‘Office jobs are not the only jobs’: More Hub readers respond to the work-from-home phenomenon

Here at The Hub we are convinced that delays in getting back to the office and now the rise of so-called “quiet quitting” risk having significant consequences for individual Canadians, the economy, and our broader society that need to be better understood and debated.

We recently ran an editorial that made the case for getting back to the office, but we don’t want to have the last word on the subject. We put out the call for Hub readers to respond with their own experiences and are delighted to share the latest sample of comments and feedback. We will continue to share your feedback as it comes in.

If you would like to tell us about your own empty office experience or contribute to this discussion, please email us at editorial@thehub.ca or contact us anonymously via our online submission form.

Office jobs are not the only jobs

Reading your articles it seems that office jobs are the only jobs there are. Most people do NOT work in offices. They have to be at the workplace, be it construction, retail sales staff, health-care workers, all manner of service providers, truck drivers, factory workers, farmers, etc.

But day after day you whine about office people working from home. Those of us who do not work in offices begin to think we are not regarded as part of the workforce.

Health workers didn’t have a choice

Health-care workers, early childcare educators, and seniors homes with personal support workers surely did not have the choice to stay home to work. I know that the people doing these jobs are women, many of whom are paid poorly.

Commuting is a pain because our transit sucks

One major reason people in Ottawa do not want to return to the office is simply the new LRT system. Transit time has doubled for people in my neighborhood east of Ottawa. Bus routes that ran across the city every 3-5 minutes during peak hours now run every 15-30 minutes. Buses are frequently (daily for me over the last couple of weeks) late or don’t show up at all. I know of several people who retired early prior to the pandemic just to avoid the pain.

From an environmental standpoint, it makes no sense to move thousands of people to the downtown core to go to work just to move them all back again at the end of the workday. Appropriate city planning should make it possible for more people to work, shop, and be entertained without having to go downtown every day.

Finally, after September 11th, it was understood that a significant portion of an economic sector (in that case, financial) should not be located in the same place. Perhaps our federal government offices should also be disbursed to improve security.