It wasn’t so long ago that most of the Canadian workforce was locked away in their homes, frantically stocking up on toilet paper and learning to bake sourdough bread from scratch between Zoom calls. Fast forward three years and it’s a much different picture as teams return to the office and morning traffic becomes part of our daily routines again. However, that doesn’t mean Canadians have lost their appetite for remote and hybrid work models.
A new study conducted by LinkedIn’s Economic Graph research team sheds more light on shifting work preferences in the post-pandemic era. The study shows that workers located on Canada’s West coast and in smaller metros prefer remote work, while Torontonians are less likely to apply for remote positions.
Kelowna and Victoria – the second and third-largest cities in British Columbia – emerged as the nation’s hotspots for remote work, with nearly half of job applications in these areas specifically for remote positions.
The trend extends beyond these regions, with notable interest in remote work showing up in metro areas like Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Ottawa – where over 40 per cent of job applications were directed towards remote roles.
Smaller cities such as Moncton, St. John’s and St. Catharines have also seen a surge in remote job seekers. Approximately 47-38 per cent of applications from these regions were aimed at securing remote jobs.
The allure of remote work has driven many professionals to seek opportunities beyond the traditional urban centers. If there’s no looming threat of having to crawl through morning traffic to get to the office, why not live in a more picturesque part of town?
Justin Bennett, a 3D artist in the animation industry, says he’s been applying for remote positions located in Vancouver – approximately three hours from his home near Victoria.
“After COVID, a lot of remote opportunities in my industry have opened up, which has made relocation not necessary,” he said. “You’re close enough [to Vancouver] that when there are social gatherings of networking opportunities, you’re not that far away.”
The flexibility of remote work has allowed Bennett to work at two Vancouver-based companies as a lighting and composite artist without feeling pressure to move further away from his family.
The trend of remote work enthusiasts relocating to picturesque cities is not without its challenges. In places like Kelowna – one of the top cities for remote workers – rental prices have surged with demand, making the cost of living comparatively higher. According to rentals.ca data, a one-bedroom apartment in Kelowna costs an average of $1,952 per month, up 14 per cent compared to last year.
Nevertheless, the freedom of being able to work from the most beautiful locales in the country continues to attract workers like Jessica Weisz, who moved from Toronto to Niagara, and eventually to Kelowna while maintaining a remote role at her job.
“What were were optimizing for was sunshine,” she said. “I had never been to Kelowna – I knew nothing about it. We came and saw the place that we could rent… you could see mountains and the lake. It had a pool, and it was massive and it was the same as rent for our little small loft in Toronto.”
“It’s been said that Kelowna is becoming a Zoom town, and I totally resonate with that. It’s a beautiful place to live, and a lot of people have figured that out, and are now figuring out how to make it work in their lives.”
While remote work has captured the attention and preference of a majority of employees who experienced it during the pandemic, the number of fully remote job opportunities has decreased – partly due to some employers reverting to more traditional work arrangements.
For professionals like Weisz, returning to an in-person position is no longer appealing, as the flexibility of remote work has allowed her to be more involved as a parent. Research supports this sentiment, as nearly four in five Canadians express a strong preference for remote work compared to working in a physical office as reported by the Future Skills Centre.
Notably, the Greater Toronto Area shows the smallest share of remote work applicants among large metro areas, with only 28.5 per cent of job applicants seeking fully remote positions.
Toronto’s notoriously high real estate prices and the prevalence of large office footprints may be factors in this lower demand for remote work. However, Toronto leads in applicants for hybrid work arrangements – with 31.7 per cent of job seekers looking for roles that only require partial in-person elements.
To read the full study, visit linkedin.com.
