1 A majority of downtown Toronto workers say they feel comfortable working on location in the downtown core. Survey of Toronto Downtown Workers | Summary Conducted by Nanos for the Toronto Region Board of Trade, March 2021 Submission 2021-1786 2 Key Findings 1 2 3 4 5 COMFORT RETURNING TO LIKES WORKING CONCERNS WORKING WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO INFORMATION WANTED UPON WORK ON LOCATION DOWNTOWN DOWNTOWN RETURN TO WORK? RETURN TO WORK Overall, downtown Toronto Asked what they like about Asked what concerns, if any, Downtown Toronto workers Downtown Toronto workers workers say they are working downtown, do they have about working rated a number of items as rank public health authorities comfortable working on downtown workers most downtown, downtown important to make them more first as the source from which location in the downtown often mention the vibe/ workers most often say they comfortable returning to work, they would like to receive core (mean of 7.0 out of 10; energy/culture (16%), have no concerns about including feeling safe from a information on returning to mean of 6.8 for office followed by convenience working downtown in public health perspective to be work downtown (48%), and workers). Those who are not (14%), amenities/close to Toronto (23%), followed by on location in the workplace mention confirmation of safety comfortable most often say everything (13%) and easy traffic (13%), COVID-19 (12%) and feeling it is safe from a and the safety measure put in it’s because of COVID-19 and access with public it being too crowded (12%), public health perspective to be place as the type of possibly catching the virus. transportation/commute and commuting (11%). in public spaces in the building information they most want to (nine per cent). where they work (mean of 8.5 receive. out of 10, each). 3 Current employment status Q Which of the following best describes your current employment status: 8% 5% Men Women 18 to 34 35 to 54 55 plus (n=285) (n=219) (n=114) (n=232) (n=112) time - 90.9% 83.1% 93.9% 87.1% 80.4% Office Worker Retail Worker Hospitality Other (n=386) (n=24)* Worker (n=64) Working full Working (n=33) 88% 94.3% 42.4% 78.1% Working full time Working part time Temporarily laid off because of the pandemic *Weighted to the true population proportion. *Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=506 downtown Toronto workers. © NANOS RESEARCH 4 Current workplace location Q Are you currently… 15% 24% 9% Men Women 18 to 34 35 to 54 55 plus (n=285) (n=219) (n=114) (n=232) (n=112) 52.6% 53.4% 55.3% 50.4% 53.6% Office Worker Retail Worker Hospitality Other (n=386) (n=24) Worker (n=64) 53% (n=33) Working remotely alltime the remotely Working 64.2% 6.1% 23.4% Working on location in the downtown core all the time Working remotely all the time Temporarily laid off because of the pandemic Working both remotely and on location in the downtown core *Weighted to the true population proportion. *Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=506 downtown Toronto workers. © NANOS RESEARCH 5 Type of downtown workplace Q Which of the following best describes your workplace downtown? 13% 7% Men Women 18 to 34 35 to 54 55 plus 5% (n=285) (n=219) (n=114) (n=232) (n=112) Office 78.6% 73.5% 74.6% 78.0% 71.4% 76% Office Retail Hospitality Other *Weighted to the true population proportion. *Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=506 downtown Toronto workers. © NANOS RESEARCH 6 What they like about working Q What do you like about working downtown? [OPEN-ENDED] downtown Frequency (n=482) The vibe/energy/culture 15.8% Convenience 14.3% Amenities/close to everything 13.1% Downtown Toronto workers most often say Easy access with public transportation/commute 9.3% like the vibe, energy and culture of working “ Close to where I live 8.3% downtown, as well as the convenience and the The people 7.9% amenities. Nothing 7.3% RESPONSESShopping 6.8% Restaurants/ food 6.0% Location/sights 4.1% Having access to the office 1.2% ” Other 5.8% Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=482 downtown Toronto workers. © NANOS RESEARCH 7 What concerns, if any, do you have about working downtown? [OPEN- Concerns