Winnipeg Construction X

[cllew]

Originally Posted by plrh

It's a taxable benefit. I probably get paid less as a result of having it.

And if you get subsidized parking at work that is also a taxable benefit.

[pacman]

Permanent 100% WFH will never be the default and will always be the exception. Hybrid/flexible options will absolutely grow and become more and more common. My experience is that there is only a small segment of the workforce that can successfully achieve a good work/life balance when they are 100% WFH and for those people it will remain important going forward, but I find a lot of people thinking that WFH would be fantastic and end up missing certain aspects of the separation of work and home. Those people will end up striving for the hybrid model or going back 100% to the office.

I agree with Vike that companies are more flexible right now because of the difficulty hiring/retaining good people, but I don't expect that to be permanent.

Speaking as someone in my 40s who has coworkers in all age ranges I don't see age as a primary indicator of people's attitudes. There are a lot of older people who love the WFH idea and are very productive. I also know younger people who simply can't focus at home with the young kids around/dinner duties/picking up kids from school etc... that find the day more difficult and broken up and end up working in the evenings just to catchup since they weren't as productive as they would've been 9-5 in the office.

Again, everyone is different so it won't be one size fits all, but I think people predicting a sweeping change to 100% WFH that will leave office buildings as ghost towns are unrealistic.

[trueviking]

Sidewalk closed on Bannatyne. Very exciting.

[T'Cona]

Yes indeed

[zalf]

Is there any known schedule for this? Closing the sidewalk seems like something is immanent, but with winter racing towards us, I expect we won't see concrete until spring.

[esquire]

Anyone know what's been going on at 52 Albert St.? That's the building that I believe was owned by the recently deceased internet pharmacy kingpin, and it was kind of left to linger for a number of years. It looks like some work is being done with new windows going on, including some new ones punched through the walls.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by esquire

Anyone know what's been going on at 52 Albert St.? That's the building that I believe was owned by the recently deceased internet pharmacy kingpin, and it was kind of left to linger for a number of years. It looks like some work is being done with new windows going on, including some new ones punched through the walls.

Conversion to residential.

[trueviking]

cool...i hadn't hears anything about that.

[esquire]

Nice to see some movement there. For a brief while in the early 00s, Albert was kind of ground zero for the Exchange's revitalization. It lost a lot of steam a few years later when the Albert became a mess, the St. Charles was basically abandoned and 52 Albert fell into some kind of stasis when that guy bought it and did nothing with it.

[plrh]

Originally Posted by cllew

And if you get subsidized parking at work that is also a taxable benefit.

And mobile phones. I pay my share.

[WestEndWander]

Originally Posted by dmacc

I would echo this sentiment as well. I have a 2 year old and 2 months old. Day care is 5 minutes away from the house. 4-7 is game time in my house hold with pick up, dinner, baths and put downs happening in that time. Now, I can come upstairs, go get my kid while wife wakes up the other from nap. Then one entertains and the other cooks and after dinner we can double team put downs. If I left work early to help out during the day I can go back down and finish up some work before relaxing with the wife.

This is the work life balance that I speak of that many people experienced during the pandemic and are not quick to want to give up.

Life. You actually got to enjoy and live it it as opposed to dashing out the door to battle traffic and elevator crowds and lunch crowds and rush hour home crowds. There was balance and it was good.

People aren't into doing the daily the race anymore and I get it.

[trueviking]

so many of the arguments i hear for working from home is that i'm able to do things that are not work during the day....which i get....but also why I think eventually people will be pushed back to the office....i agree about the young mothers point...i have the same experience in my office....that leads to a larger discussion than WFH.

other than gaining time form an average 25 minute commute, shouldn't you be focused on working in those hours anyways.

As shown in the comment above, It seems like so much of the WFH discussion is about hating the commute (which is ironically what i missed the most when i was at home, because i don't drive)...it makes me wonder, that if commuting is so terrible, why do so many people not consider their commute when they choose a place to live....seems like solid surface countertops is more important than how far they need to drive....driving does suck...so why not do less of that instead of sitting alone all day just to avoid it.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

As shown in the comment above, It seems like so much of the WFH discussion is about hating the commute (which is ironically what i missed the most when i was at home, because i don't drive)...it makes me wonder, that if commuting is so terrible, why do so many people not consider their commute when they choose a place to live....seems like solid surface countertops is more important than how far they need to drive....driving does suck...so why not do less of that instead of sitting alone all day just to avoid it.

