“The best way to do this is through consultation, getting staff actively involved in the process and engaged in any dialogue about a physical return to work,” Parsons adds.
“Where businesses are keen to have employees return to work, there will be many different factors to consider, [for example]: the health and safety implications and the risks involved in the return to the workplace; what they need to do to make the office Covid-secure; and how they help and support their staff in returning to work.
“Having team and one-to-one meetings will no doubt help the staff communications process that should form a part of this.”
In the past, working in the financial services industry has tended to mean long hours in the office, Monday through Friday, and this is likely to have adversely impacted the careers of working mothers in particular, who may have struggled to find a work-life balance.
But after the pandemic, many businesses are likely to adopt flexible working to a much greater extent and this could easily become a permanent feature.
Greater remote working could mean that financial services jobs are opened up to candidates who wish to work in regional or rural locations or even overseas, rather than jobs being almost exclusively the preserve of the London-based, and many businesses could move to or open offices in other regional locations.
When it comes to recruiting, Parsons says where candidates live greater distances from the office, or are perhaps at higher risk from Covid, many interviews may still take place remotely.
Some businesses may decide that interviewing remotely is less time consuming and is a more efficient way of working, which enables them to more efficiently interview wider groups of candidates, and saves time if an interview is cancelled last minute.
Parsons adds: “Over the past year many employees are likely to have moved to new workplaces and might not have met any colleagues in person at all.
“If a business has decided to close some offices or move to fully remote working, then, again, this business may decide to continue with remote interviewing.”
Potential risks
But there are emerging employment risks for businesses to consider.
The key risks for businesses pre-lockdown and during the pandemic were likely potential difficulties in organising and quickly supplying the equipment and IT infrastructure needed for remote working, as well as keeping staff safe during commuting and overseas travel.
