Edmonton core looking forward to action as Alberta provincial workers head back to the office

Provincial employees in Alberta will return to the office full-time starting next week for the first time since 2020. CTV News Edmonton's Connor Hogg has the de

With Alberta provincial employees headed back to the office full-time starting Monday, those in Edmonton’s core are hoping it will create more vibrancy in an area of town that has suffered since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government of Alberta said the move to in-office work will “strengthen collaboration, accountability and service delivery.”

“The hybrid work model introduced during COVID-19 was always intended as a temporary measure to maintain operations during an unprecedented time,” said a statement from the Ministry of Finance. “Flexibility for individual cases will still exist where needed, depending on the job and worker circumstances.”

But Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson said more people in Edmonton’s downtown – where many provincial offices are located – will help revitalize the area after a tough few years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It will help support vibrancy having more people out and about,” Stevenson told CTV News Edmonton.

The city is keeping on with its hybrid model after union negotiations, which requires employees be in the office at least two days a week.

However, there are certain incentives, like having your own work space if you are in-office for more than two days.

Although having more people travel downtown for work will help bring the area more action, Stevenson said it’s not the silver bullet.

“There are still a lot of factors that need to be considered,” she said. “Before the pandemic, we were always really worried about all the workers coming in during the day and then leaving in the evening.”

Soon, the city will have a report on its downtown residential incentive, which has seen hundreds of units pop up in the core over the last five years.

And with more people downtown during lunch hour, that means there will be more mouths to feed.

Serhii Zymovets, owner of Zymo, a Ukrainian bar bistro on Rice Howard Way, is confident more people will help bring more life to downtown.

“It will bring more life to our business, including ours,” he said.

Zymovets and his family moved to Edmonton three years ago, fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Zymo opened in October 2025.

Now that they’re settled and are anticipating more people for lunch, Zymo has refined its menu to be more affordable and to be served in a timely manner.

“Will it be evening or will it be lunch? It doesn’t matter, because if there are people, there will be life downtown,” said Zymovets. “And it will not be only the business centre, it will just be the centre of the city, how it should be.”

But the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) says many of its members aren’t as enthusiastic.

“Our members are disappointed that hybrid work is being cancelled for Government of Alberta employees,” said Bobby-Joe Borodey, an AUPE vice president. “They appreciate the ability to have a flexible work schedule that allows them to work from home.”

Members are looking to keep the current hybrid model, which allows employees to apply for three days in-office and two remote days. But starting Monday, those two remote days will be gone.

Borodey said the union has seen benefits to working hybrid, including increased collaboration, a value in flexibility and higher morale.

“We are concerned that this is a political decision and not an operational decision,” she said. “We have not been given rationale or evidence … we know that members still yield results working in a hybrid model, so the argument that if workers return to the office, they will be more productive and collaborative, we don’t feel it actually holds water.”

Borodey adds that ditching a hybrid model could lead to high turnover.

The Government of Alberta employs more than 29,000 people across the province who will be impacted by the back-to-office mandate.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg