REGINA — Regina city council has rejected a motion to mandate numerous city employees to work full-time downtown.
Tabled by Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo, if approved, city employees in positions designated as in-office or hybrid would have returned to full-time office work in August unless certain circumstances prevented this. In his remarks, Bezo said Regina workers play a significant role in downtown.
“They frequent restaurants, retail shops and other services. Their daily presence increases foot traffic, supports small businesses and helps create a safe, vibrant and active downtown."
In written submissions, both the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce and Regina Downtown Business Improvement District (RDBID) threw their support behind the idea.
“This will strengthen the public’s perception of downtown as a welcoming, safe, and thriving community for workers, businesses, visitors, and residents. Ultimately, this mandate will build the momentum needed to advance Regina’s downtown as an experience-driven destination,” said RDBID’s statement.
However, Ian Cantello, president of Regina’s Civic Middle Management Association, said there is no evidence suggesting this will benefit downtown.
“To be frank, there is no evidence that it will make any impact at all.”
Tyler Hutchinson, president of CUPE 21, representing Regina civic members, said he personally knows workers who don’t shop downtown.
“There is a limited amount of time that they have to take their lunch; they usually come here, leave and go home.”
Cantello also said city hall does not provide enough suitable spaces for private and confidential conversations already, which would be more challenging if more employees worked fully downtown.
“Privacy rooms aren’t private; if there is anything confidential that needs to be spoken, we’re limited to a few offices on the ground floor.”
With a lack of space, Cantello said it would cost Regina money to find additional office space to rent.
As the proposed mandate affects employees who were previously promised flexible work arrangements, Hutchinson said the issue should be addressed through consultation and discussion.
“It is a fundamental change that would be best handled by bargaining representatives because it is a change in working conditions that they’re under. I don’t think it is appropriate; this is a mandate.”
Benefits of balance
Chris Frohlick, City of Regina chief human resources officer, said a balance of working from home and in the office has benefited the city in the past number of years.
“We’ve seen a decrease in turnover and sick leave, and our employee empowerment and work-life balance engagement scores increase.”
Frohlick also said remote work gives the city an edge when recruiting employees, as Regina can’t compete with other workplaces in terms of benefits.
According to Frohlick, there are currently 351 active city employees on flexible work arrangements out of approximately 3,100 Regina workers.
Of the 351 employees currently working under flexible arrangements, 261 spend part of their time working from city hall.
Most city hall employees with flexible work arrangements work remotely only one or two days per week, Frohlick said. He added that just 15 employees work remotely in place of reporting to city hall.
Senior city officials agreed that flexible work ensures key employees will stay with Regina.
“We suspect that if we’re removing this opportunity, we would see several engineers in particular who would work for consulting firms,” said Deborah Bryden, deputy city manager of city planning and community development.
Overall, the motion was lost in an 8-3 vote, with Ward 1 Coun. Dan Rashovich, Ward 2 Coun. George Tsiklis and Bezo supporting the motion.
During a scrum, Mayor Chad Bachynski explained that any changes to working conditions should be handled by city administration.
“The job of our city manager and our executive leadership team is to work with our staff and our employees on any work arrangements like that.”
