work life balance toronto

Toronto was just ranked one of the best cities in the world for work-life balance

A comprehensive study of work-life balance in 100 cities all over the world has revealed Toronto to be one of the most balanced of all global economic hubs.

Yeah, I don't get it either — but I can't say the researchers weren't thorough.

The 'Cities with the Best Work-Life Balance 2022' study from Kisi, an iOT company that seems to specialize in remote physical security systems, uses data to "identify the best cities for work-life balance based on Work Intensity, Society and Institutions, and City Liveability."

The study looks at more than 130 data points across three overarching categories; things like average vacation days taken, unemployment rates, parental leave, multiple jobs, city safety, affordability, wellness, access to healthcare, access to mental healthcare et cetera.

Data was sourced from "international organisations, NGO reports, open access datasets, public surveys and crowdsourcing platforms," according to Kisi. "Significant outliers and missing data at city level were inferred from national statistics."

"The city selection consists of 51 US cities, as well as 49 global cities that were shortlisted for analysis as global economic hubs," reads a report on the study, specifying that all of the cities "are renowned for their employment opportunities and lifestyle offerings."

"The results reveal how cities have compared over the last few years when vaccination rates were still low and mobility was more difficult. Rather than being a liveability index or a ranking of the best cities to work in, the study seeks to show which cities provide the healthiest work-life balance for their citizens."

You can read the whole thing right here and I suggest that you do. It's fascinating. Or you can look at the Top 20 ranking below to see that Toronto took 19th place overall.

Toronto came in at spot number seven overall for "overworked population. This is defined as "the percentage of full-time employees working more than 48 hours per working week in each city."

We took fourth place for access to mental health care, and 12th for parental leave.

toronto ranking

Sorry it's so small. It was a really big graph. Image via getkisi.com.

Nineteen out of 100 isn't bad. We're in the fifth percentile. Life is hard everywhere, I guess.

Ottawa, the nation's capital, came in seventh overall. Vancouver was 16th.

Unsurprisingly, the city with the best work life balance in the world is Scandinavian: Oslo, Norway took home the top spot, followed by Bern, Swizerland and Helsinki, Finland.

Lead photo by

Clement Lo


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