Firstly, I would like to thank you all for your continued hard work, commitment and support to individual and business clients.
I have been waiting for the opportune time to reflect on developments in the Government’s approach to Covid-19, and with the end of week approaching it feels that we are arriving at a ‘place’ even if the journey has been bumpy and the destination is not that great.
I’d also like to recognise that this current phase of Covid probably feels different to the first wave as known infection rates are higher and along with self-isolation many more people are now directly affected. I know more colleagues and their families have been directly impacted this time around and speaking from close personal experience it obviously adds a new worry to a general anxiety that many will be feeling. Thankfully, my son’s own Covid-19 illness was minor but I know others are not so fortunate and I wish colleagues and their families a speedy and full recovery.
Last week, the Government introduced a new three-tiered system in England in an attempt to standardise local restrictions and tackle the Covid-19 infection rate. Whilst the intention was to provide clarity on restrictions for each area, there is still a great deal of uncertainty and concern for many people across the country, especially the North of England.
The local area restrictions are now divided into three: medium (Tier 1), high (Tier 2) and very high (Tier 3). GC’s geographic footprint means we have new restrictions in the areas where we operate. Liverpool City Region and Lancashire are in Tier 3, Greater Manchester (GM), after negotiations with GM leaders and Government, have gone into Tier 3 today and South Yorkshire will go into Tier 3 on Saturday. Regions within the very high alert category will be reviewed every four weeks and we will keep this under review and communicate any changes you need to be aware of. You can see the full list of local COVID alert levels by area on the Government website.
I have welcomed this approach in general and the introduction of some clarity over the restrictions, which over the past few months have been very confusing. However, there are still real issues with this approach, not least how well businesses (both direct and supply chain) and individuals will be assisted during a period of closure and restrictions; as well as the lack of a clear and transparent set of indicators by which local areas will be judged to have to move through the Tiers and importantly to exit them. It is right to acknowledge the most recent improvement in the business support package but this does not take away from the overall level and lack of clarity which in part explains the hesitancy of some local authorities to agree to the tiered approach.
Moreover, the lack of a fully functioning, never mind world beating, Test, Trace and Isolate system is clearly hampering our ability to live with Covid. Whilst the evident negative wider health (physical and mental) and economic (especially, for example, the young) impacts are threatening to be the real long-term legacy of this crisis’s mismanagement; the lack of a coherent national recovery strategy will compound the situation.
Our purpose has never been more valid and our activity is needed more than ever as every individual and business you work with and help through this period will make a massive difference to their lives and livelihoods. For this, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your work (and patience, despite the uncertainty and confusion) which is very well received by clients, commissioners, our Board and stakeholders.
With this context I want to provide you and our clients with as much certainty and consistency as possible. Therefore, I can confirm that we will continue with our existing approach, which I shared with you last month, to work virtually where possible with this additional guidance and some exceptions.
I’d also like to talk to you about some personal reflections regarding the on-going work-life challenges arising from Covid that, on the current trajectory, are going to be with us for some time. I hope this lands in the spirit intended and is not seen as preaching or ‘motherhood and apple pie’ as it is well meaning and important that we all feel better able to deal with the additional challenges around the blurring of work and life that Covid is throwing at us.
Frankly the situation is a nightmare, with real and significant challenges being borne by all of us in different ways. However, I’m comforted, as mentioned above, by our purpose, the amazing work being done by you all and the fact that I know we are doing the right thing. I also hope that in some small way my following comments will resonate and help you better manage the situation:
- Individuals. We are all individuals, and our experiences will be both shared and distinct, we are far more than our work and in this period we are, literally, getting greater glimpses into the lives of our colleagues whether that’s their dog, child, or partner having a walk on role in Teams! We also know that in these circumstances life can be challenging, pressures that we are not aware of could be bearing on colleagues, so if someone seems distracted or short we need to cut a little slack and also see if we can be supportive.
- Daily Time out. Please do protect some time in the day to take a break. Lunchtime is an obvious focus and maybe should be done at a team level so there is no implicit or accidental pressure to carry on working non-stop. Also, think about reflecting the ‘commute’, this might sound crazy but a short walk at the beginning and/or end of the day will introduce a distinction between office/home time, which has become increasingly blurred - walk the dog (or borrow one), go get a coffee if possible and support local business.
- Respect each other’s working times. We need to recognise that with the increased flexibility around working times we will have more colleagues working at different times with emails etc arriving outside of core time. We all need to understand and respect each other’s approach so recipients should not feel obliged to respond to emails out of their core times from colleagues who are working different hours. There will of course be exceptions but they need to remain that rather than become accepted practice.
- Non work/task team meetings. We also need to encourage teams to dedicate time to non-work team activities – it is all too easy in the current circumstances for team meetings to become very transactional/procedural focused. Please do take time not only to think broader/future but importantly to have non-work, alternative events – I know this may sound like being told to regiment fun but I’m sure you get my point!
- Back to Back meetings. For some it’s become normal to have a diary filled with back-to-back meetings which is clearly unsustainable, unhealthy and ultimately unproductive. This never used to be the case when we travelled between meetings and it is perfectly fine to block out some think and do time. You may also want to schedule meetings as 50 minutes rather than the 1-hour default to give yourself and participants a vital breather between meetings. Conversely, when on a call we, subject to inevitable life distractions above, should give it our full attention and try not to take other calls or do other emails at the same time.
- Annual Leave. I know how precious and sensitive an issue annual leave can become and it is part of what we all need to do to help manage work-life balance. Also, unfortunately there is also the fixed requirement to take all annual leave allocation within this leave year as you will recall we cannot carry over to 2021/22 given the significant negative impact on our annual accounts.
- Home equipment. I hope the distribution of monitor, stand, keyboard and mice is helping and that more specific needs are being routed to HR.
And lastly, as we continue to work in this increasingly virtual environment, it is more important than ever for us to be cyber-safe and to protect our data. Therefore, if you haven’t already completed it, please do make sure you have completed your information security training on My Learning before the end of the month. This training will help you be more cyber aware. You will have seen that we have recently had to increase our security measures due to the number of phishing emails we have been receiving. Despite the best efforts of IT I know that we are subject to increasing and more sophisticated attacks especially emails and if you are questioning whether an email is fake, please make sure to check the sender email address and hover over the links to see where they go to.
I do hope you have a good weekend and for those of you who are taking half term off, please enjoy the time with your families.
In my next update I will include a focus on how the business is performing from a commissioner, business development and revenue perspective.