According to a study conducted by WorkMotion, Vancouver has come in as the 15th best city in the world for remote workers.
The online HR platform based in Berlin, Germany, published its Global Index in November 2021. Using criteria including employee compliance, living costs, and infrastructure, the study assesses the most accessible and attractive global cities for remote workers.
“The resulting index reveals which cities are facilitating remote working best, and which are most attractive for remote workers to relocate to,” WorkMotion said in a release.
Vancouver was the third Canadian city to rank in the Top 20, with Montreal and Toronto coming in at second and sixth place respectively. Melbourne, Australia, took the top spot, with Sydney, Wellington, Prague, Tallinn, Zagreb, Singapore and Dublin all securing themselves positions in the Top 10.
The study looked at four main categories of access and attractiveness: Remote Working Compliance, Cost of Living, Civic Infrastructure, and Livability. Remote Working Compliance relates to the ease of corporate compliance for employing remote workers, while Civic Infrastructure includes Safety, Minority Equality, and access to Public Education and Healthcare. Finally, Livability scores were calculated based on Happiness, Attractions, and Local Mobility.
Vancouver Shines in Remote Working Compliance
In the category of Remote Working Compliance, Vancouver came out joint fourth, alongside its fellow Canadian cities in the category of Remote Working Compliance. It also featured in the Top 10 for Safety and Security, Minority Equality, and Access to Healthcare.
Vancouver ranked poorly compared to the other 79 global cities in terms of LGBTQ Equality (#33), Mobility (#53) and Cultural Attractions (#59).
Remote Working Trends in Vancouver and Canada
Just as the trend for remote and home-working has become widespread in almost every country during the pandemic, prior to March 2020, teleworking made up only four to five percent of all paid work days in Canada.
Fast-forward 18 months and the preference for remote working has stayed high among Canadian workers. According to the Vancouver Sun, two-thirds of Canadians believe working from home is the new normal and 68% say employers will lose top talent if they don’t give employees flexibility over their working locations.
Large Vancouver Employers are responding to changing trends.
Vancouver’s largest employers are responding to these evolving work practices in different ways.
In June 2021, SAP announced that its new work plan would be 100% flexible, enabling all employees around the world to work from home, at the office, or remotely.
Microsoft also presented a hybrid-workplace plan driven by the evolving pandemic situation and its impact on Microsoft sites. Stages range from “mandatory to work from home,” to “site open with restrictions.” They continue to explore solutions that would enable them to a hybrid model on a long-term basis, including “[…] reconfiguring existing technologies to designing exciting new Microsoft Teams innovations for hybrid work.
Shopify went one better, announcing in May 2020, that it was now a digital-by-default company and that most employees will work remotely on a permanent basis.
Virtual Office Solutions for Remote Workers
One of the top frustrations of remote workers is the difficulty in separating home life and work life, not just psychologically but also physically. For example, using a home address for business communication is fraught with security risks.
A potential solution is to contract a low-cost virtual office address. Such a solution provides the peace of mind of having a fully-dedicated address entirely separate from your home address, as well as enjoying the convenience of having a trusted third party proactively manage your post.
SaGE offers virtual addresses at both Robson and West Georgia Street, Vancouver. Subscribing to either of these services will give you the right to use these addresses as your own business address, as well as additional discounts on meeting room-rental.
For more information, go to www.sageworkspace.com and search for services in Vancouver, Canada.