243: Will your workplace look the same after COVID-19?

Are you considering your Return to Work plans now, following your initial workplace response to the COVID-19 crisis?

We think businesses should be asking themselves questions like those set out below and assessing how the answers might in turn engage with employment law, health and safety issues, as well as the general landscape relating to our clients’ commercial and financial business models. Right now is a good time, as well as a potential opportunity, to make plans which are right and good for the future of your business and we would be very happy to hear from you to help think through the answers to questions such as:

• Is it sensible to seek to re-create an identical workplace after lockdown ends?
• Is this an opportunity to re-imagine what your workplace could look like in the future?
• Is the future workplace in your business destined to be wholly or partly in the homes of your staff?
• Will all business activities or business streams remain financially viable going forward?
• Is it time to rethink your business model more fundamentally?
• Will you need fewer workers when lockdown ends?
• How is furlough linked to your plans for the future?
• To what extent do you need staff to be involved now in further workplace planning and how do you best obtain such engagement?
• Where might you need to invest more? In staff training, IT or automation?
• Do you need to consider your workplace policies in light of how you might measure performance going forwards or in anticipation of even more flexible and agile working practices?
• What might any applicable regulator think about your plans for workplace changes?
• Will changes have health and safety implications? Will your workplace risk assessment need updating?
• HMRC, the Health and Safety Executive and the Border Agency regularly carry out audits of businesses. Do you need to worry?
• Are you making full and best use of any relevant government support which may be available for your business?
• Are you keeping up to date with the government’s COVID-19 related planning which affects your business?

These are the kinds of questions which we think are worth considering carefully at this time as part of any business health check. We can assist with the process of working out the best answers to these questions for your business.

We would very much like to hear from you as to your current concerns or if you would like help answering these types of questions for your business at this time. We would be delighted to set up a virtual meeting with you and your team for a general discussion about these issues with you.

Although these issues are relevant to any business, there will be sector specific considerations to be taken into account depending on the nature of your business which we would be very happy to discuss further with you.

If you would like to set up a zoom meeting for your team or, if you prefer, you would like just have an initial chat with one of us, then please contact your usual contact within the employment team to arrange this. You can also email the team on this email and a team member will make contact with you directly.