During the UK lockdown, working policy hasn’t always been clear, but one message that was communicated without any confusion was if you can work from home, then you must. Leading to the largest ever test of mass remote working.
And this test has been a successful one, with lots of companies reporting productivity levels sustained or even improved by their employees working from home. Twitter has given permission for their employees to continue working from home forever, regardless of what happens with Covid-19 and lockdown.
So, it is safe to say that this has introduced a “new-normal” regarding working from home and spending five days physically in the office will be a lot less common moving forward, even once lockdown is far behind us.
Offices are going to be much emptier, with over half of British people saying they would like to work from home more after lockdown has finished.
You also might end up seeing the same smaller group of people, since some companies are looking at introducing rotating shifts of people coming into the office to reduce the amount of contact people are having while the threat of Covid-19 is still around. And with a vaccine at least a year away, preventative measures aren’t going anywhere.
And this is assuming your office still exists. A lot of companies have their entire workforce working remotely right now, and have continued to operate, which begs the question: why continue the expense of an office? It’s safe to assume some of these businesses will be closing their offices and switching to a solely remote working structure in the near future. The economic impact of Covid-19 will be a driving factor here, since the economic downturn will be forcing CFOs across the country to start cutting costs, and – for some – offices will be the first expense to go.
[READ THE FULL BLOG FOR ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO WITH THE IT IN YOUR OFFICE]
Many businesses are taking this opportunity to analyse and plan how they want to operate now and post Covid. Many are considering the possibility of making remote working the norm, whereas others still prefer the office setting. Not to mention a combination of the both.
We understand that times are challenging. Every business has been challenged because of this pandemic including Sweethaven, but we’re here to help. Unsure on what to do with your IT? Your office space? Please get in touch with the team and we’ll be glad to provide some support where needed.
You can also check out 4D’s guide on how to successfully remote work now and in long term.