But assuming Dan does follow Dom’s lead,will the office workers come back?
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Everyone knows someone who says they’re not going back to the CBD because COVID has shown they can do their job from home. But if we let the habits of the past two years become permanent Victoria will be a very different place.
Before COVID,the City of Melbourne’s was the booming engine room of the state’s economy,producing a record $104 billion in gross local product,and was home to almost 500,000 jobs.
The pandemic restrictions caused a rapid decentralisation. If that continues and the CBD’s economy becomes permanently smaller,it is unclear how Victoria is going to replace it.
To put it bluntly our state’s economic trajectory in the absence of a thriving centre is uncertain.
A report released by the Committee for Melbourne this week considered Melbourne’s performance compared to its global counterparts. It found we are still highly dependent on our “world-class” city centre with Greater Melbourne lagging behind.
If we allow that centre to wither,we’re putting our state’s economic future at risk.
If working from home becomes a widespread and permanent habit will also hurt us on an individual level.
Of course,some city workers may be content tapping away from their home offices,but it would leave a generation of young professionals behind. Many employers have found junior staff are the keenest to return,which is unsurprising if your home office is also your share-house bedroom.
Even more so if you’re trying to master a new profession by Zoom.
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We acknowledge that two years of remote learning created difficulties for school and university students. We also need to acknowledge it is unfair to expect young people starting their careers to learn through a screen.
As Virginia Briggs – the leader of Australia’s largest law firm,MinterEllison – said recently:“People have done a terrific job remotely during COVID,but there’s no substitute for that face-to-face learning,that incidental learning from overhearing conversations,being grabbed into a client meeting,so you can see how more senior practitioners perform.”
The good news is there is reason to believe workers will return when restrictions ease. Research by PwC released late last year found a clear majority of the 2000 people surveyed wanted to return to the office.
But to get our city bustling again will require leadership.
And the need for it is urgent. A City of Melbourne survey of businesses last month found almost three-quarters were under “intense distress” or “just surviving”. Over half didn’t feel confident they could stay open for more than three months.
The council has sought to return its own staff,hundreds of whom attended all-staff town hall meetings in person last week.
But Victoria needs leadership from the city’s largest employer.
The Victorian government employed approximately 13 per cent of the pre-pandemic workforce in the city. Last March it said public servants would be encouraged,but not required,to attend their offices three days a week.
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No public data on the level of return was released. But data captured by City of Melbourne pedestrian sensors near public sector workplaces consistently recorded lower activity than the rest of the city after and between lockdowns,suggesting fewer public servants were attending the office compared to other city workers.
The NSW government held three summits to address the urgent issue of CBD recovery. The Victorian government has held none.
At the third summit held last week,Premier Perrottet said “everything’s on the table”,including discounted public transport for people returning to the CBD. He said it was his government’s “civic duty” to bring workers back into the city and “to back business,back people and bring our roaring city back to life”.
As to the return of public servants,he was clear.
“My view is I need to lead by example and have the public service return,” he said.
Will our Premier step up?
Roshena Campbell is a Melbourne City councillor and barrister. She is a member of the Liberal Party. The views expressed are her own and not those of Melbourne City Council.