Despite Omicron and the sixth wave of COVID-19, 68% of workers have returned to the city center in hybrid mode, which is higher than the forecasts made last February, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM) reported on Thursday. . It even expects that next September, all of the employees will be back downtown, part-time in many cases.
The president of the Chamber, Michel Leblanc, indicated that these estimates were taken from a survey conducted by the organization among its members. He recalled that the proportion of workers in the city center had increased from 47% last August to 61% in November 2021. With the end of compulsory teleworking in February, the CCMM expected this rate to hover around 60% in may June. “However, the count we made last week brings us more to 68%, which gives the measure of the comfort with which people came back. But it’s very hybrid. It could mean one day a week,” he explained.
For the month of September, the Chamber of Commerce even predicts that 100% of workers will be back in the city center, in a hybrid mode.
Teleworking, which will continue, however, risks having economic consequences for the city centre. “We expect the expense to be 14% lower than it was,” acknowledged Mr. Leblanc.
Michel Leblanc revealed these data during a press conference held Thursday in the presence of the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, and the Minister responsible for the Metropolis, Chantal Rouleau. They confirmed financial assistance totaling $16.5 million that will be shared by the Ville de Montréal, the CCMM and the Société de développement commercial du centre-ville de Montréal to stimulate the economic recovery of the economic heart of Montreal, battered by the pandemic.
This amount comes from the $50 million envelope announced in the November 2020 economic update to support the relaunch of downtown Montreal and Quebec City.
Further details will follow.