Report estimates that going to five days could generate additional $14.6‑billion in economic output for city
Montreal will require white‑collar employees to work in the office at least three days a week, in a move city officials and business leaders say is aimed at reversing a sharp drop in downtown office attendance and its economic fallout.
The policy – first reported by CBC – will apply to white‑collar workers under the city’s authority and sets a clear minimum for in‑person work after several years of looser hybrid arrangements.
Mayor Valérie Plante has argued that working on site is a management prerogative and a necessary step in stabilising the city’s core.
“Three days a week is a good balance,” Plante said, according to CBC. “This balance of returning to the office will also foster collaboration and ideas.”
The decision is underpinned by an extensive study, L’avenir du travail est ensemble, plus souvent, authored jointly by the Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain (CCMM), the Institut de développement urbain du Québec (IDU) and Montréal centre‑ville, with research and analysis carried out by the consulting firm Volume10. The report shows how far office occupancy has fallen — and what is at stake economically.
The federal government, Ontario, Alberta, and Nova Scotia have also announced a full RTO for their workers.
Fewer days in the office, emptier towers
According to the report – released in January – the average worker employed by companies based in downtown Montreal is now at the office just 2.79 days per week. Before the pandemic, attendance in major business districts such as Paris, Singapore, New York and Sydney averaged between 2.8 and 3.5 days a week, with Montreal now lagging behind those peers.
The study finds that almost one in five offices in Montreal’s core is empty. The downtown office vacancy rate has climbed from 9.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 18.6 per cent by the third quarter of 2025, as the spread of telework weakened companies’ physical anchoring in the central business district.
In total, the report estimates about 300,000 jobs are located in downtown Montreal, making the shift in attendance patterns a key driver of activity, or lack of it, in the city’s core.
Weekly hit to downtown spending
Lower in‑person presence has translated directly into weaker spending in the surrounding streets, the study concludes. For someone working five days a week downtown, average weekly spending on restaurants, cafés, shops and other services is about $106.
With workers currently averaging only 2.79 days in the office, the report projects an estimated $14.1 million in lost revenue every week for downtown commercial operators, based on current employment levels and spending patterns. The sectors most affected are restaurants and cafés, particularly at lunch, as well as retail and other everyday services used by office workers.
Those findings echo earlier public comments from the chamber and are now being used to support the city’s decision to tighten its in‑office requirements.
Billions in potential gains from more time on site
The CCMM/IDU/Montréal centre‑ville report also attempts to quantify the upside of a full return to pre‑pandemic office patterns.
Drawing on research that suggests each additional day worked in the office is associated with a productivity gain of roughly 3.6 per cent, the report estimates that taking the average worker in Montreal from the current 2.79 days per week back up to five days could generate an additional $14.6‑billion in economic output. The calculation uses a regional GDP base of $184‑billion and applies the 3.6 per cent productivity uplift to the difference between current and full‑time office attendance.
The report frames the return to more frequent in‑person work as “un levier clé” — a key lever — for both organisational performance and the city’s economic health, arguing that a sustained increase in office presence would “redonner vie au centre‑ville” and recreate value for the wider metropolis.
White‑collar focus and wider implications
The new three‑day rule is aimed squarely at white‑collar staff, whose work lends itself to remote or hybrid arrangements and whose absence from downtown has been most visible in empty offices and quieter streets.
By contrast, sectors where on‑site work is essential — such as retail, manufacturing and transport — have already largely returned to pre‑pandemic patterns, according to the CCMM/IDU/Montréal centre‑ville analysis. The report notes that this creates an “absurd” situation where some managers continue to work mainly from home while supervising employees who must be physically present, a dynamic it warns could evolve into an equity issue between blue‑ and white‑collar workers.
While the three‑day requirement currently applies to Montreal’s own white‑collar workforce, the economic case assembled by the three organisations and Volume10 may have an impact on other employers.
The core of that case is numerical: fewer days in the office have meant fewer people downtown, nearly 20 per cent vacancy in office space, an estimated $14.1‑million in weekly lost spending and, by the chamber’s own modelling, billions in forgone productivity.
Currently, Canadian unions are pushing for expanded work-from-home options in the federal and provincial public sectors, tying telework directly to fuel costs and energy security.
