After Elon Musk informally laid off nearly 50 percent of Twitter's workforce, he announced this week that he plans to cancel the company's "work from anywhere" policy and mandate a full-time return to offices for all its employees.

This raises an important question about the future of remote work in North America in the wake of the impending recession and historic labor shortage, which experts say could ideally place employees in the "driver's seat" to negotiate their working conditions.

In this regard, Mackenzie Irwin, an employment lawyer in Toronto, told CTVNews.ca on Friday: "Employers are entirely at risk of a flood of wrongful dismissal claims when they make substantive changes to (the policy) for their employees." According to Irwin, if a job is advertised as a remote position and remote work is included in the employee's contract or as a company policy, then an argument can be made that working from home constitutes an agreed employment term. He said in those cases, employees who were dismissed for not returning to the offices or who resigned due to the policy change can file a constructive dismissal claim, which refers to the employer not adhering to their original agreement with the employee. This could lead to a stronger severance package or termination, or in some rare cases, reemployment.

But for workers who do not have a written condition and who worked remotely due to unprecedented circumstances like COVID-19, there is no "legislative framework" to protect those who refuse to return to the office," adding: "However, we have begun to see a very strong movement from employees making this specific condition of employment when accepting a new job."

Likewise, the popularity of remote work in Canada has risen, with many willing to quit if forced to return to the office full-time, according to an online survey conducted by Hardbacon, a fintech company, in October. It revealed that more than 80 percent of Canadian remote workers would leave their jobs and look for new employers if their boss asked them to return to the office five days a week.

Also, another study conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research on workplace preferences found an increasing number of Canadians have adapted to working remotely since the COVID-19 pandemic began and want to keep it an indefinite option. But many companies in Canada have begun to plant their feet and renew efforts to bring employees back to office buildings.

Instead of voluntary return-to-office guidelines, employers are imposing office attendance through company policies. Some Bay Street law firms appeared to be leading the process, issuing memos mandating a specific number of days per week in the office in September.

Additionally, the law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP stated that its offices will move on September 6 to a hybrid work model where most employees will work three to four days a week in the office, according to operational requirements and local public health directives.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) encourages employees to visit the office frequently, which may be an indicator that big Canadian banks will follow their American counterparts and reduce remote work, as Rafael Rufolo, RBC spokesman, told BNN Bloomberg via email that most office jobs under hybrid arrangements require two to three days of in-person work each week.

While the fate of working from home is debated, experts believe unions may be able to provide support to negotiate better deals for workers.