about working Q ENDED] downtown Frequency (n=466) No concerns 23.2% Traffic 13.1% Covid-19 11.8% Downtown Toronto workers most often say Too crowded 11.8% “ they have no concerns about working Commuting 10.9% downtown. This was followed by traffic, Public Transport 8.8% Safety concerns 4.1% COVID-19, being too crowded and commuting. Parking 3.0% RESPONSES Cost/expensive 2.8% Homeless population 2.1% Places going out of business/job loss 1.7% Pollution 1.5% ” Other 5.2% Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=466 downtown Toronto workers. © NANOS RESEARCH 8 On a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is not at all comfortable and 10 is very Comfort working on location comfortable, how comfortable are you working on location in the Q downtown core? downtown 2% Men Women 18 to 34 35 to 54 55 plus 15% (n=285) (n=219) (n=114) (n=232) (n=112) Mean 7.2 6.6 6.8 7.4 6.7 19% Mean Office Worker Retail Worker Hospitality Other 7.0 (n=385) (n=24) Worker (n=64) 64% (n=33) 6.8 8.4 7.8 Comfortable (7-10) Neutral (4-6) Not comfortable (0-3) Unsure *Weighted to the true population proportion. *Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=506 downtown Toronto workers. © NANOS RESEARCH 9 Reason for comfort level working Q Why do you have that opinion? [OPEN] downtown Comfortable Average Not Total Unsure (7-10) (4-6) comfortable (n=422) (n=8)* (n=221) (n=152) (0-3) (n=41) Concerned about Covid-19/catching the 17.5% 2.7% 28.3% 56.1% Downtown Toronto workers virus who feel comfortable working Enjoys area/likes big cities 10.9% 19.0% 2.6% - downtown most often say Lives downtown/convenience 8.5% 15.4% 1.3% - “they enjoy the area and like big cities or they live It's safe/I feel safe 7.3% 11.3% 3.9% - downtown and find it No concerns/ no problem 6.6% 10.4% 3.3% - convenient. Those who do not Issues with commuting 6.4% 2.7% 9.2% 12.2% feel comfortable most often Crowded/too many people 6.2% 0.9% 11.8% 14.6% say its because they are TOP RESPONSES Have always worked downtown/ good place concerned about COVID-19 to work 5.5% 8.6% 2.6% - and catching the virus. Unsure 20.6% 19.5% 24.3% 7.3% Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=422 downtown Toronto workers. ” © NANOS RESEARCH 10 Usual way of getting to work Q How do you usually get to work? 2% 17% 18% Men Women 18 to 34 35 to 54 55 plus (n=285) (n=219) (n=114) (n=232) (n=112) 6% 51.8% 63.9% 57.5% 59.1% 51.8% Office Worker Retail Worker Hospitality Other (n=386) (n=24) Worker (n=62) Public transit (n=33) 57% 59.6% 54.5% 40.3% Walk Public transit Bicycle Automobile Other *Weighted to the true population proportion. *Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Source: Nanos Research, online survey, January 29th to February 5th, 2021, n=506 downtown Toronto workers. © NANOS RESEARCH 11 On a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is not at all important and 10 is very Importance of things to ensure Q important, please rate the importance of the following as things which would make you more comfortable returning to work on location in the comfort returning to work downtown downtown core. [RANDOMIZE] Mean Feeling it is safe from a public health perspective to be on location in your 83% 11%4% 8.5 workplace Downtown Toronto workers give a Knowing in advance from my employer higher importance rating to a variety what is and is not expected of me when it 83% 10%5% 8.4 comes to working on location of things in terms of making them “ Feeling it is safe from a public health more comfortable to return to work, perspective to be in the public spaces in 82% 12%4% 8.5 the building where you work including feeling safe from a public Feeling it is safe from a public health perspective to be in your workplace 81% 13% 4% 8.3 health perspective to be on location neighbourhood in the workplace and to be in public Feeling it is safe from a public health 80% 12% 6% 8.2 spaces in the building where they perspective to travel to work work. Understanding the penalties for those who break the public health rules 79% 15% 5% 8.1 Important (7-10) Neutral (4-6) Not important (0-3) Unsure *Weighted to the true population proportion. *Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding.