Canadians Are Increasingly Detaching Their Identities From Work in Post-COVID Shift

Commuters walk across an overpass in Toronto, Aug. 26, 2024. The Canadian Press/Paige Taylor White

Canadians are increasingly reluctant to define themselves by their jobs, instead emphasizing family, personal interests, and flexibility in a shift that has strengthened since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to recent polling and research.

University of Toronto sociology professor Scott Schieman says the pandemic prompted many workers to reconsider how much of their time, energy, and sense of self they wanted to invest in their careers.

“My sense is that especially out of the pandemic, people have a really conflicted relationship with work,” Schieman told The Epoch Times.

The shift is creating a contradiction: Work may be less central to people’s identities, but rising living costs are making it increasingly important economically. And as artificial intelligence threatens to displace workers, Schieman says Canadians may have to reconsider just how much their jobs matter to them.

Recent surveys reflect this tension. Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report, based on survey data from 2025, found that 65 percent of Canadian employees reported not being engaged at work. Meanwhile, 15 percent said they were actively disengaged.

Randstad’s 2026 Canadian Workmonitor found a different manifestation of the same shift: While salary was the leading reason workers were drawn to a job, work-life balance was the top reason for staying.

Post-Pandemic Shift

Work has traditionally occupied an important place in Canadians’ lives. World Values Survey data from 2000 found that more than nine in 10 Canadians under age 50 regarded work as “very” or “rather” important.

The pandemic disrupted that relationship, as millions of Canadians experienced changes in where, when, and how they worked, prompting many to reconsider what they wanted from their jobs.

A Bank of Canada survey conducted in August 2021 found that Canadians cared more about their work hours than they had previously and were seeking greater flexibility or fewer hours.

Respondents were more willing to switch jobs or industries to find better work-life balance, leading the Bank to conclude that the pandemic “may have changed what Canadians are looking for in a job.”

Far from tailing off, people’s detachment from work and demand for flexibility and work-from-home options have persisted, or continued to increase in some instances.

A sign on a shop window indicates the store is closed amid the pandemic, on March 23, 2020. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Schieman said the change goes beyond where people work or how many hours they put in. It reflects a broader shift in how people think about the role a job should play in their lives and identities.

Whereas being exceptionally busy or career-focused could once convey status and importance, Schieman said workers have become more inclined to draw a boundary between their jobs and the parts of life they consider more meaningful.

“There was probably more of a buy-in and an openness to say, ‘Oh God, I’m crazy busy,’” he said. “It sounds like you’re important.”

Now, he said, the language of work-life balance is often used to put greater distance between work and personal identity.

“My sense is people kind of use the phrase ‘work-life balance’ to push work into a corner, like a bad child,” Schieman said. “Work’s over here, and then, ‘This is really who I am.’”

What Does Work Mean?

Schieman’s research focuses on what people get from work beyond a paycheque, including the sense of meaning, purpose, and identity their jobs can provide.

In a 2023 survey conducted for his upcoming book, “I Want M.O.R.E.: Why Your Job Still Matters,” only 20 percent of 2,255 Canadian respondents agreed with the statement that “the most important things that happen to you involve your job.” Another 34 percent were ambivalent, and 46 percent disagreed.

“If this were really a culture where work centrality was super high, if you fielded this question to a nationally representative sample of workers, why are only 20 percent saying they agree?” Schieman said.

He said interviews conducted for the book uncovered a repeated sentiment: work is only a small part of who people are.

“I heard this over and over and over again—’It’s just a small part of my identity. It’s not who I am,’” he said.

Rising Pressure, Falling Rewards

Even as work becomes less a part of Canadians’ identities, economic pressure and anxiety continue to grow.

In a July 2026 MNP Consumer Debt Index survey, 61 percent of Canadians said at least half of their income went towards routine expenses, debt payments, and bills. Roughly half reported struggling to pay day-to-day expenses.

A United Way Centraide Canada poll released in June of this year found that 60 percent of Canadians said they felt anxiety when thinking about their finances, up five percentage points from six months earlier.

Schieman said this produces tension: Canadians depend on their jobs to meet rising living costs, even as they increasingly view work as a necessity rather than a source of identity or meaning.

A general view of pedestrians crossing Bay St. in the financial district in Toronto, on Sept. 8, 2023. The Canadian Press/Andrew Lahodynskyj

One person Schieman interviewed for his research told him that “middle class just doesn’t mean what it used to mean.” He said workers often mentioned they spend more time worrying about their jobs but don’t tend to find them meaningful.

“It’s like, ‘Yeah, what am I working for?’” Schieman said.

He said younger workers in particular are less inclined to pursue career dreams at the expense of family, health, or personal values and time.

“People are generally still craving deeply a sense of mattering and feeling like they want their lives to be meaningful,” Schieman said, adding that younger workers prioritize work that aligns with their values.

AI Threat

Schieman said automation and AI could reverse the trend toward work taking a backseat, making employment more central to Canadians’ identities if jobs become scarcer.

“It’s a weird cultural moment where there’s this anti-work, anti-ambition celebration, and yet with AI coming down the pike and threatening to displace workers, suddenly it’s like, ‘Oops, wait a minute. No, my job still matters,’” Schieman said.

Schieman said that realization is likely to confront workers displaced by automation.

“You can say, ‘This is the age of anti-ambition,’ or ‘This is the era of anti-work,’” Schieman said. “But then when the robot replaces you, [and you’re] sitting on the couch … after a couple weeks it gets old.”

Schieman said the human desire to feel occupied, challenged, and needed is unlikely to disappear. If AI makes stable employment harder to find, he said, Canadians may discover that work mattered to their identities more than they realized.