Many SF city employees aren’t working in person every day, either

Literally and figuratively, it will never be 2019 again.

As the neighborhoods around San Francisco City Hall continue their post-pandemic recovery, there’s little hope that city employees — or those in the private sector, for that matter — will ever be the reliable presence at cafes and restaurants they once were.

More than four years removed from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most city departments have settled into a three-day in-person workweek for employees who aren’t front-line workers.

Mayor London Breed has shown no inclination to attempt to strong-arm more city employees back to the office five days a week.

“The more people we have back working in person, the better it is for the city and our economy, and the mayor will continue to encourage more people to come to work beyond the required minimum set in current agreements,” Breed spokesperson Jeff Cretan told The Examiner in an email.

For areas such as Mid-Market, where the pains of a shift to remote work have been acute, the focus is now on adapting to the “new normal.”

“The momentum is picking up,” said Steve Gibson, executive director of the MidMarket Business Association. “It’s not what it was prior to the pandemic, it probably will never be what it was prior to the pandemic.”

Comparisons to 2019, Gibson said, are unfair.

“It’s not a fair discussion. If that’s your mindset, it’s the wrong mindset,” Gibson said.

The City employs about 35,200 people, which is more than it ever has, though only a portion of them work in or near City Hall. Many have been working in person, full time, due to the nature of their jobs. Breed also can’t wave a wand and force everyone back to full-time work, as the vast majority of employees are represented by labor unions that negotiate telecommuting terms.

Still, the loss of city employees several days a week, combined with the remote work of federal employees and private-sector workers in the area, has been a blow to the Civic Center area .

Andina, a Venezuelan eatery that shares a space with the bar B-Side in Hayes Valley, sees the ebb and flow of a typical workweek. That means rapid business around lunchtime on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but Fridays are “dead,” according to chef and owner Victoria Lozano.

“For me, I stay open [on Fridays] just because I want to make sure that I give the hours to my employees, and I take it as a good day for production,” Lozano said. She said Saturdays and Sundays are also busy, but with a different crowd.

The City does not appear to have an exact count of how many employees are in person and how many are remote, although the Department of Human Resources noted it established a three-day-per-week on-site minimum in 2022.

There is a “limited exception to this requirement” for roles in which “there is significant industry competition and standards for remote work,” the department said in a statement. But those total only about 300 positions, and the people in them still work one or two days per week in person.

The City is currently in the process of finalizing contracts with several of its larger labor unions — including the largest, SEIU Local 1021, which represents thousands of city employees across myriad departments.

The contract, which is currently being voted on by SEIU members, doesn’t include major changes to the telecommuting policy.

That’s not to say it isn’t an issue for employees.

San Francisco Public Library employees, for example, have fought to win the right to participate in staff training remotely. About 43% of the library’s workforce are part-time employees, according to Portola Branch manager Nicole Termini Germain, so the union objects to requirements that training be done in person when they could be done online — a shift that could save a part-time employee a trip into the office on what might otherwise be a day off.

“We’re not even trying to telecommute regularly,” Germain said. “It’s really just intermittent telework.”

Brighter days ahead

Although it has been a slow process, Gibson said he has seen improvement along Market Street.

Ikea’s arrival in August 2023 , followed by the opening last month of the adjacent Saluhall food hall has drawn workers to the area, particularly on days of the week when many are in the office.

The federal Department of Health and Human Resources had advised its employees at the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building on 7th Street to stay home due to public-safety concerns in the area last year. Lately, federal workers have begun to return to the office, according to Gibson. (The Department of Health and Human Resources did not return a request for comment from the Examiner.)

Gibson said he expects the area’s vibrancy will continue to improve as property owners sell their buildings or accept the need to lower rents. One clear example of this trend was the recent sale of the vacant 16-story tower at 995 Market St. for $6.5 million, a decline of more than $50 million from its 2016 sale price.

That shift will likely attract more businesses to the area, even if it might be different types of businesses than what would’ve opened at a time when the neighborhood was relatively flush with office workers. Or, it’s the same businesses, but their busiest happy hours are on Thursdays, not Fridays.

Or maybe with more foot traffic in and around downtown, Fridays won’t be so dead anymore.

After operating as a pop-up restaurant, Andina opened its brick-and-mortar location last year. Despite the fluctuations in business, Lozano said she still prefers her restaurant to shuffling between temporary spaces and farmers markets.

“You have to set up and break down every time, and then you don’t create a home, so it’s very complicated to keep your clientele, to have a home,” Lozano said. “Having this place, for me, has made me settle down.”