#WFHCanada
ā82 per cent of the Canadian population live in large and medium-sized cities across the countryā
Why does Canada have such an avoidance to allowing people to Work From Home? Last year I went to a conference, and one of the workshops was specifically about Home Offices and working from home. It was hosted by a company that is completely remote from the US.
I networked and have been watching more and more US professionals in my industry transition to working from home, and more and more companies going remote. But not in Canada.
It's interesting seeing the difference between what I experience and what I see them experience. Now people can work at the ābig cityā jobs while staying close to their family, friends and places they like to be and want to call 'home'.
Iāve never been a big city girl, I love walking out and seeing green, I love biking from place to place without worrying about someone texting and driving, I love knowing my neighbour and being with all the friends Iāve spent my lifetime making. I like going to my motherās after work and helping out, or making dinner.
But I canāt do these, because I live an hour outside of Toronto, and hours away from āHomeā.
Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are home to more than 1/3 of all Canadians with a combined population of 12.5 million... and almost HALF of that is in Toronto.
It doesnāt look like Toronto is going to get any less populated, or any less āBig-Cityā. I've always had the dream of owning a house, but in Toronto that dream has to shift to Ā owning an apartment in a shared building with no yard. Welcome to 2017, where we all live in small boxes that cost more than most homes in small cities ever will. We donāt pay for size, we pay for location. But what if you donāt like that location?
Itās not that Toronto is a bad city, itās that there are so many different types of people in the world. With so many different desires and wants. So many different ideas of what 'Home' is. And with a push in the modern culture to have a work-life balance, and you can't just work to be happy, it's shocking how many people aren't.
What is your dream home?
Is it living in a Condo, close to downtown where you can walk anywhere you want, and are always around the hustle and bustle of the big city? Close to art museums, bars, and all the live events that come to the city? If so, than amazing, but save up!
And if it isnāt that, and youāre more like me, and you would prefer to live in a a small house with a open backyard, garden and bike around town feeling safe, and enjoying as much of the beautiful scenery as possible... you might need a new career path?
I went into Digital Advertising, I love Marketing, I love being a project manager, and working with a genius team that can solve any problem. I love working with my clients, having slack conversations, video conferences, and brainstorming new ideas.
But I wasnāt made to live in the city, and as I work hard to make a life here I can feel how unhappy I am. And I wonder how many others are like me, how many people have to move for their jobs, and how many being DO move for their jobs but SHOULDN'T have to.
We live in an age of access. We have high speed internet, cell phones, video calls, messaging systems, project management and ticketing systems. It's not that we should all be hermits and not make human contact, but why does your job dictate where you life instead of you family, hobbies and desires?
Why am I writing this than? Because as Toronto and the other big cities get larger, where are we all going to live? Do we need to be in an office at from 9am - 5pm Monday-Friday? Do we need to sie next to each other with headphones on in silence to finish the same tasks we could be completing at home?
Do we all need to live in the biggest city in Canada, and do we want to?
Does Canada not work from home because we CANāT, because we donāt trust our employees? Or because we think everyone wants to be here?
Working from home isnāt easy, if you donāt have drive and discipline and objectives itās easier to fail at it. But for those that can, that want to, and whose personal (and hopefully also career) life would be better for it, why are there so few options to do so?
Why canāt we #WFHCanada?












