited no changes to the quality of their work-life balance.
• 28% of Alberta's working professionals have at-home happy hours every workday.

ENDS

Media Contact

North America

Lauren Kido

408 506 6087 [e-mail]

About Xero

Xero​is a cloud-based accounting software platform for small businesses with 2.38 million subscribers globally. Through Xero, small business owners and their advisors have access to real-time financial data any time, anywhere and on any device. Xero offers an ecosystem of over 800 third-party apps and 200 plus connections to banks and other financial partners. In 2020, Xero was included in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and recognised by IDC​MarketScape​as a leader in its worldwide SaaS and cloud-enabled small business finance and accounting applications vendor assessment.