When will people have to go back to their offices and what guidelines will they follow?
The Prime Minister is reportedly set to soon end his ‘work from home if you can’ policy.
Current guidance could be set to change as MPs push for Boris Johnson to review them in a bid to boost the economy.
With returns to the office now a possibility in the short term, here’s what we know so far about when we might have to go back en masse and what the safety guidelines might be.
When will office workers have to go back to work?
It’s thought that the PM will ask employees to return to work from August.
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Mr Johnson previously said on the subject: ‘I want people to go back to work as carefully as possible. It’s very important that people should be going back to work if they can now.
‘I think everybody has sort of taken the “stay at home if you can” – I think we should now say, well, “go back to work if you can”.
‘Because I think it’s very important that people should try to lead their lives more normally.
‘I want to see more people feeling confident to use the shops, use the restaurants, and get back into work – but only if we all follow the guidance.’
Mr Johnson is expected to say on Friday that the ‘get back to work’ plans are intended to be gradual rather than a chance for employers to immediately rush staff back to their offices.
What could office safety guidelines be?
It’s highly likely that the rules for being an office will include social distancing to reflect the office lockdown guidelines currently in place.
Other Government safety measures in place which could likely be carried on as more offices open are:
- Having a one-way system for moving through buildings
- Reducing movement between areas
- Reducing the max number of people allowed in lifts
- Arranging the office to ensure people can work far away from each other, and using screens to separate workers where this is not possible
- Avoiding hot desking
Even simple things we take for granted as part of office culture could come to an end, such as sharing cake when it’s someone’s birthday or doing a tea round for your colleagues, because of the hygiene implications associated with handling and being in close proximity to other people’s food and drink.
Similar to that, it’s likely that sharing stationery and other office equipment will be against the rules, because they could act as a transmitable surface for the virus.
When it comes to face coverings – which are mandatory on public transport and will soon be mandatory in shops in England – on Wednesday health secretary Matt Hancock said that face masks would not be compulsary in offices.
However there seems to be a lack of clarity on that front as a senior government source told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Wearing face coverings at work is already part of our guidance in some settings.’
Another source has told The Telegraph there are ‘no current plans’ to recommend that face coverings be worn in all settings, such as offices, but added that ‘things are moving very quickly and nothing can be ruled out’.
The PM is set to outline a roadmap on Friday for how a mass return to offices over the next nine months could be executed safely, including recommending that people avoid travelling in rush hour from 7am-9am, and that people drive, walk or cycle to work where they can.
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