The reception area of a Spaces co-working office in Victoria. The flexible workspace market is estimated to grow by 600 per cent by 2030, with 30 per cent of office space evolving into hybrid workspace.IWG/Supplied
Rocky Kim this summer decided to set up his own law practice and leave behind a long daily commute that stretched from a cramped suburban condo to a Vancouver office.
Mr. Kim and his wife found their dream home in Kelowna, B.C., where he could drive into town in minutes. He needed a private office, fast. After looking at several available spaces, he says “the last thing I wanted to think about was picking out furniture and what colour to paint the walls.”
Instead, Mr. Kim moved into a furnished office by global co-working firm Spaces in the Innovation Centre in downtown Kelowna and launched Rocky Kim Law Corp.
“It was literally plug and play, with internet, security, coffee service and cleaning all included,” he says. “The cost was marginally higher than a long-term lease, but I would have been tied to that space. It was either overpay for too much space expecting growth, or take a smaller space that you could outgrow halfway through your lease term.”
The flexibility to expand turned out to be prudent because in just a few months he’s taken on seven full-time staff members and leased more flex-office space.
A boom in short-term furnished office leasing that developed since the pandemic appears to be here to stay, says Ashley Dere, a vice-president of corporate real estate company Colliers Canada. As office vacancies increased owing to hybrid work, companies that specialize in co-working and private office facilities have moved in. Landlords have also been converting vacant office floors into furnished suites that can be rented by the year, or even on an hourly basis, Ms. Dere says.
“We’re seeing growth in flexible office leases by the tech sector, artificial intelligence and international companies that want to get their foot in the door in Canada, but don’t know how fast they will grow. Established companies are also taking on flexible office space not just in one location but several suburban locations. This helps them with employee retention and also in hiring new people living in places that aren’t easily accessible to the downtown office.”
Rocky Kim waits for a client in the lobby of The Innovation Centre in Kelowna. The founder of Rocky Kim Law Corp., this past summer moved into a furnished office in the building owned by global co-working firm Spaces.Spaces/Supplied
While co-working spaces with multiple desks in an open concept continue to be popular, there’s a growing demand for closed offices that offer privacy and the ability to concentrate, Ms. Dere says. Colliers represents Quebec flexible office company Hedhofis, which has expanded from five locations to 12 since 2022. While 59 per cent of its private offices are for companies between one and eight people, 19 per cent of the leases are corporate suites for companies with 10 to 50 employees.
The flexible workspace market is estimated to grow by 600 per cent by 2030, with 30 per cent of office space evolving into hybrid workspace, forecasts market leader International Workplace Group (IWG), which has a global portfolio of 5,000 locations in 122 countries, with 14 flexible office brands including Regus, Spaces, HQ and Signature.
About 80 per cent of new IWG locations globally are opening in smaller towns and suburbs, closer to where people live, says Mark Dixon, chief executive and founder of IWG. In Canada, the 28 openings outside of financial districts since 2021, include St. Catharines and Cambridge, Ont., Sherbrooke, Que., Medicine Hat and Red Deer, Alta., and a soon-to-be opened location in Bracebridge, Ont. Two new locations have just been added in Moncton, joining IWG’s 160 locations coast-to-coast.
Employee demand to work closer to where they live has been a principal driver of the widespread uptake of flexible work spaces, Mr. Dixon says. IWG research found that only 21 per cent of employees would take a new job that requires a daily commute of longer than 30 minutes, while 60 per cent want to work within 15 minutes of home.
A meeting room in one of the flexible offices owned by global co-working firm Spaces. Its parent company IWG reports that about 80 per cent of its new locations globally are opening in smaller towns and suburbs, closer to where people live.IWG/Supplied
Hybrid work can also promote productivity. A survey this year of 1,003 Canadian hybrid workers by Mortar Research for IWG found 44 per cent reported taking fewer sick days thanks to having more flexibility over how and where they work.
Mortar’s survey of 409 Canadian senior leaders found 74 per cent acknowledged that hybrid work has led to improved productivity and a more engaged work force owing to flexible work arrangements.
Transitioning away from expensive city centre office spaces toward models that use smaller regional offices and co-working buildings can reduce overheads. The IWG research found 44 per cent of CEOs reduced their traditional leased office space by 25 per cent or more since the pandemic, leading to lower energy consumption and operational costs.
Robert Half’s new benefits and perks survey of more than 400 HR managers in Canada found that 53 per cent of employers plan to continue to offer hybrid work options to those in leadership roles. An additional third of employers offer hybrid options to all regular employees regardless of seniority.
The staffing company’s database in the third quarter of 2025 shows 28 per cent of new professional job postings across Canada were hybrid and 11 per cent were fully remote.
For startups, the advantage is agility as businesses grow. Kelowna proved to be an underserved market for law services, and Mr. Kim is planning to expand his flex-office footprint further as he plans to join with a partner and change the name of the firm to Imperium LLP in the coming months. “I don’t know how I would have facilitated this kind of growth any other way,” Mr. Kim says.