Montreal, October 12, 2022
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The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal unveiled this morning the results of its latest exclusive survey on the situation downtown. The Chamber is also launching its new advertising campaign today as part of its "I love working downtown" initiative. The campaign, entitled "It only happens downtown ," targets workers and employers and highlights the benefits of working downtown and the opportunity for unexpected experiences.
The Chamber's survey provides an up-to-date picture of the pace of worker return and provides data on how companies evaluate hybrid work. Here are the main findings:
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The pandemic has had a considerable impact on the organization of work, and hybrid modes are well established within companies.
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81% of workers are back in the office at least once a week, up from 47% a year ago. This is good news for downtown traffic.
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Of the workers who come to the office, 63% come 1-3 days a week, 9% come 4 days a week and 28% come 5 days a week.
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From a company perspective, 46% of companies have a return plan that requires at least one day per week of office attendance, while 44% allow employees to determine when they come in.
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Full time attendance work will not be preferred in the near future. Of the 46% of companies that require some attendance, 93% respond that they will require 1-3 days of attendance by the holidays. Only 4% of these companies are considering requiring 5 days a week attendance.
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While the majority of managers are comfortable with hybrid work schedules, there are some issues that concern them. First, 29% are concerned about a loss of productivity due to telecommuting. When asked to rank their concerns, 52% identified loss of team spirit, 32% identified loss of commitment, and 25% identified lack of collaboration among colleagues.
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From the perspective of downtown businesses and transit agencies, the current situation poses particular challenges. Few respondents prefer to come downtown on Fridays (22%) and Mondays (38%), suggesting a very high concentration of customers on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with all the challenges of work organization and profitability that this implies.
"On the whole, these findings point to an ongoing rebalancing of the organization of work. It is still too early, in our opinion, to conclude how many workers are present in the downtown area each day. Several employers tell us that they are hoping for an overall move back to attendance at the rate of three or four days per week. The Chamber will continue to mobilize public decision-makers and key leaders in the business community to create the conditions that will facilitate such a return," said Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.
"We are also proud to launch our new "I like to work downtown" campaign, produced with the support of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation. As our survey clearly shows, the majority of companies now prefer the hybrid mode and workers are back in large numbers, a few days a week. While telecommuting offers some benefits, it is clear that being in the office creates a lot of value for both companies and employees. Our campaign highlights the wealth of unexpected experiences that await workers who leave their homes to meet their colleagues downtown. It emphasizes the pleasure of unexpected encounters that nourish the quality of life of workers and at the same time can accelerate their careers. This campaign will be deployed over the next six months," concluded Michel Leblanc.
The survey data collection was conducted between September 12 and 23, 2022, on a sample of 609 executives and employees of companies working on the island of Montreal.
To read the survey highlights,
consult the document
(in French only) on the Chamber's website.
To learn more about the campaign and to view the animated vignettes created by Audrey Malo, visit the
website
the Chamber's website.
About the “I love working downtown” initiative
“I love working downtown” is an initiative of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal carried out with support from the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation. Its objective is to accelerate the relaunch of downtown Montréal.
About the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM)
With a network of over 8,000 members, the CCMM is active on two fronts: being the voice of the Montréal business community and delivering specialized services to businesses and their representatives. With its finger on the pulse of current events, it acts on issues that are decisive for the prosperity of the city’s businesses. With the support of the Acclr experts, the CCMM’s goal is to accelerate the creation and growth of businesses of all sizes, at home and around the world.
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Source :
Jean-Baptiste Portrait
Press Officer
Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal
Tel.: 514-669-6768
jbportrait@ccmm.ca
Facebook : www.facebook.com/chambremontreal
Twitter : @chambremontreal
To continue the discussion: #ccmm