I know you have mentioned this before, but unless you move to a place downtown or within easy walking distance of downtown (Osborne Village, West Broadway, West End, Old St. B., etc.), you are stuck with a commute. It is the act of getting out of downtown and surrounding area that takes the longest... going over a bridge or through an underpass generally means you are crawling along for a long time in bottleneck traffic. Once you get to the streetcar suburbs, it only takes a marginal amount of time to drive out from there to the edge of the city.

For example: I used to live in Riverview, on Morley Ave. Coincidentally, Morley is where traffic jams typically start and end along Osborne during the AM and PM rush. I ended up moving to St. Vital and even though I'm twice as far from downtown as I was before, I only added about seven minutes to my commute. Traffic moves smoothly once you get into South Osborne, it's the part around Confusion Corner/the Village that takes forever.

I mean, I guess I could move back downtown but I am going to have a hell of an uphill battle convincing my wife to go for that.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by trueviking

cool...i hadn't hears anything about that.

it was post on here a yr or 2 ago that was the plans even a freepress artical if i recall

[trueviking]

some fun facts for the WFH discussion....64% of downtown workers are currently back in the office, with 24% of those in a hybrid.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

some fun facts for the WFH discussion....64% of downtown workers are currently back in the office, with 24% of those in a hybrid.

So on any given day, slightly more than half of workers are back in their offices downtown.

Of course, that didn't stop the parking garage near my office from raising its rates... the damn thing is half full nowadays, I guess they figure they have a captive market with whoever is still left.

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by trueviking

so many of the arguments i hear for working from home is that i'm able to do things that are not work during the day....which i get....but also why I think eventually people will be pushed back to the office....i agree about the young mothers point...i have the same experience in my office....that leads to a larger discussion than WFH.

other than gaining time form an average 25 minute commute, shouldn't you be focused on working in those hours anyways.

As shown in the comment above, It seems like so much of the WFH discussion is about hating the commute (which is ironically what i missed the most when i was at home, because i don't drive)...it makes me wonder, that if commuting is so terrible, why do so many people not consider their commute when they choose a place to live....seems like solid surface countertops is more important than how far they need to drive....driving does suck...so why not do less of that instead of sitting alone all day just to avoid it.

For me working from home provides greater flexibility in my working hours. I can take an hour or two away from the computer but then make it up in the evening or weekend. That flexibility provides efficiencies in my work due to the nature of processing data. I’d be less willing to do things in the evening or weekend with the requirement of also being in the office daily.

I personally have yet to return to the office at all, and I was working full time from the office pre-pandemic. I do tend to agree that there may be a slow shift to people working more and more from the office.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by esquire

I know you have mentioned this before, but unless you move to a place downtown or within easy walking distance of downtown (Osborne Village, West Broadway, West End, Old St. B., etc.), you are stuck with a commute. It is the act of getting out of downtown and surrounding area that takes the longest... going over a bridge or through an underpass generally means you are crawling along for a long time in bottleneck traffic. Once you get to the streetcar suburbs, it only takes a marginal amount of time to drive out from there to the edge of the city.

For example: I used to live in Riverview, on Morley Ave. Coincidentally, Morley is where traffic jams typically start and end along Osborne during the AM and PM rush. I ended up moving to St. Vital and even though I'm twice as far from downtown as I was before, I only added about seven minutes to my commute. Traffic moves smoothly once you get into South Osborne, it's the part around Confusion Corner/the Village that takes forever.

I mean, I guess I could move back downtown but I am going to have a hell of an uphill battle convincing my wife to go for that.

Sure but adding 7 minutes to your commute is increasing it by one-third....the average commute is 23 minutes.....65% of Winnipeggers have a driving commute less than 29 minutes....25% less than 15 minutes...

and if you want to get rid of traffic altogether and enjoy the sunlight and get some exercise....48% of winnipeggers live within a 15 minute bike ride of downtown (5kms)...85% live within a 30 minute bike ride (10km)

[drew]

...or move into sunny Wolseley and your 30 minute commute is on foot.

[trueviking]

I loved living in wolseley....bike, walk...never worried about tht e bus schedule, just walk to portage and get on the first one.

This whole discussion shows how backwards winnipeg is...esquire is not alone in his feelings....the perceived only options are live downtown or in a distant suburb, because the idea of living near the centre of the city is unthinkable (except for a handful of neighbourhoods)....where in most cities, living near the centre is impossible or unaffordable because there's so much demand....people are forced out to the suburbs so they can afford housing....“drive until you qualify”.....here you can get house for cheap near the centre but nobody wants to live there.