Ontarians Are Being Told To Work From Home For The 'Foreseeable Future'

Don't retire your sweat pants just yet. According to the provincial government, working from home in Ontario could be the new norm for the "foreseeable future." As multiple cities continue to enter stage three of the reopening plan, the government is urging people to work remotely if possible. 

In a statement to Narcity, Emily Hogeveen from the Ministry of Finance stated that public health authorities continue to advise residents to stay home when possible for work. 

As the province is expected to stay in stage three for quite some time, this advice won't be changing. 

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"The most effective way to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission is to maintain physical distancing. Where possible, workers should continue to work from home and meet virtually until public health authorities advise otherwise," wrote Hogeveen in an email. 

"As the province moves into stage 3, the advice to 'Work from home or remotely as much as possible' still stands."

"Ontario will be in Stage 3 for the foreseeable future so I believe this advice won’t change for now," she concluded. 

While it is still unclear exactly how long the province will stay in stage three, Ontario Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, has stated that it will be until we find a vaccine for COVID-19. 

According to CTV News, multiple businesses will now be looking at "hybrid models" for work, which would only allow some employees to come back into the office this year. 

In fact, some Canadian companies have already announced that they will be keeping their offices closed until next year. 

Back in May, Shopify announced that it would be turning into a "digital by default company" and office doors would remain closed until 2021.

OpenText, an Ontario-based tech company also announced that they would be shifting to mainly remote work. 

The company even announced that they would be looking at closing nearly half of their offices across the globe.