New reports claim that the UK government is looking into ways of permanently implementing flexible working conditions including the option of never having to go back to the office again.
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Working from home, unless absolutely essential
In fact, the new plan that is currently being discussed would involve making it illegal for companies to force their employees to have to work from the offices. The only exception to the rule would be if being physically present in the workplace is absolutely essential to complete your job, such as waiters or essential workers. Although no official confirmation has been made, the government will have a clearer picture of the proposal by the end of the summer. A Whitehall source said:
We are looking at introducing a default right to flexible working. That would cover things like reasonable requests by parents to start late so they can drop their kids at childcare.
And added:
But in the case of office workers in particular it would also cover working from home - that would be the default right unless the employer could show good reason why someone should not.
'We won't go back to the status quo'
With the recently extended social restrictions announced earlier this week, Cabinet Office minister Michael Grove suggested that the way Brits go about their working lives would change forever long post the pandemic. In a statement he said:
We won't go back to the status quo.
In other parts of the continent, companies are looking for ways to keep up with the changing times that have only been accelerated in light of the pandemic. Certain companies in Spain, for instance, are trialling four-day working weeks (something Japanese companies have been practicing for several years now).
While other corporations, such as Twitter and Facebook, have recently given their employees the option to choose whether they wish to return to the offices or permanently work from home.
