There’s no way back to where we stepped off the work treadmill- Lesley McLeod

How are you doing? Fit like? Before Covid, what were throwaway conversational gambits have become, strangely, elevated.

For many, the spare room or kitchen table is likely to remain the office for some time to come, so we must do all we can to make it effective without compromising on health and safety

For the first time, in a long time, when we ask, we really mean it!

I am writing from my kitchen table – door open, birdsong coming in through the windows. Like many people I have been working from home. Unlike many others I have been well throughout – and I feel blessed for that.

My lockdown has been business as usual with the ability to work in shorts and sandals. I have been lucky as I haven’t had to wrestle for router space with a disgruntled teenager wanting to wage war with his mates in cyberspace. I have space and a garden. I have the comfort of knowing my family and friends are safe and well. And I have my usual wages coming in from the Association for Project Safety [APS] where – perhaps more accurately, for which – I work.

Lesley McLeod, Chief Executive, The Association for Project Safety

That is not to say there haven’t been challenges. In common with many businesses APS has had to make sure the IT is up to scratch and the phones are diverted and everyone is supplied with printers and paper and ink. Someone has had to keep popping into the office to make sure the post is collected. There has been banking to do and things have had to be couriered around.

But, unlike many of our members, we were office-based. As a professional association looking out for people who specialise in risk management in construction, we have witnessed the impact the restrictions have had. On site everything has been turned upside down and, in some ways, that is no bad thing. Hygiene arrangements, for example, have been forced to come on leaps and bounds. But there has been a thicket of government announcements to fight through in order to return to work.

Because the headquarters’ team is small, we have been able to pivot the organisation to keep members up to speed with the information flow. We have been putting on weekly webinars and pumping out revisions to the rules and regulations. And the feedback has been brilliant. Not being arrogant but that’s not really a surprise.

In truth, we are reaching many more people now than ever before. It makes you question why were doing things the old way. We will certainly be making lasting changes when things are more settled.

For a start we are going to ditch the endless drag up and down to meetings in London – we’ve seen this can be done of Zoom or Teams. We won’t print so much. We will need to question the wisdom of having office space standing empty – although this is good at the moment as we will have space to distance at work. We’ll need to rethink the working day – does it really matter when things are done a long as the work gets finished on time and to standard? For us, probably not and, being able to adapt to my naturally Continental inclination, means I may be able to ditch afternoons and work on into the evenings.

But it’s not all unalloyed joy.

We will all need to think about the human side of the new normal. For many the isolation is difficult, and it can compromise mental health. And there can be a physical price to pay as well.

As the office is likely to remain the kitchen table for some time, home-working will require both emotional support and acknowledgement that work assessments and conditions must be at least equivalent to the more traditional work environment.

And, while online meetings may be cost-effective and convenient, they are draining, and you can’t simply bounce from one to another without proper breaks. We will need to pace and police ourselves better if work is not to invade more than just the spare room and be more understanding of the workload others are carrying.

The truth is that “unlock” does not mean we will go back to where we were. While we have felt stuck the world has kept on moving. There’s no way back to the point where we stepped off the old work treadmill. I, for one, don’t want there to be. We need to learn the lessons of Covid-19: the flexibility; the adaptability; and the concern for others. But we need to make the new workplace effective without imperilling the health and safety of the home workforce. It can be done. But it can’t be work on the cheap.

Lesley McLeod, Chief Executive, The Association for Project Safety