fiendishlibrarian
Active Member
Bay Street law is currently three days minimum for most large firms, at least four for students/lawyers and management and I'm hearing rumours of four-five day weeks for clerks and assistants.
Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR
generalcanada
Senior Member
big tech downtown toronto 3 days minimum tuesday thursday forced and 1 day of m/w/f of your choice
WillTo
Senior Member
Midtown for me.
We have to come in 2 days a week and share desks. We don't have enough room to come in more than that.
We have to come in 2 days a week and share desks. We don't have enough room to come in more than that.
evandyk
Senior Member
We have two days required, but nobody monitors or enforces it. I go in 5 days because I prefer to do my work from an office than my apartment. The path is pretty busy Tues-Thurs, light on Monday, and dead on Fridays. I went to Assembly for lunch today and there probably wasn't more than 2 dozen customers in the entire place at 12:30. Go on a Thursday and there won't be a seat available.
mettle
Active Member
a lot of staff are coming in 1 day a week now. it's going to be 2 days a week in April. i notice slightly more people, but it's still sad compared to before.
Parkdalian
Senior Member
My husband works downtown. His firm, even before the pandemic, was fully "agile" - ie, you could come in to work or work remote any day you'd like. Before the pandemic, the office was still busy five days a week. Some days, people wouldn't be able to find a desk! (There weren't enough desks for everyone.) After the pandemic, the client/business side has come back to the office for Monday-Thursday, but the creatives never come.
He says that the closer you get to Union, the crazier it gets in the Path. Mornings and Lunch are busy. But yes, on Fridays, and in the afternoons, it's dead.
I do wonder if we are going to slowly transition to a four day work week with Friday being off.
He says that the closer you get to Union, the crazier it gets in the Path. Mornings and Lunch are busy. But yes, on Fridays, and in the afternoons, it's dead.
I do wonder if we are going to slowly transition to a four day work week with Friday being off.
Northern Light
Superstar
In select, typically better paying professions; perhaps.
But for the retail worker or factory worker (anyone paid by the hour) or a school teacher or doctor; probably not.
Ontario still doesn't actually have a 40 hour week.
It's a 44-hour week, and even then, hours are averaged over 2 weeks.
Dropping the work week down to 32 hours (8 hours x 4 days) is a long way off an would have to be offset by a 25% pay rise for hourly workers just to hold their weekly pay even.
Longer days in exchange may be feasible in some cases, but equally trigger different challenges...... thinking of working til 6pm? Whose picking up the kids from daycare? etc.
Northern Light
Superstar
Having just chimed in on this, I understand the tangent, and its tie to traffic levels at Union.
But we are wandering a wee bit away from the reno project(s) at the heart of the thread and should perhaps endeavour to get back on track.... (pun intended)
But we are wandering a wee bit away from the reno project(s) at the heart of the thread and should perhaps endeavour to get back on track.... (pun intended)
Willybru21
Active Member
Here’s a bit of a tangent I want to go on about Unions historical spaces, and how I don’t think they’re good.
So I found these photos of what New York’s main train station would look like today if they never demolished it, I think it provides good inspiration for what Union’s historical areas should look like, because right now they aren’t in the best shape:
The first photo is what the Sir John A McDonald Plaza outside of Union should really look like, right now it’s just a completely empty square that has events a few weeks out of a year, and during the rest of the year it’s cold and uninviting, nobody wants to spend time there.
In the art for NYC’s station there’s seating, plants, venders, etc, and it looks like a welcoming space.
The original concept art for the plaza in front of Union included a small amount of seating, which would have made the space look a bit more welcoming, but even that was dropped and never happened.
The second photo is what our Great Hall should look like, the current Great Hall is honestly an embarrassment, the lighting is way too orange and dim, there’s a ugly half-abandoned 1980’s tourist booth in the middle of the space with a departure board that’s broken more often than not, a big white wall that’s supposed to be a restaurant one day, and abandoned ticket booths that VIA still owns. This area isn’t welcoming at all and doesn’t feature any sort of greenery or vendors/restaurants. In the NYC concept art photo there’s plants, a lot of light, and restaurants/businesses, making it a welcoming space people want to spend time in.
In the original Union Station Revitalisation Plans they intended to improve the lighting in the Great Hall with new chandeliers, this is apparently still happening so there’s that. The original centrepiece clock was also supposed to be replicated, replacing the ugly 1980’s booth and departure screen, but there’s no sign of this happening anymore.
And one last little rant, they never added seating to this part of the station like they originally intended to, it makes it seem like they don’t want people to enjoy these public spaces, as if they’re only intended to be passed through quickly:
So I found these photos of what New York’s main train station would look like today if they never demolished it, I think it provides good inspiration for what Union’s historical areas should look like, because right now they aren’t in the best shape:
The first photo is what the Sir John A McDonald Plaza outside of Union should really look like, right now it’s just a completely empty square that has events a few weeks out of a year, and during the rest of the year it’s cold and uninviting, nobody wants to spend time there.
In the art for NYC’s station there’s seating, plants, venders, etc, and it looks like a welcoming space.
The original concept art for the plaza in front of Union included a small amount of seating, which would have made the space look a bit more welcoming, but even that was dropped and never happened.
The second photo is what our Great Hall should look like, the current Great Hall is honestly an embarrassment, the lighting is way too orange and dim, there’s a ugly half-abandoned 1980’s tourist booth in the middle of the space with a departure board that’s broken more often than not, a big white wall that’s supposed to be a restaurant one day, and abandoned ticket booths that VIA still owns. This area isn’t welcoming at all and doesn’t feature any sort of greenery or vendors/restaurants. In the NYC concept art photo there’s plants, a lot of light, and restaurants/businesses, making it a welcoming space people want to spend time in.
In the original Union Station Revitalisation Plans they intended to improve the lighting in the Great Hall with new chandeliers, this is apparently still happening so there’s that. The original centrepiece clock was also supposed to be replicated, replacing the ugly 1980’s booth and departure screen, but there’s no sign of this happening anymore.
And one last little rant, they never added seating to this part of the station like they originally intended to, it makes it seem like they don’t want people to enjoy these public spaces, as if they’re only intended to be passed through quickly:
mburrrrr
Senior Member
New York’s Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station from May 2023 for comparison.
nfitz
Superstar
Yes, it's great! But go over and check out the rest of it for the platform access. It makes the old Bay concourse for GO Transit at Union Station look spacious and modern.
chrisw
Active Member
Here's a recent tweet/video about Moynihan.
adHominem
Senior Member
Moynihan looks sharp, but it has many of the same problems outlined in Willybru's post about Union: the outdoor spaces are cold and uninviting, there's no greenery, animation or anywhere to sit, and the interior hall also notoriously has nowhere to sit.
JasonParis
Moderator
Am I the only one that finds it weird that the historic clock is literally in front of the Monument to Multiculturalism? They block each other out and prevent either from totally shining in their own glow. One should be where the Union "brand totem" is next to the cyclists.
max
Active Member
I thought the obscuring multiculturalism was supposed to be a thematic reference to JAM's racism which would be totally on brand for the plaza.