What will be the new norm? We’re in the sixth week of lockdown in the UK, and while many of us are feeling restless for change, Boris Johnson has warned us we must continue to stick to social distancing measures to fight the spread of the virus. Speaking on Sunday, Foreign Secretary told us that when the UK does begin to ease out of lockdown, we will be moving into a ‘new normal’ rather than a sudden return to our lives pre-coronavirus With the world changing so rapid;y that this time last week feels like years in the past. Over the last six weeks alone, we have seen unprecedented changes to every part of our lives.
How will these changes impact us in the long term? Could temporary laws lead to bigger cultural shifts further down the road? Will any be here to stay? People from all walks of life have tested positive for the virus – political figures, to our own friends and neighbours, to celebrities. But on the flipside this inequality has been put into sharp relief. If we look at who is able to work at home from their living room to stay safe, while others have had to brave the London Underground, for example. Or when we contrast the circumstances of permanent workers with those in a less secure position. So we have all got the challenge of staying safe, some people are in a better position than others because of the type of contract they’re employed on or because of the patterns of their work or their rate of pay. Suddenly those with trade union agreements have much better redundancy protection.
Similarly a sudden change in the value society places on the work done by supermarket staff and delivery drivers could alter the way that we view wages. What level should the minimum wage be? What should the minimum wage be used for? Should it be used for huge group of people on whom we rely enormously to keep us safe? I believe that one of the fallouts of inequality like this could eventually lead to some kind of positive change and there is going to have to be a fairer system.
I also believe that there will be a huge change in office culture now that people in professional jobs have proved that working from home is more than successful. If Zoom meetings and Slack discussions go off without a hitch, surely the concept of the home office should be here to stay? It makes good sense that if employees can work from home successfully and still maintain the same kind of productivity, it makes no sense of the daily commute which apart from loading the hours spent at work, just think of the difference this would make to our overcrowded road system. Businesses could then shift to having smaller flexible office spaces, or sections of co-working sharing hot desks on different days. The implications of office workers no longer needing to flood into the centre of cities like London and Manchester every day could be huge. (The Mayor of London would no longer be able to top up his piggy bank) Big city offices would be used less, and could become more like flagship stores or flagship offices, which employees might visit a few times a year for whole-company events.
The government has pledged to cover 80% of some workers wages. But, while this is a promising start, new measures don’t yet cover the costs that are needed for an out of commission business to stay afloat during the crisis. What will the knock on effect of widespread business closures be and lay-offs be? What happens when more people than ever are forced to claim benefits? We were already heading for a recession before the virus hit us so we will definitely have a recession or at least an economic downturn of some form. The question is whether it’s just a dip and then we come out of it quite rapidly, or if it will last much longer. It’s not a good thing to say, but at least the whole world is effected, some countries worse off, others slightly better and I think it is every country’s interest to see that a world recession is over sooner rather than later. While some countries are trying to gain power by interfering with other country’s processes and if you like spreading alarm with false news, there is not a single country who can afford to go to war.
These are just the thoughts of how I see the dreadful COVID-19 affecting our country, my problem is that after nearly seven weeks in lockdown I’ve had far to much time to think, and far too much time to read the outpourings of every expert with an opinion. My belief still is that when we come out of it, and we will, the world will be a kinder and better place. God bless and stay safe.
