The Halifax Chamber of Commerce is calling for a hybrid work model requiring municipal workers to be in office three to four days a week to “help stimulate the downtown area” as it recovers from three years of COVID-19.
“Halifax Regional Municipality is one of the biggest employers in the city with roughly 3,600-5,000 employees, and their current flexible work guidelines require staff to be in the office a minimum of two days a week,” the chamber said in its municipal pre-budget submission for the 2023-24 year.
The chamber said having a three-to-four-day flexible hybrid work policy “would be an easy and affordable policy that could further help our downtown recovery.”
Patrick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, estimated this change would lead to $2 to $4 million in increased spending downtown.
“Downtowns are the core of our economy, particularly Halifax’s economy,” he said.
“We’d like (workers) to come downtown three to four days a week, frankly, to spend more money. To spend more money on restaurants, and in shops. Anything to stimulate that downtown economy.”
Sullivan said while COVID-19 changed the way people work, “it’s time for people to get back to the office.”
Mary Ellen Planetta, owner of Elle’s Bistro on Barrington Street, told Global News she’s “very excited” about the recommendation.
“(Since COVID-19,) lunch has really gone downhill, especially in the winter when the tourists aren’t around anymore,” she said.
“Having people back in the office, at least on a semi-regular basis, would definitely help things.”
Mary Ellen Planetta says she supports the chamber’s recommendation to increase in-office days for municipal workers.
Megan King/Global News
Prior to the pandemic, Planetta said Elle’s Bistro was often busy during lunch, for both in-person dining and takeout.
Last winter, she said the business “barely survived” due to a lack of office workers and tourists.
“It was just enough to keep the lights on,” she said.
Since then, business has started “trickling back,” she said, but Planetta estimates lunchtime customers are still down by about 50 per cent from pre-COVID-19 levels.
“We wish the people would come back to the offices,” she said. “We need people in the offices, we need people walking the streets, filling these roles.”
Geoffroy Chevallier of Le French Fixe Patisserie also said his business relies on downtown workers taking their lunch breaks.
He said he would support a hybrid work model for municipal staff that would see office workers returning for three or four days a week.
“That will definitely make a better daily downtown,” he said. “I think that’s a good idea.”
A spokesperson for Halifax Regional Municipality could not be reached for comment Monday.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
