The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, but downtown Winnipeg is starting to get a little busier as more and more employees are returning to work at office buildings in the core area.
According to recent polling commissioned by the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, the numbers of in-office workers are climbing, slowly but surely, two years after the pandemic sent a large percentage of employees to work from home.
“We are seeing recovery downtown is possible and it is happening,” BIZ director Kate Fenske told 680 CJOB’s The Start.
“It’s going to take time, and that’s really why downtown and the businesses and the people here need more support — but we are seeing those numbers and the activity back downtown is trending upwards this spring, so I think that is good news.”
Fenske said the polls, conducted via Probe Research, revealed that about 28 per cent of downtown workers are back working full-time in the city centre — the highest such statistic since the BIZ started tracking in September of 2020.
“We’re seeing that slow trend — it’s a slow return. When talking with employers, they (say they) really are looking at doing a phased-in approach, but it really is gearing up this April and May.”
The survey polled a wide range of downtown businesses, representing more than 10,000 Winnipeg workers, and Fenske said every one of them had a positive outlook toward having in-house workers back on the job in the near future.
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“One hundred per cent of them said they are committed to bringing employees back at least part-time — and I think that’s one of the biggest challenges for small businesses, really trying to understand what that’s going to look like,” she said.
“It’s really difficult to manage staffing and even supplies to prepare… so that’s some of the stuff we’re trying to figure out right now.”
Along with the positive numbers for downtown businesses, the survey says that around one-third of Winnipeggers intend to continue working from home.
Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president Loren Remillard told 680 CJOB that for a revitalization of the city’s core, the focus shouldn’t rest entirely on the return of the downtown office worker.
“We need to make sure that we are having mixed-use development in our downtown — more residential,” he said.
“We’re seeing the benefits, for example, of 300 Main. It’s our new tallest building, a lot of residential units in that place, it’s going to create some vibrancy in that corner — create some 24/7 activity.”
Remillard said the Exchange District is one example of the city turning around an entire neighbourhood, and that Winnipeg can do it again.
“There was a time when the Exchange District was dark at night and there wasn’t a lot of activity.
“Then we started to see the Waterfront redevelopment, we started to see more restaurants in the Exchange District, more residential units.
“Now the Exchange District is alive and vibrant.”