Employers In Downtown Moncton Address The Future Of Remote Work

MONCTON – A survey conducted by the Southeast Economic Recovery Task Force found two-thirds of companies with offices in downtown Moncton still have most or all of their staff working remotely nine months into the pandemic.

All of those polled plan to implement a hybrid model, in which staff will keep splitting their time between the office and their home.
 
John Wishart, CEO of task force member Chamber of Commerce of Greater Moncton (CCGM), says the findings weren’t surprising, but concerning.
 
“The biggest take away for me was the fact that a lot of them say they’re going to keep a certain percentage of their people working remotely long term,” he said.
 
The survey involved the downtown area’s 14 major office employers. Many of them continue to encourage working from home because of challenges maintaining physical distance and following other public health guidelines at the office. Their staff members also enjoy remote work and are still as productive. For some, the return-to-work decisions are made by head offices in larger cities where Covid-19 is more prevalent.
 
Twelve of the 14 businesses polled say they don’t anticipate layoffs, and 11 don’t expect changes to their office spaces. But in the long run, remote work arrangements could prove challenging for businesses that rely on workers in those offices.
 
A number of the companies surveyed also expressed concern for downtown Moncton’s vitality due to the pandemic, so they’ve encouraged their staff to shop local and spend some personal time downtown.
 
Since March, there have been multiple closures in the downtown core, including Starbucks, and temporarily, Subway and Blue Olive restaurant.
 
“Quite frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some other casualties before the vaccine is fully dispersed,” Wishart said. “And the other impact is that those restaurants, cafés and bars that are still operating have reduced their number of hours. They’ve reduced the number of employees just to try to survive.”
 
Even with the hybrid model, the number of people working in the area during the week will be much fewer. That won’t only impact retail businesses there, but also commercial office spaces.
 
“If, say a company has 50,000 square feet, but only 75 percent of its employees are going to be working there longer-term when their lease is up, will they consider downsizing? What will it do to office lease prices and new building constructions?” Wishart said.
 
Although Moncton’s building permit report for 2020 was overall “very rosy,” Wishart said, the commercial construction side was down significantly – by more than 50 percent. “I think we’ll likely see that for the next year or two.”
 
On the other hand, the increase in residential developments, including new multi-residential buildings in the downtown area, is a bright light, Wishart said.
 
“We need to promote supporting local and supporting your downtown business in a big way,” he said. “But beyond that, we may be seeing the leading edge of a transformation of downtown into more of a residential-commercial neighborhood as opposed to more of a commercial core.”
 
A denser downtown is what the City of Moncton has been aiming for. Following the opening of Avenir Centre in 2018, the city aimed to hit $108-million worth of new developments in the downtown core by 2023. It’s at $90.4-million of that target, city economic development director Kevin Silliker told Huddle.
 
Of the 728 units set to be built in the city based on last year’s building permit data, 248 will be downtown.
 
“I think that’s a sign that more people do want to live downtown. So if we can accomplish that, those numbers of people will help offset the percentage of the workers who won’t be working downtown,” Wishart said.
 
The Task Force’s action plan to help businesses will include a pillar on downtown vitality, Wishart said. It will also focus on helping the hardest-hit sectors, like restaurants, tourism, hospitality and retail, as well as communication, education and advocacy.
 
Wishart said the Chamber thinks it can play a lead role in providing information that businesses may need, educating the public about the importance of supporting businesses, and advocating for support at the federal and provincial levels.
 
The Task Force involves the City of Moncton, City of Dieppe, Expansion Dieppe, Town of Riverview, Town of Sackville, Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, 3+ Corporation, Downtown Moncton Centreville, Working NB, Opportunities New Brunswick and the United Way of Greater Moncton and Southeast New Brunswick.
 
It plans to meet with large companies again to offer more insight into remote work’s impact on the downtown core’s vitality.

https://huddle.today/employers-in-downtown-moncton-address-the-future-of-remote-work/
By Inda Intiar