When Remedy Cafe first opened its downtown location in 2013, owner Zee Zaidi described it as the “golden time.”
It lasted for a number of years, but then COVID hit — forcing thousands of people to work from home.
It was more than just a safety measure. Over time a cultural shift occurred, as many people grew to realize they could do their jobs remotely and preferred the home office to the daily commute into a workplace, and all the related costs of leaving the home.
Zaidi hoped for change when people started to return to the office, but said that hope was lost as city workers stayed home many days of the week.
About 3,000 employees that would have been downtown full-time are now working a hybrid model, spending some days at home and others going into the office.
“We always used to get calls to book the table for five people coming for meetings, and then going to have lunch. That was such a beautiful golden time. After this, no one calls, no meetings,” Zaidi said.
He made the decision to close his downtown location on Jasper Avenue.
He hopes mayoral candidates take notice and the new mayor will make changes to see city employees come back to work full-time downtown.
Mayoral candidate Omar Mohammad said City of Edmonton employees should return to the office.
“Numerous studies show that remote work often lowers productivity, reduces collaboration and slows down project delivery,” the former pediatric dentist said.
But it’s not the only tool to revitalize downtown, he said, saying there needs to be housing. Getting people back to work is not about forcing revitalization but about getting work done, Mohammad said, adding that lasting revitalization comes from making downtown a safe, affordable and attractive place to live.
However, the majority of Canadians favour the hybrid work model – with the flexibility of working from home or the office, polling shows.
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Nearly 80 per cent of Canadian employees who were surveyed by Angus Reid for Cisco Canada in 2023 said hybrid work positively impacted their work-life balance, while the same proportion also said flexible work policies directly affect their decision to stay in or leave their job.
In another Angus Reid poll from the same year, 50 per cent of employees in Canada who work from home said they would look for another job if they were asked to return to the office full-time.
Rahim Jaffer said he understands the idea of hybrid but notes downtown city offices are being half used.
He said if you’re going to make Edmonton downtown alive again, employees need to be back five days a week.
“When you have major industries looking at ways to bring people back downtown to support the energy, if the city believes in doing the same thing then it’s incumbent on the staff to show that leadership,” Jaffer said.
Tim Cartmell said he encourages employees to come back, but said there are challenges.
“When you close all the roads and the bridges and you can’t park down here… it’s really hard to actually get people to come down here,” he said. “So there are some things we can do to meet them halfway.
“But enough is enough. It’s time to get our downtown back and those who work for the city share in that responsibility in getting it back.”
Andrew Knack said axing the hybrid model wouldn’t work, and goes against what’s agreed upon between the city and the unions representing city workers. He also stresses this won’t solve the issues downtown.
“Addressing affordability, addressing housing, and addressing safety takes different solutions than simply having more office workers downtown from 8 to 4,” Knack said.
“You need people there in the evening at all times, you need people there overnight, you need a nighttime economy — those are the things that will actually make a difference.”
Tony Caterina said when he was on council in 2020 and city workers started to work from home, it was meant to be temporary.
“The plan was to bring city employees back to the civic tower to work to help stimulate downtown Edmonton’s business’s and also to restore their quality of life in interacting with others,” Caterina said. “As mayor, I will follow through on that plan.”
Michael Walters said as a business owner himself, he brought his employees back full-time to his downtown office and said it contributed to the vibrancy of downtown.
Walters wouldn’t say what he would do for city workers, but said he will have more to say in the coming weeks.
“The City of Edmonton is one of many large employers downtown — including those in the private sector, and other orders of government — which all have a role to play in restoring the vibrancy of our core,” Walters said.
— With files from Saba Aziz, Global News
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