PORTLAND, Ore. — As COVID restrictions fall, businesses are planning their return to work. Among them are dozens of government agencies that have offices in downtown Portland.
They're putting finishing touches on plans to bring thousands of workers back, in turn helping restore the city's core. Some agencies have already laid out their timelines.
Never before has Gayle Ostling appreciated seeing people downtown so much. Smack dab in the middle of city, county and federal buildings, her restaurant Portland Kettle took a hit when public workers left offices in droves last year.
"Our schedule fits theirs. And there's a reason for that. They're close and there's a lot of them. So they're a big part of our business," Ostling said.
As government agencies slowly bring employees back, business is picking up — not just for Portland Kettle, but for all of downtown.
"The overall importance of public sector return to the office is key piece of downtown recovery," Portland Business Alliance president and CEO Andrew Hoan said. "We know we need office workers. We know that’s what the thriving ecosystem of downtown depends on. And so it can’t come soon enough as far as we’re concerned."
From the city up to the federal government, most offices plan to bring employees back by the fall.
Most remote workers will go back in some capacity over the next few months. The majority will be in a hybrid model, blending office and remote work. That includes the City of Portland.
"We've tried to be very thoughtful in workplace transitions," Chief Administrative Office Senior Strategic Projects Manager Geraldene Moyle said.
Pre-pandemic, nearly 3,000 of the city's employees worked in downtown offices.
"I worked in a Portland building the other day and realized I absolutely missed working in the office environment and I missed being downtown," Moyle said.
Moyle helped come up with the city's plan. Mayor Wheeler laid out that plan in an email to staff last week.
"We are planning a phased approach to re-entry," she added.
They'll have a "soft, voluntary re-entry" July 6 and then plan to bring most employees back in a hybrid model in October. People's schedules will look different across bureaus and positions.
"I do think they're listening to people's needs. I do think they're weighing that also against community interests and that's also important. It is important we get Portland back on track," AFSCME Local 189 president and Portland Water Bureau employee Rob Martineau told KGW.
The public workers union says some of its members feel ready, while others have concerns.
"Just making sure as we are still in this pandemic and we still continue to move towards the variants that are spreading and growing, I think it's really important that we prioritize employee safety first," Martineau added.
At the county level, about half its 5,000-plus full-time staff stayed in person during the pandemic. Many work downtown at the health department, Justice Center and courthouse.
Because of yo-yoing restrictions, a Multnomah County spokeswoman says it's hard to set one re-entry date for all the county's different departments and jobs, so each department director made reopening rules, which the county chair is reviewing now. She will finalize them, likely next week.
The State of Oregon expects to move forward with a hybrid model where it makes sense to do so.
The Reopening State Government Advisory Team has been working on recommendations for reopening state government buildings and offices to the public. Those will go to the governor, who will share the final report with agencies on July 6.
The state plans to reopen its buildings Sept. 1, but that doesn't necessarily mean all 4,500 employees who work around Portland will be in offices then.
There are over 60 federal agencies in the metro area with more than 15,000 employees.
At the federal level each department is handling return-to-work plans differently. For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning a hybrid option as well, but they don't know when they'll start that just yet.