How Coronavirus will change the way Britain works

The lockdown. It has had an enormous impact on all of us and upon the workplace. City offices lie empty with staff working from home; delivery drivers and postal workers have become our lifeline to the outside world and our NHS heroes are being revered and applauded on a weekly basis. So, what will the long-term effects of this be on the work environment?

Which companies will recover?

BA and other airlines are furloughing thousands of people, with BA saying that it may close its Gatwick Operation. Gatwick airport has indicated that may take four years to recover from the virus. Small businesses are struggling and many may never be able to re-open. What is the outcome of all this going to be?

One of the probable outcomes is that there will be a re-emergence of British manufacturing industry which will see a resurgence of the Northern Powerhouse. The UK will need the jobs and people are likely to be rather more cautious of importing as much as we have done in recent years for fear of failing supply lines. Science and technology will become even more important and valued. We’ve seen the value of our biomedical scientists and we’ll want to see more of that.

Tourism

What about the tourist trade? What about pubs and restaurants? Most commentators aren’t saying too much about this directly at the moment, which suggests that no-one knows. Despite all the concern about small businesses, many will carry on when it’s all over because they have no choice - there may simply not be other jobs for people to go to.

Many of our hospitality trade workers currently come from the EU, but it’s quite probable that this source will dry up, not just because of Brexit, but because people may be less inclined to travel. Many Brits who had jobs in firms that went out of business may find themselves working in restaurants and hotels when it’s over.

We will probably take more holidays in the UK rather than going abroad, on the basis that if there is another outbreak, it will be easier to get home. Coronavirus could end up being a blessing in disguise for our domestic tourist trade.

More working from home

Employers of office-based staff didn’t envisage having their entire workforce home-based, but it happened quickly and, for the most part, it has worked. Instead of people travelling for meetings, they are held online via Teams, Zoom, Skype or similar. Not only has this mitigated organisations’ travel time and costs, but it has reduced their carbon footprint which is a major positive. Many of us are finding it so much more convenient, we may never go back to traditional office working.

However, working from home doesn’t suit everyone. Some roles don’t lend themselves to it; many people don’t have and cannot create the right workspace; and a percentage find that it isn’t good for their mental health. Employers need to be conscious of all of these factors before changing their working practices for good. They also need to find new ways to train people and ensure that standards are adhered to.

While employers will have spent substantial sums in equipping their staff to work from home, they may find that they can now reduce costs in office rent and business rates by reducing the size of their offices, thus recovering some of the costs. And the technology could dramatically reduce business travel as we know it, impacting on airlines and airports and all the associated businesses in the ecosystem.

The knock-on effects of a large number of businesses continuing with their workforces working from home is just one of the many long-term effects of Coronavirus, with city shops losing business in favour of local ones. Indeed, de-centralisation may become a theme with the rise of local, collaborative workspaces balancing the elimination of protracted commuting times with the social aspect of an office environment shared across multiple firms.

Medical screening

Some employers in the USA have already started insisting that employees have their temperatures checked when they arrive in the workplace, which might help to prevent the spread of the virus. However, in the UK, most of us don’t have a clause in our contracts that enables employers to do this and if we are not in roles where the government advises it, there is a potential problem. The best way around that is going to be consultation and consent.

One thing is certain and that is that nothing is certain. The work environment and a host of sectors will undoubtedly evolve beyond recognition in some cases, with changes that might ordinarily take a generation to effect occurring within the space of months. One organisation's threat is another's opportunity. Only time will tell where the balance lies in each context.