After two years of advice to largely work from home where possible to avoid the transmission of Covid-19 in the workplace, the Government has now lifted the latest Plan B measures and is encouraging employers and employees to return to the office and get back to the benefits of face-to-face, collaborative working.
As in many workplaces, the Civil Service has had many front-line workers and office staff remaining in their places of work throughout the pandemic, while others carried out their work at home. But now Government departments across the country, including the Department for Education where my ministerial team is based, are being asked to lead the way in getting people back to normal, pre-pandemic arrangements.
There will undoubtedly still be a place for home-working – our new-found Teams and Zoom skills are likely to come in handy for a long-time yet. Well into the future this enabling technology will allow talented and experienced employees to continue working even when caring responsibilities, illness, travel or other matters make a daily commute difficult or impossible.
While our local Brentwood and Ongar coffee shops and businesses have had some benefit from workers popping in on a break from remote working, I am all too well aware many of my constituents run small businesses in the City of London. This area has seen a huge fall in the number of people working in City offices and the cost has been borne by the local cafes, dry cleaners, and other retailers. I hope the support put in place by the Government to help these small businesses has enabled them to survive and they will be able to rebuild their customer base once people return to the big London offices in the coming weeks and months.
