Many Calgary home workers may never go back to the office
The COVID-19 crisis is transforming the way many Calgarians work.
As some people slowly begin to return to downtown offices with the provincial economy reopening, others are considering a permanent change in where they work.
In a city that already has high office vacancy rates in the core, this is a critical question.
A new survey by the Angus Reid Institute finds almost three in 10 Canadians are working from home because of the pandemic and public health measures designed to stop its spread.
As Alberta continues to reopen the economy, with the second stage of its relaunch beginning Friday, some employers and employees are preparing for a return to the office setting — and many others are attempting to understand the short- and longterm ramifications of working remotely.
The poll found 20 per cent of those surveyed who are toiling from home expect to remain there once the pandemic ends, while slightly more than onethird anticipate going back to the office.
The largest group — 44 per cent — expects it will be a mixture of both approaches going forward.
The online survey of 1,510 Canadians, conducted earlier this week, also found 28 per cent deemed working from home has been great for their productivity, about double the number who believe it’s been awful.
Asked about the effect on their mental health, 16 per cent said the experience has been positive while 15 per cent view it as negative. Just over two-thirds of respondents say it’s been OK working from home.
“Employers themselves, as well as workers, are saying from a productivity standpoint, we have either become more productive or certainly haven’t lost productivity,” institute executive director Shachi Kurl said Thursday.
“The impacts we are seeing on mental health are more mixed and more divided.”
The ability of many employers and employees to quickly transition from an office environment to working at the kitchen table proves it can technically be done in the short run.
News that Canadian-based tech giant Shopify will keep its office shut until next year, and many of its employees will continue working at home beyond that, indicates there could also be a permanent shift underway.
“People have been surprised at how efficiently they’ve been able to run their businesses with a huge percentage of their workforce working remotely,” said Scott Crockatt of the Business Council of Alberta.
“This brings up questions of why do we need to have people in the office, or how much office space do we need … Every business is asking those questions.”
At Transalta Corp., the province’s largest power generator, 625 employees are working from home, while the business — deemed an essential service — also has front-line staff in the field.
The company said Thursday it intends that every corporate employee will return to the office between June 1 and July
31, under stringent cleaning and safety protocols.
The Calgary-based firm is also evaluating the possibility of certain teams or people working permanently from home.
“There are different disciplines where there’s quite a benefit to people working at home,” Transalta CEO Dawn Farrell said on an earnings call last month.
“We also know that there is quite a huge social element to leadership and to work and to how people organize things, which benefits by convening in person,” she added.
“So we do believe that we’ll have what we call a hybrid model … as we go forward here until there’s a vaccine.”
Some employees do prefer working from outside the office and the shift could allow companies to offer more flexibility. It could also reduce the need for renting corporate office space.
Precision Drilling Corp. CEO Kevin Neveu said recently the company will likely start to designate more positions that can be done remotely, giving workers more options.
“Absolutely, no question, we will turn back office space with time,” he said.
For Calgary and other centres with a large number of head offices, this could have ramifications on efforts to fill vacant towers. The city has been struggling with the problem since oil prices collapsed five years ago.
“There’s no doubt it is a grave concern (that) companies will be shedding their office space, based on their experience going through this. It’s really just too early to tell,” said Calgary Economic Development CEO Mary Moran.
“Are you as productive as an organization over the long run? I don’t think many people know.”
According to CBRE Ltd., the vacancy rate in Calgary’s downtown office market during the first three months of the year dipped slightly to 26.5 per cent.
Commercial real estate experts say it’s unclear whether the situation will lead to higher office vacancy rates in the longer run, as some companies that shifted away from individual offices and opted for open-office designs will now require additional space to adhere to social distancing requirements.
“We are still social creatures. Most people aren’t designed to work in isolation in their houses,” added Greg Kwong, CBRE regional managing director.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the issue underscores the need to accelerate civic efforts to fill the downtown in various ways, by getting more people to live and study in the core, and by attracting different kinds of businesses to the area.
He’s not convinced remote working will significantly alter the future of the city’s centre.
“My sense is human beings tend to revert back to the way things were ... and much of the success of Calgary is because of the compact size and the face-toface nature of our downtown,” Nenshi said Thursday.
“My guess is it’s not going to have as much of an impact as others might think it will.”