Advisers are taking a pragmatic to return to homeworking requirements and are having to be flexible around festivities this Christmas.
This morning, new rules came into effect ensuring people in England should now work from home if they can, as part of the government’s Plan B guidance to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Outlining his company’s position, Steve Herbert, head of benefits strategy at Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing, told Health & Protection the firm’s offices remain open for those employees that really need to use them.
“It became apparent quite early in the very first lockdown that for some employees working from home was really quite difficult, and therefore the greater flexibility in the latest working from home order allows such individuals to still attend an office if needed,” he said.
“Any employee attending the office is required to self-test with a lateral flow test before arrival, and follow other already established procedures to reduce the risk of transmission.”
‘It’s almost going back to where it was’
Alan Knowles, managing director at Cura Financial Services, told Health & Protection that his company has adopted a similar approach.
“We’re a little bit different. We’re not face-to-face – we’re telephone based.
“So for us when we heard the guidance last week, we said to people in the office, ‘it’s basically work from home’.
“So we’ve given everyone the choice. If you need to be in the office, if you can’t work at home, that’s absolutely fine, office doors will remain open but if you can work from home, then obviously you should do because that’s the guidance.”
Knowles added that he is one of just three members of staff in the office today.
“It’s very quiet. It’s almost going back to where it was in some ways – just us in a big office but we have the facilities set up for people to work from home,” he continued.
“We never went entirely back to the office anyway. Everyone went hybrid so we just gave the flexibility and said, ‘be at home when you want. Be in the office when you want.’ So it’s just still like that office but 90% of people have just said, ‘we’ll be at home for now’.”
Penny Jackson, owner of The Insurance Boutique, revealed as her business was set up during the pandemic, she went straight to online meetings from the start.
“It’s made me more efficient and able to do more meetings weekly – however I’m not sure you get to know your client as well as you would in a face-to-face,” she added.
Virtual festivities
Steve Ellis, head of employee benefit consulting at Prosperis, revealed his firm has responded to the requirements by going virtual.
“This is very difficult, but we are home working as requested and meetings are now virtual,” he said.
“All I can say is Secret Santa is going to be difficult, but the festive fun will go ahead even if virtual.”
In a similar vein, Knowles revealed Cura is continuing its plans for its Christmas party this year.
“We’re still going ahead with a Christmas party,” he said.
“We’ve just said, ‘for us, we want everyone to do a lateral flow test before and we’ve just contacted the venue, asked who else is there and we’ve corresponded with the other guests in making sure that they are all getting tests too.
“We’re still allowed to do that so it’s taking every step we can do at the moment.”
Andrew Wilkinson director at Moneysworth Life Insurance, revealed his firm took a similar approach when holding its festivities a fortnight ago.
“We had a small Christmas party a couple of weeks ago with attendees taking a lateral flow test first,” he said.
“Those who attended said it was fantastic to be together and celebrate, but it was an optional event and a couple of colleagues, myself included, did not wish to attend, which is completely understandable in the current environment.”