The Rise Of Hybrid and Remote Work Models in Canada Insights from a Vancouver Business Executive

Hybrid work models in Canada have grown in popularity since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. What used to be a temporary solution has now become the norm for millions of organizations.

According to a 2024 report from Mercer Canada, more than 50% of employers across the country have implemented hybrid work structures. Although this shift started as a response to a public health crisis, it’s now more about how and where employees can be most productive.

For many companies, the hybrid model offers a middle ground, balancing the structure and culture of office environments with the flexibility employees now expect. But adapting to it hasn’t come without challenges.

Lucas Birdsall, a Vancouver-based operations management executive who has worked with companies navigating hybrid transitions, says the change has forced leaders to rethink fundamental assumptions about productivity and collaboration.

“Hybrid work models are great for offering flexibility to employees, but they also force leaders to redesign systems so that output becomes the metric we manage around instead of presence,” says Birdsall.

Birdsall has worked as an executive in public and private companies, and says that while employees welcome flexibility, operating and managing people in a hybrid model is a new logistical challenge. Synchronizing teams across physical and virtual spaces has meant reworking everything from project timelines to communication protocols.

“You can’t just apply office habits to a hybrid setting and expect it to work. Leaders need to invest in clearer processes, documentation, and more intentional communication. Otherwise, productivity suffers, and culture gets watered down,” explains Birdsall.

A 2021 Citrix Systems poll found that 58% of Canadian employees prefer hybrid to remote or office work. However, only 16% want to return to the office full-time. These numbers mirror a larger shift in workforce expectations. In a different survey by Spark*Insights, 66% of working Canadians said their employers provide some type of flexible work. Nevertheless, many organizations struggle to make these models sustainable over the long term.

While some industries, like tech, media, and finance, have quickly adopted hybrid policies, others have been more hesitant. Hybrid work isn’t possible in all positions for operations-heavy industries such as logistics, manufacturing, or health care. However, many support staff and back-office teams work in blended formats even in those sectors.

Birdsallsays one of the earliest mistakes many companies made was treating hybrid work as a stopgap instead of intentionally designing for it. That’s starting to change.

“There was this idea in 2021 that we’d eventually go back to normal, but the data kept showing employees didn’t want that. Now, companies are thinking long-term about hybrid tools, policies, and even how they use physical space,” says Birdsall.

The real estate industry has already experienced some impact. Office vacancy rates in Toronto, Vancouver, and other major cities are high, leading some companies to downsize or repurpose their office footprints. Others, in turn, are investing in more active workspaces, like hot desks, collaboration zones, and tech-enabled meeting rooms for workers who are in the office only part of the week.

The shift also opened up conversations about equity and visibility. Workers are concerned that remote employees won’t get their fair share of promotions or projects if they aren’t frequently in the office. HR professionals are being asked to reconsider performance reviews and inclusion practices to ensure that hybrid structures don’t unwittingly penalize some employees.

Yet, despite the growing pains, the trend is here to stay. A 2022 study by Colliers Canada found that 61% of employers are now hybrid in some form. Although this number dipped slightly from last year, most analysts consider it a plateau, not a retreat.

Birdsall is cautiously optimistic. He believes hybrid models will continue to transform and mature into a more stable operating system.

“It’s still a learning curve, but hybrid work can provide real gains in efficiency, morale, and retention if organizations are willing to make the needed changes. The trick is to stop thinking of it as a compromise and to start thinking of it as a strategy.”

For Canadian employers, the focus is shifting from the effectiveness of hybrid work to refining the model so it works better for everyone.