By now it’s well known that the city of Minneapolis and other downtown stakeholders are asking employers to return to the office at least two to three days per week to return the center city to some semblance of vitality. Most of the city’s largest employers have followed suit, with the exception of two of the largest, Target Corp. and Hennepin County. 

Target, once downtown’s largest employer, has been well chronicled. Unique among large downtown businesses, it requires no in-person presence for most headquarters team members. The company has reduced its leased downtown footprint and continues to rationalize its space. Plus, since 2020, Target has added hundreds of team members who don’t even live in the metro  region, making even a limited return to the office a permanent impracticality. 

Curiously, Hennepin County has received virtually no attention for adopting a near-identical posture on work from home. According to the county, roughly 68% of its employees, or more than 6,500 people, remain remote or hybrid, more than 3,700 downtown. The eerie quiet in the once-bustling Government Center is unnerving. 

(Certain county downtown job functions remained or reverted to on-site, such as policing, jails, courts, and, subsequently, the library and service center.)

Currently the number of workers “based” downtown is roughly 5,500. Hennepin County spokesperson Carolyn Marinan says approximately 26% of its downtown workforce—1,425 workers—is remote; 1,760, or 32%, are on-site, and 2,320 (42%) are hybrid. Hybrid is a term that means different things to different employers, but at the county, such status can mean an employee is in the office as little as one day per week or one day per month, based on conversations TCB had with several county employees. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has been an emphatic advocate of return to office. His office is on-site five days a week, as are two-thirds of city jobs, with others in the office a minimum of two days a week. Frey says 67% of all downtown workers are back at least one day each week. He criticizes both the productive wisdom of work from home and its effect on downtown. “It’s my preference that every [downtown] business and government agency is working in person,” he told TCB. Frey said he had not spoken to Hennepin County administrator David Hough about the county’s policies. 

“We have an obligation to provide service to residents…. There’s no obligation to make sure people are buying lunches in downtown Minneapolis.” 

—David Hough, Hennepin County administrator

In an interview, Hough was unmoved, noting the county’s obligations are to residents and to its workers. He says through technology the county has improved service metrics since the pandemic and worker retention would be negatively affected by required in-office days. “We have an obligation to provide service to residents,” he says. “There’s no obligation to make sure people are buying lunches in downtown Minneapolis. 

“I’m a leader who expects innovation,” Hough continues, “not a leader who does bed checks.” Hough says he has nurtured a culture that has made the county “an employer of choice.”

Hough serves and sets policy at the pleasure of the County Board of Commissioners. Commissioner Marion Greene, who represents downtown, declined an interview but told TCB in an emailed statement, “Meeting the diverse needs of residents is Hennepin County’s top priority. … When determining the county staffing model external factors such as worker expectations were considered … as well as … employee retention.” Greene made no reference to downtown, even though that was the focus of the question submitted to her. 

Ultimately the county may suffer for its lack of interest and investment in downtown. Both Frey and Hough agree on this: High office vacancies fueled by work-from-home arrangements are driving down building values, which then reduces the amount of property tax downtown throws off—this during an era when county and city spending is skyrocketing. In such an environment, a tax deficit must be shifted to residential and non-downtown businesses or new taxes must be created. Frey calls it “a massive challenge,” the scope of which can’t yet be fully understood.

Pre-Covid Top 5 Downtown Employers

1. Target (8,500 employees)
2. Hennepin Healthcare (7,111)
3. Wells Fargo (7,000)
4. Hennepin County (5,995)
5. U.S. Bank (4,968)

(Hennepin Healthcare is county owned but a separate business entity.) Source: Minneapolis Downtown Council, 2021