The Victorian Government removed the work from home recommendation in late February, but the slow return of workers has left the hospitality industry frustrated.Â
Just 70 per cent of Melbourne City Council’s workforce have returned to the office, many still on a part time basis, despite promises by the city’s mayor all staff will return “as soon as it is safe to do so”.
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Melbourne restaurant owners in the CBD said the slow return of office workers is hurting business and they want decision makers to lead by example.
David Malaspina, who owns the popular Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar on Melbourne’s Bourke Street, said he’s happy the city is finally starting to bounce back after a world-record 262 days in COVID lockdown but believes there could be more foot traffic during the day.
“We haven’t seen the full return of our workers during the day yet. We’ve seen a lot returning but there are still a lot of our regulars we haven’t seen yet.”
“We just need the office workers back in the CBD during business hours, which will make our city the vibrant place it once was.”
The Victorian Government removed the work from home recommendation in late February – as well as the mask mandate for office workers – but some public sector employees are still being told to work remotely for up to two days per week, according to the Herald Sun.
“Council and Government workers, they should lead the charge. They’re decision makers at the end of the day that make rules we abide by so it would be great to see them grab the bull by the horns and show this is a great place to be and go out afterwards,” Mr Malaspina said.
On February 24 last year, Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the city was aiming to bring all of its workers back into the office as soon as possible.
“As soon as it is safe to do so, the City of Melbourne is committed to having 100 per cent of our workforce return to on-site work,”she said, noting their physical return to workplaces would be a show of confidence in the city economy.
On November 19, Melbourne City Council CEO Justin Hanney said the council was “…actively engaging with city employers to encourage as many of their workers to return to their city offices as soon and as frequently as possible – and this can only happen if we continue to lead by example.”
But by council’s own estimates, only 70 per cent of its more than 1600 staff have returned to the office since COVID restrictions eased and many of them are only coming in on a part time basis. That means about 500 staff are still solely working from home.
The slow post-lockdown revival comes despite the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) flagging it will soon recommend removing the seven-day isolation period for close contacts of positive coronavirus cases.
Infections have skyrocketed in recent weeks due to the latest Omicron BA.2 variant, but the strain is not believed to be as deadly as the original COVID strain.
Max on Hardware Lane General Manager Alan Elkhatib says he understands the practicality of working from home but agrees the CBD needs more office workers.
“This whole pandemic took two years so it will be a slow process getting back to where we were… two to three years to get back to pre-pandemic levels,” he said.
The latest data from the Property Council of Australia shows office occupancy in Melbourne’s CBD was sitting at 15 per cent in February, lower than Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide’s CBD.Â
The Lord Mayor will address CBD revitalisation in a speech to Melbourne Press Club on Wednesday.
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