After years of fully occupying it, Desjardins is reducing its presence in the Cité Desjardins de la cooperation, located in the heart of the district where the cooperative was born, in Lévis.
The Sun learned that three of the six buildings on Boulevard Guillaume-Couture that the company occupied for decades are now empty or are in the process of being so.
6300 and 6500 boulevard Guillaume-Couture, where Desjardins has been based for around fifty years, will soon be put on the rental market in order to find a new occupant.
6777 on the same boulevard, which the company has been renting for a long time, is also now unoccupied. The Movement did not renew its lease during the last renewal.
6500 and 6300 boulevard Guillaume-Couture, the buildings on the left, were emptied to repatriate their occupants to 150 des Commandeurs, the building on the right. (Jocelyn Riendeau/Archives, Le Soleil)
The approximately 7,000 Desjardins Movement workers who were attached to the Cité Desjardins de la cooperation campus are now all grouped together at the company’s head office, at 150 rue des Commandeurs, and in the two neighboring buildings.
The 15-story building, built at a cost of 125 million between 2011 and 2014, contains nearly 1,500 office spaces, according to the cooperative’s website.
Two days a week
This change in direction by Desjardins regarding its presence in the Cité de la cooperation is a consequence of the teleworking policy adopted by the company at the end of the pandemic, explains Jean-Benoît Turcotti, spokesperson for the Movement.
The cooperative is currently imposing a policy requiring the majority of its employees to physically report to the office two days a week, notes Mr. Turcotti to explain the refocusing of Desjardins’ activities at its head office.
“Desjardins has adopted a hybrid-flexible work formula, which alternates office presence and teleworking. Under these conditions, it was decided to concentrate employees in the buildings on rue des Commandeurs,” he indicated in a written statement to the Soleil.
-The Movement emphasizes having made “significant investments in the exterior envelope of the buildings” where its staff will be grouped. Desjardins also claims to have reorganized a number of workspaces to adapt to its new hybrid formula.
In 2022, while Desjardins was working on its teleworking policy, the absence of workers from the cooperative in downtown Lévis was deplored by several local merchants.
Always Lévisiens and Lévisiens forever
Even if Desjardins has decided to empty several of the buildings of the City, which was presented as a sign of commitment and roots during its inauguration in 1976, the financial company promises that it will not give up on Lévis.
The cooperative affirms that it is rather a pragmatic decision, but one which does not call into question its attachment to the environment in which it was born. “Although some Desjardins buildings are empty, this does not reflect a disengagement on our part.”
“We are firmly anchored in Lévis, the cradle of the Desjardins Movement, and we will stay there.”
— Jean-Benoît Turcotti, spokesperson for Desjardins
Almost all the buildings visible in this photo are part of the Cité Desjardins de la cooperation. The company promises not to disengage from the sector, even if it has decided to concentrate its activities in a few buildings. (Patrice Laroche/Archives Le Soleil)
The Movement spokesperson also notes that Desjardins has decided not to completely dispose of 6300 and 6500 boulevard Guillaume-Couture, preferring for the moment to turn to medium and long-term rentals.
This could allow the company to reinvest the premises if its in-person working model were to change again and require more office space.
