Return-to-office mandates are back, and workers aren't happy. Here’s what going to work really costs Canadians

Heading back to the office full time isn’t just a psychological shift. Coast to coast, a bigger story is brewing about what it really costs to go back to a desk five days a week — and whether your paycheque even covers that cost.

Why the return?

In August 2025, Ontario’s government announced that more than 60,000 provincial public service employees would shift from hybrid work arrangement to full-time office requirement by Jan. 5, 2026. Critics called this “unnecessarily confusing” and “a slap in the face” for workers who kept the province running during the pandemic.

Ontario isn’t alone. In Alberta, provincial public servants are also expected to return to full-time office work in early 2026. Meanwhile, major private employers — big banks like RBC and TD, as well as telecom giant Rogers Communications — have increased their in-office attendance requirements, moving four-day plans to nearly five.

These directives comes at a cost.

A Benefits Canada survey found that 61% of Canadian workers say return-to-office mandates impose a financial burden (1), rising to 70% among hybrid workers — and most say wages haven’t kept up with inflation. That’s where the real cost of working kicks in.

Cost of commuting and time lost

Even before return-to-office mandates, just getting to work wasn’t cheap. Statistics Canada reports that in 2025, the average one-way commute in Canada was about 26.7 minutes, though big differences exist depending on where you live and how you travel. In Toronto, the average trip was nearly 35 minutes, in Vancouver about 31 minutes, and in Montréal around 29 minutes.

Public transit users often spend more — roughly 44 minutes one way — because of transfers and wait times. Round trips for suburban-to-downtown commutes often take 80–90 minutes a day, or longer if multiple modes are involved.

Over a typical 49-week work year, that daily commute adds up to about 367.5 hours spent just travelling. Using a median Canadian hourly wage of $36, that translates to roughly $13,230 in lost time annually — hours that could otherwise be spent on paid work, family, or rest.

Transit costs add to the financial burden. In Toronto, a standard TTC adult monthly pass costs $156, totalling about $1,872 per year. In Vancouver, a TransLink monthly pass runs $105–$140, or roughly $1,260–$1,680 annually, while Montréal’s STM adult pass costs $97, or about $1,164 yearly. Additional expenses for regional commuter trains or occasional rideshares can add hundreds more, meaning even the lowest transit pass cost exceeds $1,000 a year.

Driving doesn’t necessarily make commuting cheaper. Average transportation costs — including fuel, insurance, maintenance and vehicle depreciation — are roughly $835 per month, or about $10,020 annually. In urban cores, parking can add another $200 or more each month, totalling around $2,400 a year.

All told, whether taking transit or driving, commuting represents a substantial annual cost in both time and money, forming a significant part of the hidden financial strain of returning to the office.

Lunches, coffee and the hidden cost of office life

At home, it’s easy to step into your kitchen and brew some coffee or make a meal from groceries you’ve already paid for. In the office, convenience and time pressure make it far more likely that workers will order in or head out for lunch. Even when a fridge or microwave is available, the combination of limited break time, meetings and commuting fatigue nudges many employees toward purchased meals.

Canadian data backs this up. Research led by Dalhousie University on workplace eating habits (2) found that while 72% of Canadians say they pack lunch from home, nearly one in four buy lunch or eat at restaurants during the workday. The same study found that 39% of workers eat lunch at their desks, suggesting that speed and convenience often trump cost savings when employees are in office.

The financial impact adds up quickly. A January 2026 analysis by BLogic Systems (3) found the average office lunch in major Canadian cities costs about $23.60. Buying lunch every weekday adds up to roughly $5,664 a year, while opting for fast food lowers the annual cost to about $2,774 if purchased five days a week. By comparison, packed lunches prepared at home average $5.50 per meal, totalling about $1,320 annually, highlighting just how wide the cost gap can be.

Even a few bought lunches a week make a difference. One lunch per week comes to about $1,134 annually; two lunches per week total $2,268; three lunches rise to $3,402; and buying lunch five days a week reaches the $5,664 mark. Add daily coffee or snacks at $4–$6 per day, and another $960 to $1,440 quietly disappears from take-home pay.

Return-to-office mandates can also increase the frequency of these purchases. Someone who previously bought lunch once or twice a week under a hybrid schedule can easily slide into buying three or four lunches weekly when commuting five days in a row. That shift alone can add $2,000–$3,000 a year in after-tax costs — with no corresponding increase in pay.

From a planning perspective, this is where office work starts to function like a pay cut. Food spending is flexible day to day, but unavoidable over time — and unlike transit passes or parking, it rarely appears as a single, visible bill. Over the course of a full year, these small, repeated purchases quietly accumulate into a substantial expense that can rival transit, parking, or even several months of utility bills.

Clothes and upkeep

Food isn’t the only everyday cost that comes back with a return to the office. Working from home naturally extended the life of wardrobes, but commuting five days a week reverses that advantage. Business-casual clothing, shoes suitable for daily travel, seasonal outerwear and more frequent laundry or dry cleaning all quietly creep into monthly budgets.

Even workers who already own a suitable wardrobe can expect these expenses to add up to roughly $500–$1,000 a year. Items wear out faster when worn every day, and cleaning bills rise when clothing is no longer optional but expected. While none of these costs are dramatic on their own, combined with transportation and food, they form a predictable and unavoidable part of the total expense of showing up in person.

How much salary would actually offset it

When you add up the main costs for a commuter working five days a week, the numbers start to look striking. Transportation alone — whether by car or public transit — can reach roughly $10,000 a year. Time spent commuting adds another $13,230 in “lost” hours, valued at a median Canadian wage of $36 per hour. Layer in food and clothing costs, which range from $2,500 to $3,000 annually, and the total cost of simply showing up at the office climbs to about $25,730–$26,230 each year.

To maintain the same disposable income that working mostly from home allows, a worker would need a net salary increase of roughly $10–$12 per hour, or $8,000–$10,000 per year after taxes, depending on their tax bracket and location. That’s a steep climb, especially when many Canadians report that wages have not kept pace with rising costs, making a full return to the office feel, in practical terms, like a pay cut.

Company and worker views

Employers argue in-person days boost collaboration and culture, but employees aren’t buying it. An August 2025 Angus Reid survey (4) found that 59% of Canadian workers still prefer working at home, with avoiding the commute as the top reason.