City barely surviving, while regions thriving
Lambton Quay in May last year:
Thousands of public servants are working from home for what could be months, stifling any post-lockdown pick-up for central Wellington businesses.
But the central city’s loss is already paying off for satellite centres such as Ka¯ piti, Porirua, and Hutt Valley – all of which have seen a big boost in spending as people stay local.
Wellington City councillor Nicola Young, with the associate economic development portfolio, understood that many government departments were not expecting staff fully back till between October and Christmas.
The civil service had been the ‘‘lifeblood’’ of the city for years, she said.
‘‘I’m really concerned about the heart of our city.’’
Dot Loves Data has worked the early numbers. Commuter numbers into the central city are down by 30 per cent, while spending is down between 18.7 per cent and 30.1 per cent.
The numbers were much worse for sectors such as hospitality and accommodation.
Dot Loves Data government director Justin Lester, Wellington’s former mayor, said nobody could be certain when things would return to normal.
But even then, many offices were looking at having staff working from home two or three days per week.
This could easily last the rest of the year – and for some permanently.
On average, 40,000 people commuted to the central city daily. If this dropped by one-third, there would be ramifications for the city – be it cheaper rent for businesses, some closing, and others moving to smaller cities such as Porirua or the suburbs.
Porirua had seen a 29.3 per cent rise in consumer spending compared with the same time in 2019, while Upper Hutt was up 26.2 per cent, Kapiti was up 14.9 per cent, and Masterton was up 24.5 per cent.
Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Milford said it was hard to tell if a drop to alert level 1 would allow offices to open fully.
‘‘I think the new norm will definitely see more people working from home than the old norm did.’’
Stuff asked a series of big government departments when they planned to have staff return in full. Most would not give a definite answer but did paint a picture of how many staff were staying home.
Inland Revenue has slashed its number of staff working in central city offices from 2200 to 214 and says the arrangement will be in place for ‘‘some time’’.
The Ministry of Health has 40 per cent of its staff working in its Molesworth St headquarters. A survey of staff members found 79 per cent would like to continue with a mixture of working from home and the office.
The Department of Corrections has about 1000 staff members who usually work in its central Wellington office but most are staying home for now. The Ministry of Education has just a third of its 1450 staff back at its Bowen St base but was gradually getting staff back in from home.
Police usually have about 1000 staff at the Molesworth St headquarters, but this was down to about 500 in level 2. The Wellington City Council has 618 of its 1008 staff working across two locations and planned to bring most back in at level 1.
The Greater Wellington Regional Council has about half its 700 staff members working from home with no plans for a full return at any of the Covid-19 alert levels.
An anti-urban drift could push up regional spending at the expense of central Wellington, with workers reluctant to return to offices.
Work from home is being encouraged, while one council is even looking at setting up a hot-desking workspace for residents wanting to avoid the daily commute to the big smoke.
South Wairarapa mayor Alex Beijen said many regular commuters were in talks with their employers about changing to flexible work arrangements.
‘‘People are talking with their companies about not having to go into Wellington every day. Potentially that is a very good work-life balance step to take.’’
The council was investigating providing hot-desking facilities in its towns for people who ‘‘cannot work at home but who do not want to commute to Wellington’’.
Usually by the time the Wairarapa morning trains to Wellington were at Featherston, commuters were lucky to get a seat. Now, barely one in three seats were occupied.
Porirua mayor Anita Baker said she thought people were shopping more regardless of where they worked, particularly via delivery services during the lockdown, ‘‘because they had nothing to do’’.
She said the lockdown had shown people that working from home was a definite possibility.
Ka¯piti Chamber of Commerce chairwoman Jacinda Thorn said she hoped employers could be convinced to allow more work from home.
‘‘So we might see some of this growth over a longer period of time.’’
Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce chief executive Helen Down believed the ‘‘shop local’’ spending was a result of latent demand and expected spending would flatten off.
‘‘I’m really concerned about the heart of our city.’’
Nicola Young City councillor