Mayor Parker announces that all city workers are expected in office five days a week

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced Monday that all city workers are expected to work from the office five days a week, essentially returning employees to pre-pandemic scheduling, beginning July 15.

Parker has telegraphed since taking office in January that she planned to order employees to work in-person full time, a departure from former Mayor Jim Kenney, who largely left hybrid work decisions up to individual department heads.

But Parker has asked the leaders of the city’s largest employers to bring their workers back to the office, in part to buoy the fortunes of Center City, where weekday foot traffic has yet to recover to 2019 levels. Her announcement Monday was applauded by business leaders and advocates for development in Center City, but it was immediately criticized by one of the city’s largest municipal unions, which said the mayor unilaterally implemented the new rule without negotiating it.

Parker said that about 80% of the city’s 26,000-member workforce was already working from an office or on-site, and that bringing all workers back would foster stronger collaboration.

“Employee presence at the workplace allows for more personal and productive interactions,” Parker said during a news conference Monday. “It facilitates communication. It promotes social connections, along with collaboration, innovation, and inclusion.”

Paul Levy, who chairs the board of the Center City District, described the policy as beneficial for workers and for the vibrancy of Center City.

“The presence of all workers in offices downtown supports retail and restaurants and provides jobs for SEPTA workers, maintenance, and other support staff who keep buildings operating safely,” Levy said. “Quite simply, remote work and inclusive growth are incompatible.”

But city workers pushed back, saying an end to hybrid work would lead to decreased morale. The new policy was not agreed to by the municipal unions, and leaders of AFSCME’s District Council 47, which represents many of the professional and supervisory employees, said their members are frustrated.

David Wilson, president of AFSCME Local 2187, District Council 47, argued that starting the policy over the summer when children are out of school is likely to complicate schedules for many parents.

“She’s the mayor of the people, but she doesn’t seem to really care for city workers,” Wilson said. “Parents have worked their schedules around children’s summer camp plans and now all of a sudden this mayor is going to throw a big old wrench in that.”

Wilson said the union believes the return-to-office policy should be subject to collective bargaining. He said the union met with the administration to discuss the subject once and had another session scheduled for Thursday, adding: “To hear that the city is going to unilaterally move forward without continuing their bargaining sessions is disheartening.”

The mayor said she does not believe an in-office mandate is subject to collective bargaining. Parker said the workforce was “at the center” of her decision-making process.

Last month, chief administrative officer Camille Duchaussee testified to City Council that the city would negotiate with the unions to add more supports for employees.

“I am mindful of my responsibilities under labor law to have some of these conversations with the union,” Duchaussee said. “We are looking broadly at how we can mitigate any concerns, how we can increase value to our employees’ compensation, and how we can ensure that as our employees return to the office, we have created a culture that supports them.”

On Monday, Duchaussee said the administration has already made worker-friendly adjustments, including extending paid parental leave from six to eight weeks and designating the Friday after Thanksgiving as a holiday. There will also be relaxed restrictions on the use of sick leave for family members.

Still, Gennifer E. Reed, president of AFSCME Local 2186, District Council 47, said the new policy could cause an exodus of city workers amid an already dire understaffing crisis. Nearly a quarter of city jobs were vacant as of April following a wave of pandemic-era resignations and retirements.

“The members are incensed,” Reed said. “People are really, really upset. People who were going to wait to retire want to retire now.”

At least one other employer aimed to take advantage of Parker’s new policy Monday: Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija posted on X that Montgomery County allows for hybrid work, saying, “If you’re an excellent public servant and you want to work from home sometimes, come to Montco.”

Some labor leaders — albeit not those who represent city workers — expressed support for the policy. They include Ryan Boyer, a close Parker ally who heads the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, and Gabe Morgan, a vice president of the Service Employees International Union 32BJ, which represents thousands of workers, including custodians and security officers whose jobs rely on a vibrant Center City.

Both labor groups supported Parker when she ran for mayor last year.

“Our union men and women have been working on-site and on the job throughout this time of COVID, and we welcome city workers back,” Morgan said in a statement shortly after the mayor addressed the union’s convention earlier in the day.

After COVID-19 vaccines rolled out in 2021, Kenney’s administration required workers back in the office only two days a week and, in practice, left the decision to individual departments. The result was a range of work-from-home policies across the city government, with some only required in-person a few times a month.

Parker ran on ending that patchwork of policies and returning to the pre-pandemic status quo. She and her allies also argued that returning to the office is an equity issue and that many city workers have never had the opportunity to work from home.

Nationally, across all sectors, only 10% of American workers are fully remote and an additional 10% work hybrid, partly from home and partly from an office.

Parker insists that a return-to-office policy will be better for the city and its government in the long run.

“For the Parker administration, we are at war with the status quo right now,” she said. “And we want to ensure that we have done everything we could to ensure that our workers have the supports they need as we work to implement this policy.”

Inquirer staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.