Kate Andrews
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France will implement masks at work on Tuesday next week, and it will take a while for the effects to become known. Fifty of the largest UK employers have no plans to get their staff back to the office, according to a new survey from the BBC, which means millions of staff continuing to work from home for the foreseeable future. Face masks could be perceived as a comfort blanket, as they were designed to get people back on public transport, boosting the confidence of workers so they can return safely. (That was the argument for shopping but, as it turned out, compulsory masks led to two million fewer people in shops.) Yet it could also backfire: for many, the prospect of wearing a mask at different points throughout the working day – walking around the building, in meeting rooms, etc – will put them off the office altogether.
There is not the same enthusiasm to return to the office in Britain as there is in other major European countries: only a third of UK workers have returned to their desks, compared with roughly two thirds in France and Germany. A poll from Eskenzi found that more than 90 per cent of workers want to keep working from home at least part-time, citing ease and comfort as a major reason for wanting to do so. Creating a less comfortable working environment may have the ill-intended consequence of keeping people away.
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