New data from flexible office and co-working space provider IWG shows that visits to their 130 in-person office locations across Canada increased by 45 per cent from January to March 2022. Wednesday was found to be the most popular day in the office, followed by Tuesday and Thursday.

As companies and workers adapt to new hybrid working models, splitting their time between home and office, suburban locations, including Spaces and Regus locations, saw a substantial surge in office visits, particularly in Dartmouth, Hamilton and Waterloo.

All major cities witnessed similar increases in people working from the office with Toronto visits up 43 per cent since January, followed by Montreal (42 per cent), Vancouver (42 per cent) and Calgary (41 per cent).

“We are seeing in real time more and more people in our spaces, not only in Canada, but across the more than one hundred countries that we operate in,” says Wayne Berger, CEO, IWG Americas. “The data shows there is a strong appetite to spend part of the time in an office environment, whether that’s at a local flex space or a central HQ. The growing popularity of hybrid working means workers now have the freedom and flexibility to choose a location to work that best suits their lifestyle.”

Wednesdays are most popular days to go to the office

The most popular day to work from the office as part of a hybrid working week is Wednesday, which increased by 31 per cent in March compared to January. Tuesday and Thursday are also popular days to work flexibly, with visits to centres increasing by 32 per cent and 29 per cent respectively, compared to January.

As more Canadians turn their backs on long daily commutes, and instead choose to work flexibly from nearby coworking centres, demand for suburban and rural locations continues to rise. Earlier research from IWG in the UK revealed that employees are four times more likely to choose an office close to home than in a city centre, with 82 per cent saying the lack of a daily commute was a key benefit of hybrid working.