Canada outpaces the United States in a newly released survey detailing the top countries for remote work.
In its Global Remote Work Index, cybersecurity company NordLayer evaluated 108 countries and found Europe dominates. The top five countries are: Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Sweden. Canada ranks at 14 as the best country globally and two places lower compared to last year’s data.
This index measures four main dimensions: cybersecurity, economics, infrastructure, and, since this year, a new addition—social safety criteria—to ensure the quality of remote work. The index serves as way of improving a work model of which many people are advocates.
“Even though some of the big tech companies recently brought their employees back to the office or introduced a hybrid work model, remote work is here to stay,” says Donatas Tamelis, managing director at NordLayer. “It’s not just a trend — it is a fundamental shift in how we approach productivity and work-life balance. Embracing remote work empowers our teams to harness their full potential, regardless of geographical boundaries.”
Where does Canada stand?
Canada ranked third for economic safety (cost of living, etc.) and performs well in digital and physical infrastructure at spot 15.
The country also ranks 21 for social safety. Looking at social and physical security aspects of working and living remotely, this criteria combines the components of overall safety from crimes within a country with metrics evaluating equity and access to human rights.
Overall, Canada is ranking relatively well across the board, with the majority of its rankings falling between 10 and 20 places. The only significant negative exceptions are the cost of living (83), internet affordability (49), and overall safety (50).
However, for cybersecurity, while Canada’s overall ranking falls short (32), it ranks very well in terms of cybersecurity infrastructure (5). Both legislation-wise (18) and response capacity-wise (12) the country is faring relatively well. Work continues on the legislative side, with last year’s passing of Bill C-26, which is expected to enact an extensive framework of cybersecurity regulation to cope with the new challenges.
Both Canada and the U.S. are performing similarly in terms of cyber safety (32 and 33, respectively) and economic safety (3 and 2), however, the U.S. (6) is doing slightly better than Canada (15) with digital and physical infrastructure. This is predominantly due to a major difference in terms of internet affordability. The only area in Canada that slightly dominates is e-infrastructure.
Remote work exposes security risks
Tamelis recommends practicing several cybersecurity practices with remote work in mind:
- Always use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN encrypts your internet connection and helps protect your personal information from prying eyes. It is especially crucial when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks.
- Also, ensure that all your devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops, have the latest software updates installed. These updates often include security patches that can help protect against known vulnerabilities.
- Be cautious with public Wi-Fi and avoid accessing sensitive information such as online banking or entering passwords on public Wi-Fi networks unless you are using a VPN. Hackers can easily intercept data on unsecured networks.
- Enable two-factor authentication whenever possible for your email accounts, social media profiles, and other online services you use while traveling. This adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification during login.
- Use strong and unique passwords. Create strong passwords for each of your online accounts and avoid using the same password across multiple platforms. Consider using a password manager like NordPass to securely store and generate complex passwords.
To see the full list of rankings, The Global Remote Work Index can be accessed here.
