OPINION: How can we get back to work well?

The Government yesterday announced an easing of the social distancing rules and as we start to look for ways to return to "normal", how do the changes to the social distancing rules affect you and your business?

We have become used to checking the dots on the floor of our local supermarket and to making sure we aren't standing too close to each other. We have also become used to waiting patiently outside local shops to make sure they aren't overcrowded. Being patient when we go shopping has, I hope, become more normal. Equally, we have got used to working from home and schooling from home to enable social distancing and reduce the risk of the spread of coronavirus.

Today though, if you are a business owner who has just spent a considerable amount of time and money on marking up and rearranging your shops, offices or restaurant – is it a sense of relief or a frustration you are feeling?

The rules as they have been released yesterday (23rd June) may not be as clear as you want and the devil will be in the detail, however, for now, we know that from 4th July the advice will change so that where it is possible to keep two metres apart, people should. Where it is not possible, the advice is that people keep a social distance of "one metre plus", meaning they should remain one metre apart, while "taking mitigations to reduce the risk of transmission".

Some of the suggestions in the guidance will already be very familiar and include avoiding face-to-face seating by changing office layouts; reducing the number of people in enclosed spaces.

Improving ventilation and using protective screens and face coverings and providing hand sanitiser. I have seen many of these measures working well throughout East Devon in shops and offices.

On the flip side of this, I have also had two enquiries this week, one from an employee who said that she and her colleagues felt nervous about returning to work as they did not think their employer had created a safe environment – the employer had said if they didn't return they would be sacked.

The other enquiry was from an employer who had an employee who didn't want to come back to work but wouldn't specify why – it wasn't the same employer!

To answer the first question - as an employee, you have the right not to be dismissed if you complain about or refuse to work in unsafe conditions and you would be able to make a claim regardless of how long you have worked for your employer.

To answer the second – is it essential that your employee comes back to work? If so, are they coming back to a safe place of work? What have you done and how have you communicated with them that it is safe? Have you carried out a Covid-19 Risk Assessment? Have given reasonable notice and is the employee is returning to their usual job? What are the reasons they don't want to come back?

If you are satisfied that you can answer those questions positively and your employee can't give you a reason not to return, then you are making a reasonable request and they should return.

In truth however, butting heads and making demands rarely works well. Understanding the others point of view – putting yourself in their shoes, is more likely to create a situation where compromise is possible. My advice to the employee was to let their employer know that they want to return to work; that they want to see the business open again and welcoming customers; remember that customers too will want to be reassured that the business has taken precautions to keep them safe and what simple solutions or adjustments could the employer make to enable the business to open? Work together to find solutions that will work for everyone and be prepared to compromise.

We all of us are still learning about this virus and in truth none of us has the perfect answer, but I encourage both employers and employees to work together because it is in all our interests to do that so that the economy can regenerate and the routines which ground us and support us can be rediscovered.

If you need advice and support to get your people back to work well, give Sue at call at East Devon HR on 07989 237057 or visit www.eastdevonhr.co.uk.