I spent a couple of days last week at a large insurance conference in Brighton. While I had to present my Covid pass to gain admission, there were no masks, only limited social distancing, and no obvious sign that the pandemic ever existed.
We now know that the government response to the pandemic, at least in the early days, represented one of the worst ever public health failures. A committee of MPs recently concluded that delaying the introduction of lockdown measures cost thousands of lives.
It can be hard to take decisive action. Often, the right way and the easy way are two separate paths. When contrary to others’ behaviour, making the first bold move can feel socially awkward and inconvenient, requiring a lot of self-confidence.
As society returns to some sort of normal, it will be all too easy to forget any lessons learnt during the pandemic. We might lull ourselves into the false sense of security that comes with the belief something like this won’t ever happen again. Spoiler alert; it almost certainly will.
Despite the near-certainty of a repeat pandemic performance, probably sooner than we want and with greater severity, some quarters want everything to be the way it was before this virus landed. Landlords, politicians funded by landlords, and old-school managers seem especially keen to drag the workforce back to traditional office environments.
Even the FCA is getting in on that act, publishing new guidance highlighting the potential increased risk of financial crime for remote-only firms. The regulator made clear that they expect access to anywhere work is happening, whether that’s your spare bedroom or an office by the beach.
The pandemic forced us to experiment with working practices and ways of life that we might not have otherwise discovered. Remote-working and meeting with clients via Zoom perform just as well as commuting to an office or driving to face-to-face meetings in living rooms across the country.
Saving an hour or two a day on the hellish commute to an office creates lifestyle opportunities of the type promised by technological innovations. Despite having powerful technology tools at our disposal, the past 20 years have seen little benefit to the financial planning community regarding improved efficiencies or reduced working hours.
Hanging onto the ‘good bits’ from the pandemic experience, including a more pragmatic approach to remote working, is undoubtedly a good outcome and one that progressive employers will be keen to support.
Martin Bamford is chief executive at Bamford Media
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