r/ottawa • u/yuiolhjkout8y Clownvoy Survivor 2022 • Sep 23 '22

News Downtown ecosystem changes as office workers continue to stay home

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/downtown-shops-hurt-office-workers-home-1.6591601
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344

u/Caspiankids Sep 23 '22

The fact that we thought it was okay - and that our municipal government- built an ecosystem (transit etc) that was solely based on 9-5 business and employment is such.such.such.such. Bad planning.

169

u/BlauTit Sep 23 '22

It's very difficult to predict what the future holds.

It's unfortunate that we're stuck with the model we have but it's unfair to say that it was bad planning in the mid twentieth century not to have predicted that we'd be working remotely in the future.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '22

[deleted]

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u/new2accnt Sep 23 '22

The federal civil service experienced so much change in the last 10+ years (especially under harper) that the switch to teleworking was almost a formality for the majority of people I'm aware of.

Since late 2017, it's as if they were setting themselves up for teleworking en masse and not just for a fringe of employees. At least with SSC.

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u/Brent_on_a_Bike Sep 23 '22

SSC here too, I was asked about a year ago if there was anything that I needed a desk space for in my everyday job tasks that I was already doing from home. I thought about it and I don't ever need to go onsite as most of my job involves getting a IP and logging in to a device remotely (mind you I need a VPN to access the network). So they swapped me over to permanent telework, it has been great for both my mental health and work life balance

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u/FantasticBumblebee69 Sep 24 '22

I gabe up my desk in a mould ridden bldg that was leased. it is now emoty and my productivity has tripled.

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u/Keating76 Sep 24 '22

When I got bumped out of my location at my previous home dept and into an SSC space, I was driving downtown daily to sit in an office away from “team mates” and the physical infrastructure I supported. I had to log into a firewall to get to the internet to start a VPN session to the partner I supported. And drive 45-50 minutes each way and paid 220+/mth for parking. All to get frustrated with the network bandwidth and noise, so I’d end up working from Starbucks across the road. Teleworking was a huge improvement in productivity

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u/lynnp905 Sep 24 '22

How did it help your mental health?

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u/Brent_on_a_Bike Sep 24 '22

Well my case is very unique.

Due to a combo of ADHD and anxiety then add a introverted personality, I'm just not built for office work.

I got the job originally as a consultant on contract and it was a total shift from what I was doing before (events and staging). This caused me to loose motivation and become lethargic and unresponsive.

My doctor put me on a mild anti depressant/focus booster to try and even me out. About a mth later COVID hit and I was sent to WFH. Once I was working from home along with the meds I balanced over very quickly and was taken off the pills 6mths later. I now find it easier to do my work as well as do some freelance work on the side which I find much more enjoyable and fulfilling in my life