The state of Minnesota will spend $20 million of taxpayer money in the coming years to create what some bureaucrats envision is the “workplace of the future.”
But as the Star Tribune reports, while state employees are going one direction, the private sector is going another.
“As more private-sector companies ask their employees to return to the office, some business leaders say the state should follow suit. Bringing more state workers back to their St. Paul offices could give nearby businesses a much-needed boost, they said. “Frankly, it’s a little disappointing to see how much the state has been lagging behind the private sector,” said Joe Spencer, president of the St. Paul Downtown Alliance.
Business leaders in St. Paul are concerned about the state’s seemingly long-term embrace of telework.
B Kyle, president and CEO of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, said she thinks having more employees downtown would provide both economic and public safety benefits.
“So many of our downtown businesses have suffered and many have closed — a return of our state employees would be a significant and much needed boost,” Kyle said in a statement.
Click here to read the Star Tribune story in its entirety.