Like many Sydneysiders, Caitlyn Bellis and Emily Wood headed back to the office for the first time in months on Monday. Ms Wood found the commute from Coogee and the earlier start “a bit rough” but both were happy to be back and celebrated with a felafel lunch.
“One of my mates said that work has become quite personal now – people want to do it in their own time and in their own space instead of coming into a shared office,” said Ms Bellis. “But I disagree, I like coming in. I like a mix.”
Back in the office: law firm workers Caitlyn Bellis and Emily Wood reunited in the CBD with a lunch break felafel.Credit: Michael Koziol
After the government ended its recommendation for people to work from home where practical, many companies set February 28 or March 1 as their official “return to the office” date – not necessarily full-time but generally at least three days a week.
With masks no longer needed in the office and trains running to their normal weekday timetable, conditions were ripe for office workers to swarm back to the CBD. But it was a slow burn rather than a huge rush – Mondays tend to be quieter in the city than the middle of the week – and the inclement weather remains an incentive to stay at home.
One building manager at a high-rise office block in the city described the return to work as a “slow burn”. He said the building had hosted two return-to-work celebrations, but occupancy remained very low, and the same was true of every other building manager he knew.
For long-suffering CBD businesses, a stampede would have been better than a trickle, but they’ll take what they can get.
Two Penny Coffee’s “Master G” said trade was picking up but still slower than before COVID.Credit: James Brickwood
“It’s picking up [but] it’s not back to normal yet,” said “Master G”, the barista at Two Penny Coffee, a hole-in-the-wall operation near the George Street entrance of Wynyard station. “It’s going in the right direction, we’ve just got to get there.”
At nearby Hester’s, a popular meeting spot for breakfast and lunch, manager Monica Tyburczy said the pace had “absolutely” picked up, especially for a Monday. “I definitely noticed that it’s busier today. I’m glad they’re back,” she said.
“I definitely noticed that it’s busier today. I’m glad they’re back,” said Monica Tyburczy from Hester’s in Wynyard.Credit: James Brickwood
Another change in people’s behaviour she has welcomed: nobody really wants to talk about COVID-19 any more. “It’s like it never happened,” she said.
But around the corner in Martin Place, Renee Baltov’s Barberhood was still struggling to keep staff occupied. A few weeks ago, Ms Baltov told the government’s Sydney CBD Summit her business had been “decimated” by two years of COVID restrictions; if Monday’s foot traffic was anything to go by, that won’t change any time soon.
Manager Nicole Bou-Samra said bookings were actually down this week, instead of recovering. “We had a lot of our customers talk to us about [how] they didn’t want to come back to work until masks were gone,” she said. “Now masks are gone, they’re still not here.”
Barber Elvis Jones, from Barberhood in Martin Place, where bookings are down this week despite the proclaimed return to the CBD.Credit: James Brickwood
Matt Beattie, who works in the city at student accommodation provider Scape, said his core team had been back in the office since the start of the year “but as of today, it’s basically all guns blazing and everyone’s in”.
Mr Beattie noticed more people, fewer seats and fewer masks on his train from Bondi Junction on Monday morning. And the office fruit bowl – a much-missed casualty of the pandemic – had also made its triumphant return.
“Generally speaking, I think everyone’s pretty happy to be back,” says CBD office worker Matt Beattie.Credit: James Brickwood
A few colleagues, particularly those with children, were keen to retain long-term flexibility in their work patterns, “but generally speaking, I think everyone’s pretty happy to be back”, Mr Beattie said.
Ben Hamer, who runs the “future of work” program at PwC, said the best companies used social events, company conferences or one-on-one meetings to reconnect people with their colleagues, rather than mandating days in the office or trying to lure employees back with tricks and treats.
“While no one is going to turn their nose down at things like free yoga classes and live music, they’re not really going to change behaviour over the longer term,” he said.
For the city’s street homeless, the return of office workers can’t come soon enough. But even then, fewer people are carrying cash these days thanks to the pandemic.
Michael, who sat at the corner of Pitt and Hunter streets on Monday and did not want his surname published, said it now took him all day to raise the $30 or $50 he would have once made by 10am.
“Even if there’s more people around, I don’t make much,” he said. “[But] they buy you a lot of food.”
with Julie Power
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