Quote:
Originally Posted by trueviking
Hopefully with Ontario government workers going back to the office, the city and province here, and the feds will all follow suit sooner rather than later. Private industry is back. It’s time for taxpayer funded employees to do the same as their private counterparts. That will help.
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Funny how so many progressives will, on paper (or social media), advocate and lobby for policies to mitigate climate change or say they support the rights of workers. And then along comes a global crisis followed by a unique opportunity (getting ~25% of workers off of roads and working from home) to do exactly that - reduce carbon emissions and save time via less commuting - and boom! many renege on their so-called support of climate change and social issues because a few restaurant owners no longer have people buying $15 sandwiches for lunch and the vibes are off in downtowns because some portion of the 9-5 crowd is at home.
If your sole argument for return to office is to make commercial landlords and core restaurant owners happier under the guise of "enhancing the economy", I've got news for you. The economic impact of work from home is likely a wash, or perhaps even a net benefit, when compared to bringing everyone back.
Let's think this through: what does a 9-5 "government" employee spend their money on if they are commuting instead of working from home?
- Gas: extracted and refined elsewhere and imported into Manitoba, so purchasing more of this to commute only causes more money to flow out of Manitoba
- Parking: again, most surface lots/parkades are owned by corporations that do not have their HQ here (e.g., Impark's HQ is in Florida). So all profits from parking fees go out of province.
- The occasional lunch: Okay sure, this is the only one that would have some sort of marginal local impact. But honestly, I don't really feel sorry for tiny restaurants serving $6 coffees, $15 sandwiches, and $20 salads to a handful of government employees who now find themselves in a precious position because government employees are only in the office 3 days a week instead of 5. Is that extra 2 days really going to be the silver bullet?
Okay, so what happens if employees get to wfh instead of in-office? They save on gas, they save on parking, and they may not buy a lunch downtown. The net impact on Winnipeg and Manitoba's economy depends on what they do with their savings. Maybe they go on vacation? Well then it's a wash because that's exporting money out of MB again. Maybe they buy lunch at a local shop near their house or instead go out on the weekend? Or maybe they just save the money and earn interest? Bad for Manitoba's economy in the short run, but better for it in the long run.
Point is, anyone telling you that wfh "damages" the economy hasn't thought it through and it just being a mouthpiece for the local Chamber of Commerce and/or commercial property owners. The economy isn't worse off because 2 people running a premium sandwich business suddenly finds their potential client base has been reduced by 40%.
Like most businesses, it shouldn't be up to government to subsidize private food and drink establishments; if you can't make it work downtown because workers are only there 60% of the time, pack up shop and re-allocate your capital to a more worthwhile endeavor.
As a society, we have so many problems - including congestion, emissions, stress, and burnout - and it isn't very often we have such a simple solution starting at us right in the face, but lo and behold we found a way to shoot ourselves in the foot once again because commercial property owners have convinced everyone that wfh is less productive and the economy is going to tank because there are less people around to buy overpriced lunches. Absolutely ridiculous logic.
It goes to show that as a society, we will never move past the major issues that are before us because even when the simplest solutions with low costs are presented to us, we reject them either because we don't directly benefit from them (why should they get to work from home when I have to head to my job at the construction site every day), or because ultra-wealthy people convince us it's a bad idea to keep maximizing their profits and avoid disturbing the system that got them to where they are today. If we cannot embrace this one simple change that costs us virtually nothing as a society, how are we going to embrace many of the other, more costly changes that will be required to avoid climate catastrophe? The answer is we won't. We're just going to keep heading down this path.
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