Temperature tests, taped-off lifts and potential spikes in harassment complaints are all being examined by British businesses as they prepare for a slow and staggered return to work.
Companies have already been scrambling for legal and practical advice as they prepare for the realities of managing workplaces during the Covid-19 crisis. However, there are already major concerns that workers are unclear about what to do if they are being put at risk, while industry figures also warn that the mental health impacts of returning to a new “alien environment” are not being prioritised.
Taped squares in lifts, protective screens between workstations and repurposed meeting rooms are among the basic measures being prepared. A surprisingly wide range of businesses are said to be considering more drastic action, such as the introduction of temperature tests for staff on arrival, according to employment lawyers. Such testing is fraught with potential issues. The enforcement of testing – and recording whether or not a staff member has contracted coronavirus – are areas that could be tested in the courts.
An increase in whistleblowing complaints is also likely, as workers see different employers taking different approaches to the loosening of lockdown – a tension created by differing interpretations of government guidance.
Kevin Rowan, the TUC’s head of health and safety, warned that a huge public awareness campaign was needed to ensure workers know their rights. “What is the public information message so that people know what employers are required to do, and that there is somewhere they can go to complain?” he said. “We need to make that more transparent, as well as boosting enforcement.”
There are also warnings of a spike in sexual harassment and other harassment allegations as employees readjust to life in the workplace, with some social distancing rules likely to remain in place.
A memo composed by a London-based team at the law firm Morgan Lewis warns: “Employers may face a spike in employee misconduct, grievances and litigation as employees adapt to their new workplaces following the long period of isolation. For example, employers may see an increase in sexual harassment issues as employees return to the workplace, and other harassment complaints where employees fail to respect personal space or comply with safety guidelines.”
Meanwhile, business groups warn any significant return to work is entirely reliant on the reopening of schools and childcare. Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “To say to an employer that schools are going to be open for a couple of year groups on alternate days for a few hours at a time does not solve the problem of getting people back to work.”
The government is also being warned to take the psychological impacts of the lockdown as seriously as the logistical difficulties. “We don’t think what we’ve seen so far recognises the emotional impact and anxiety that people will have of what is essentially an alien environment that some people will be returning to,” said David D’Souza, a director at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Public transport bosses warn that services will operate at 20% capacity under current rules. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty
Both unions and employer groups have told the Observer that the main concern cropping up over the potential return to work is the commute. Employers will be urged to stagger shifts and start times far more to help ease the pressure on traditional peak-time services.
“At the start of the pandemic, we were seeing pictures of congested trains,” says Rowan. “While that has eased a lot, there are still pretty regular concerns.”
Public transport bosses have warned that current social distancing rules would see them operating at 20% capacity or less, causing obvious concerns about those rules being breached or cars clogging up cities.
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