The president of Groupe Mach, one of the largest private owners of office space in Quebec, is calling on governments to live up to their responsibilities and order a full return of all civil servants to offices as soon as possible.
“As large employers, governments have a role to play,” the president said. They have a duty to intervene and lead by example by requiring employees to return to the office three to four days a week, as is the case in the private sector. »
Vincent Chiara, founding president of Groupe Mach, spoke to a packed house at the Canadian Club of Montreal on Monday. His message was addressed to the governments of Quebec and Canada as well as to the province's main municipalities, starting with those of Montreal and Quebec.
2001 McGill College, home of Prime Minister François Legault's Montreal office, is owned by Groupe Mach. “Photo provided by Mach Group”
“I don’t know who has the authority to order these employees to return to the office, whether they work for the municipal, provincial or federal government. But someone in management should definitely take the initiative and ask employees to return, he argued on the sidelines of his speech. And this is in the interests of the employees and the entire population.”
Loss of productivity
Office towers in major cities across the country continue to experience poor occupancy rates. Montrealers are no exception, with potentially dramatic consequences for their values and the reduction of their property taxes to municipalities.
The president of Mach considers himself lucky that he always benefits from an official occupancy rate of around 90% by signing rental agreements over long periods of time. However, he complains that the floors of his towers are rarely occupied by more than 45% or 50%.
1100 René-Lévesque Ouest in Montreal is also part of Groupe Mach. “Photo provided by Mach Group”
He claims that this situation has consequences that go far beyond the financial interests of the real estate companies. They have a negative impact on both the health of companies and employees. “These teleworkers need to be protected,” he said. Your mental health depends on it.”
Citing studies from MIT and the University of Chicago, the businessman recalled that in addition to affecting workers' mental health, team spirit and employees' sense of belonging to their organization, company productivity also fell by 20% compared to before the pandemic .
The virtues face to face
“It was clear that it would come to this,” he said. Offices were designed to be stimulating and motivating places for employees. The residences were designed to be places of relaxation where we like to meet when we don’t want to work.”
In short, it was only a matter of time before the natural functions of each of these places were restored. Large American companies like JP Morgan, Amazon and even Zoom, whose bread and butter rely on telecommuting, quickly caught on to this and require their employees to be physically present at work.
The former Radio-Canada tower and all surrounding parking lots were purchased by the Mach Group to develop a residential and commercial complex called Quartier des Lumières. Joël Lemay / QMI Agency
The same would apply in Montreal to the Montreal Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce (CCMM) and BCE, which require a minimum presence in the office of three to four days per week, including necessarily a Monday or Friday.
Although slower than in the United States and the rest of the country, the return of the pendulum should also be seen in Quebec, Mr. Chiara remains convinced. The latter also assumes that physical presence will be given more value in the future.
“In the future, we will ensure that salaries, bonuses and promotions are linked to office attendance,” he said. Obtaining and maintaining positions could also be linked to presence in office.”
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