Staff told to head to office

CITY of Melbourne council workers have been ordered back to the office full time in a bid to fast track a CBD revival, increasing pressure on Geelong City Hall to follow suit.

Melbourne’s council workers were told to stop working from home and start “practising what they preach” to encourage more people to start travelling back to the city.

City of Melbourne chief executive Justin Hanney said almost 1100 of the council’s 1400 CBD-based workforce had returned, and now attention would turn to the 300 resisting a full-time return to the office.

“City workers are vital to the business community. More people back in the office means more people visiting shops, cafes, restaurants and accessing city services,” he said.

His comments came a fortnight after Geelong council was urged to direct its 860 CBD workers back to their desks for the sake of struggling city traders.

“It would be a huge boost for businesses in the city,” Geelong Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ben Flynn said.

But council powerbrokers were more cautious.

“I think the big four, as I call them – the City of Greater Geelong, the NDIA, WorkSafe and TAC – could direct all their workforces to come back into the city, and that would be the most immediate boost we could get to help the revival of the CBD,” Cr Anthony Aitken said.

“The reality is something different. What COVID has taught those big four businesses, including the city, is that flexible workforce arrangements are actually quite beneficial for productivity and the health and wellbeing of the staff.”