A new survey has revealed that the COVID vaccination programme has boosted employees’ confidence in returning back to work.
The poll quizzed 2,000 adult respondents and found that nearly 71 percent of them were optimistic that the jab would herald a return to normal working practice. This figure is an increase of 21 percent on the end of November 2020.
The survey by Aviva also revealed that 64 percent of respondents thought that the COVID vaccine made going to work safer.
The news will come as some relief to the government, as pressure grows for a public enquiry into ministers’ handling of the pandemic. However, the case for this happening in the near future has been undermined by the relaxation of lockdown restrictions and the successful delivery of the roadmap for reopening the economy.
The Workers Union on Returning Back to Work
If employers were worried that people would be unwilling to give up their home offices, the results of this survey suggest otherwise. Employees will engage with the idea of a structured return; but what they won’t do is glide back to their old working lives in one seamless transition.
The reasons for this extend beyond the perimeters of company parochialism. People have had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the balance between long hours in the workplace and family life. They will not give this up easily, or offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to bosses eager to claw back justification for exorbitant rents.
We should expect that there will be difficulties. But the government has a part to play in helping smooth the path to creating modern working environments. They must see this as an opportunity: while cries for a public enquiry may yet yield the outcome many campaigners want, politicians could get ahead of the game and offer more support to businesses and staff on the cusp of renewing old acquaintances. This could mean creating a fund for companies in need of tech investment to create more hybrid working opportunities or more government-backed grants for post-COVID training.
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