Struggling downtown Victoria businesses are cheering the eventual return of civil servants to office buildings after the B.C. Public Service announced plans to phase out work-from-home options.
Brook Schaddelee, co-owner of the Dutch Bakery on Fort Street, said the business has been missing the weekday lunch crowd. Schaddelee said sales have been down 25 to 30 per cent during the pandemic.
“It would definitely be beneficial to not just our business but I think every business in downtown to have some office workers back,” Schaddelee said. “And it makes the downtown a bit more vibrant.”
Members of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union have been told to prepare for a return to the office, in some cases on a part-time basis.
“Ministries have now developed workplace adaptations and safe workplace procedures to allow us to continue operating safely while also allowing more employees to return to their regular places of work,” the B.C. Public Service Agency wrote in a 22-page COVID-19 response update. “To accommodate physical distancing requirements, workplaces will likely operate with reduced capacity and modified field duties for a minimum of six to 18 months.”
In a statement, BCGEU president Stephanie Smith said she has asked each ministry’s joint union/management committee to monitor implementation of the back-to-work plan, address safety issues and report any concerns to the union.
The Downtown Victoria Business Association has been calling on the province to encourage public sector workers to return to offices to reinvigorate the economy, said its CEO Jeff Bray. This move, combined with extension of the federal wage subsidy and the revamped commercial rent assistance program could be the “trifecta that could really help keep the majority of businesses downtown going until we get to phase 4 which is a full reopening.”
Bruce Williams, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, said businesses in other areas of the region, such as Sidney’s Beacon Avenue, Oak Bay Avenue and downtown Langford have reported a good flow of customers as people shop and eat out closer to home. “That’s been an upside to [remote working]. The downside is that it has tanked activity downtown and it’s put a real serious challenge in front of many business owners downtown.”
Downtown restaurants and coffee shops are struggling with a drastically reduced lunch crowd and stores are no longer getting the customers who shop during their lunch break or after work, Williams said.
Shane Devereaux, who owns Habit Coffee — which has two locations on Pandora Avenue and in the Atrium building on Yates Street — and the Sherwood Cafe & Bar across from City Hall, said that with so many people working from home, a neighbourhood coffee shop is looking pretty good right now. “We really notice a lack of the normal hustle and bustle that we’re used to. It’s definitely translated into a very significant loss of revenue because we’ve always been focused on the local community and not the tourist side of things.” Devereaux said sales at his businesses are down about 50 per cent.
The agency memo raised concerns about “potential negative impacts to individuals, teams and organizational performance” if employees continue full-time remote working over the long term. “It’s important that we adapt in ways that balance continuing to minimize transmission of the virus with the need to restore some of the benefits of interacting and collaborating in the workplace.”
