In the wake of the coronavirus lockdown in which many people have had to work from home for the first time, and come to appreciate the many benefits that come with home working, the Government is now considering enshrining the legal right to work from home into law.
National Working From Home Day 2020 And The Impact Of The Coronavirus Lockdown
As we highlighted in a previous article, National Working From Home Day 2020 will be taking place on the 15th May 2020, and will form part of Work Wise Week 2020, which will be running from the 10th May 2020 - 16th May 2020. Hence, Work Wise Week 2020 begins tomorrow, and coincides with a coronavirus pandemic which has had a devastating impact in terms of the loss of life, the damage to health, the loss of livelihoods, the damage to the economy, and on many fronts. Indeed, the grim statistics continue to pile up. The UK death toll from the virus recently passed 30,000. Only a couple of days ago, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee forecast that UK GDP would fall by 14% overall in 2020 as a result of the impact of the virus (and by 25% in the second quarter), with unemployment predicted to rise to 9%.  Overall, if these forecasts are accurate, this would represent the largest collapse in output since 1706.
One of the side effects of the coronavirus lockdown, however, is that it has speeded up the long term trend towards home working created by initiatives like National Working from Home Day and Work Wise Week. With large numbers of people left with no alternative but to work from home due to the lockdown, many businesses are now seeing for the first time the many benefits of home working. Indeed, James Wildman, the chief executive of Hearst UK, recently told the Guardian: "Coronavirus has concertinaed a lot of change we have been seeing over the last number of years in just three months, flexible working being one of them." Financial analyst at Goodbody, John Cronin, added in the same article: "This will be a revolution in terms of how we work. There’s a lot of wastage. A lot of people travel abroad for one meeting and I think those days are over."
Given the increase in home working over the years, with 6.1% of the workforce (1.6 million) now working from home in the UK in 2019, many have been calling for a legal right to work from home to be enshrined into law, arguing that the coronavirus lockdown has inspired a cultural shift towards home working eventually becoming the norm.
The Legal Right To Work From Home
In the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, and the challenges that come with easing the lockdown and the need to maintain social distancing, including at work, the Government is now considering enshrining a legal right to work from home into law. Under the proposals, an employer would only be able to refuse an employee's request to work from home if the employee's duties and responsibilities could only be performed in the workplace. According to the Daily Telegraph, as well as a general desire to enhance flexible working in the wake of the 2017 Taylor Review, the current driving force behind these proposals is the need to ease the lockdown safely, with "a Whitehall source" stating: "We are engaging with key stakeholder and industry groups, as well as the unions, on safe working once lockdown measures have been relaxed." A Government representative also advised the Daily Telegarph that: "The Business Secretary continues to work with businesses, union leaders and the science and medical community so we can ensure workplaces are safe for those who will go back to work once the measures are relaxed and give people the confidence to return to work."
Reaction
The General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Frances O'Grady, stated: "The right to work from home would be a big step forward. People in all types of job need to be given more control over their hours and where they work. That's why we've called for all workers to have a day one right to flexible working."
Layla Moran, the current front runner to become the next leader of the Liberal Democrats added: "By introducing this law, the Government will be giving the individuals even more control over their work-life balance, leading to improved mental health and more productivity. It would also help address disparities in accessibility to the workplace, faced especially by those with childcare or other caring responsibilities. I believe this change would benefit both the employees and the employers, and has the potential to be a win-win."
