Aberdeen's Labour Party group is pushing for Aberdeen City Council to bring workers back into the office to help breathe fresh life into Union Street.
Earlier this year, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for staff to get back to the office due to the impact of working from home on struggling city centres.
Now, Aberdeen Labour’s Deena Tissera has urged Marischal College bosses to move to a hybrid-work model where “office-based work is the default setting".
“It is time for the council to show leadership and bring forward a plan to get all employees back into council offices," she told the Herald.
“If we are serious about getting our city centre back to pre-Covid levels to increase footfall and spend, then the council must lead by example and encourage its employees to get back into offices and stop working from home.”
Russell Borthwick, chief executive at Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, is a long-term advocate for office-based working.
He said: "Every person who comes back into the city centre helps to breathe life into it - supporting local businesses, boosting footfall, and creating the kind of vibrancy Aberdeen needs to thrive.
“We have long advocated that offices are not just places of work - they are engines of collaboration, learning, innovation and economic activity.
“Rebuilding a strong, successful city centre starts with bringing people back together, something which Aberdeen City Council – one of the city’s biggest employers – can play a leading role in delivering.”
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired. told the Herald: “We have seen something of a gradual return of people to the office across different sectors and Aberdeen Inspired would actively encourage this. What benefits the city centre and its future success is, without question, people working and living here."
In a statement, Aberdeen City Council said its most recent Flexible Working Policy had been approved in January 2025.
The policy creates two “workstyles” — hybrid workers, who split their work-week between on-site work and a remote location; and fixed location workers, who spend all their time in the office.
“Any changes to the policy would have to be agreed at committee," the spokesman said.