UK lockdown: ‘all employers can do is stand by their staff’

Following yesterday’s evening (23/03/20) announcement by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he has officially put the UK on lockdown stating “you must stay at home.”

Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has explained that immigration checks will have to change from face to face to online checks and said:

The Prime Minister reinforces the need for businesses and workers to access government support measures as quickly as possible. With the economy and jobs market in lockdown, all employers can do is stand by their staff as far as possible and reap the benefits during the post-crisis comeback.

On a practical note, this latest development makes it an absolute pre-requisite to enable online Right to Work checks as a pragmatic alternative to face to face checks. Right to Work checks currently apply to all workers subject to immigration law. We expect government to make this change in light of the lockdown measures.

Remote working will now be the new norm except for “key workers”. As COVID-19 has spread over the past few weeks, more people have adopted remote working but have stated that it brings both pros and cons with it. Resulting in people coming forward to give tips regarding remote working; Lord Mark Price believes you must trust your staff

Lord Price said:

You have to trust people, know what their aim is for the week and let them do it. Research in to remote working states that it can increase an employee’s mental health and productivity. That is part of the reason why you should trust your staff whilst working remotely.

However, Lord Price did explain that remote working makes certain aspects of the job more challenging, and said you must work harder to get feedback from your staff. You have to work harder to provide recognition for members of your team, as if you do not recognise your staff for their hard work, they may start to feel isolated from their team very quickly.

Still, it has also been stated that remote working can lead to ‘burnout’ and an ‘always-on’ culture. Buffer, a software application for the web and mobile conducted a survey, the state of remote work 2019, which found that employees who work flexibly or remotely are struggling with unplugging from their jobs, loneliness, and communication.

Darius McQuaid

[email protected]

Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.

This author does not have any more posts.