It has nearly been a year since the UK government asked workers to work from home when possible and no signs of going back to the offices have been announced. Despite pupils are expected to return to schools on March 8th and talks of bars and restaurants reopening their doors to the public sometime after the Easter break, staff across the country have yet to hear any news about an estimated date in which they will be able to return to the offices.
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On Monday, PM Boris Johnson is set to announce further plans to ease off on restrictions and return to what will become the new normal, but this does not include a firm date for when workers will return to their desks. Meaning that working from home when possible will continue to be implemented nation-wide for at least another couple of months.
Negatively impacting productively
Some companies have even delayed returning to offices until at least the end of the year and many more are encouraging working remotely until some sort of stability has been reached. But not everyone is happy about what this has resulted in. Studies have been carried out proving that productivity has declined in those working from home.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former party leader, believes that:
We need to get people back to work as soon as possible. There are lots of reasons why work is important to our lives. It affects people's physical and mental wellbeing and there are issues around productivity. I would like to see as much detail as possible in the road map to help people to make plans. They need to know in advance.
Working from home is essential to fight the virus
However, medical experts believe that like lockdowns and other social distancing measures, working from home is just another tool for us to use in order to win the battle against the virus.
According to scientists, we should avoid making the same mistake we made when the first wave of the coronavirus had reached its peak and safety measures were loosened. If we precipitate a return to normalcy even with the new jabs, we might find ourselves in a never ending loop of infections.
