The House of Lords Covid-19 Committee has launched a report with a section (from page 40) on work and some recommendations on suggested changes for aspects of employment legislation in light of increased hybrid working. The report also includes commentary from various stakeholders about e.g. increased monitoring risks, right to disconnect and inequalities of experience re hybrid working.
When this Committee was established in May 2020, very few people imagined that, a year later, our lives would still be severely restricted by the pandemic. People’s work, education, relationships, social and leisure activities and opportunities to travel have all been curtailed.
The fact that we have been able to continue with these things to the extent that we have has in large part been thanks to the internet. Indeed, the way that the internet enabled many people to continue to work, learn, trade, access services etc is what made it possible for governments to introduce the restrictions that they did; the internet enabled many of us to stay home, and to stay safe.
This dependence on the internet as a result of the pandemic has led to a massive acceleration in many pre-existing digital trends: from online shopping to online GP appointments, automation of jobs to remote working. It has been a catalyst for breaking through the inertia that existed in some sectors in relation to digitalisation and we have adjusted our behaviours and invested in technology to the extent that we have reached a level of digitalisation that we might not otherwise have done for many years. This last year of living online has highlighted starkly the huge inequalities that exist in this country. The children who have lost a year of schooling for want of a laptop and an internet connection; the businesses that could not move their trade online because they lacked the skills or broadband access to do so; those who have spent the year isolated and alone, not able to join an online community group or religious service because they have never used the internet and would not know where to start. We should, as a society, be ashamed that so many have suffered unnecessarily, for want of the things that have become such basic essentials of modern life.
The future was always going to be hybrid—an increasingly blurred mix of online and offline aspects of life. As a result of the pandemic, that future is here now. Some individuals, organisations and businesses will adapt pretty effortlessly but many millions will not. This is a societal change that affects us all, whether we want it to or not, and we believe Government intervention needs to be more fundamental than is currently being envisaged.
For this inquiry, we set out to look at the impact that the pandemic-driven digital acceleration might have in the long-term on the aspects of life known to have the biggest impact on our wellbeing: physical and mental health, social connection, education, quality of work. In each area, we found that there had been real (and sometime surprising) benefits to some people from the sudden shift to digital; benefits that must not be lost in a desire to ‘return to normal.’ We also heard plenty of examples of where digital was a very poor substitute for ‘in person’ services and interactions. This year has left many of us longing for, and appreciating, the value of human contact as never before.
Most damningly, we heard time and again that the most disadvantaged and marginalised people in society were being further marginalised and disadvantaged because they did not have the money to pay for an internet connection and a computer, did not have the appropriate space at home, or did not have the skills and confidence to fully participate in the online world.