As Canadian workplaces fully return to a 5-day workweek, many women are not just stepping back into physical offices — they’re bringing new expectations, habits, and standards shaped by four years of working at home. This transition reflects not only changing work environments, but evolving ideas about productivity, presence, boundaries, and care.

Here are the key things women are bringing back — and why they matter:

1. A Stronger Sense of Personal Workflow

Working from home required women to build and protect their own structures — calendars, task batching, deep-work time, accountability rhythms. Many have become more intentional about how they manage energy and focus, and they’re not comfortable giving that up.

What this looks like:
Requests for defined heads-down time, clearer meeting agendas, and alignment around priorities.

2. Clearer Boundaries

Remote work blurred life and work — which for many led to burnout. Coming back to the office, women are more conscious about boundaries around hours, childcare demands, and uninterrupted focus time.

What this looks like:
Less tolerance for late-night communication, emphasis on predictable schedules, and transparent expectations for availability.

3. Expectation of Respect for Productivity Styles

At home, many women refined how they work best — asynchronous communication, asynchronous collaboration, shorter meeting clusters, focus blocks, fewer unnecessary check-ins. They’re returning with confidence in these preferences.

What this looks like:
Teams pushing for streamlined communication tools, fewer status meetings, and asynchronous updates.

4. Elevated Emotional and Cognitive Awareness

After managing home, schooling, caregiving, and professional tasks simultaneously, many women have heightened situational awareness — they notice patterns, inefficiencies, and unclear communication quickly.

What this looks like:
Direct feedback about unclear decisions, documentation gaps, and inconsistent expectations.

5. Higher Expectation of Supportive Culture

Working from home provided visibility into companies’ support systems — or lack thereof. Women are now more attuned to what feels like support vs performative signals.

What this looks like:
Questions about caregiving policies, psychological safety in teams, and equitable workload distribution.

What This Means for Workplaces

This return isn’t a reset to 2019. It’s an evolution.

Women are not bringing less commitment — they’re bringing:

• More clarity around how they work best

• Stronger boundaries

• Demand for intentional communication

• A focus on psychological safety

• Expectations for equitable participation

Organizations that recognize and integrate these shifts will be more adaptive, competitive, and human-centered.

Practical Takeaways for Leaders

• Formalize rhythms (agendas, decision documentation, follow-ups).

• Respect boundaries (publish core hours, define meeting norms).

• Empower asynchronous work (clear deliverables, not constant check-ins).

• Encourage psychological safety (feedback loops, inclusive decision-making).

• Align expectations (clarity on roles, outputs, and metrics).