The Covid pandemic continues to cost lives and to test mental health. It has stolen education and more than a year of social interaction. Many of the things we took for granted might never be the same again.
We can’t change what’s already happened, but will we be able to squeeze something positive out of this experience?
When it comes to getting back to our offices, we’ve got choices to make. What date will we start to go back? Will that be the whole firm at once, or will it be phased? Will it be full time or will there still be some remote working? Will we give our staff any choice?
Hiding amongst those questions is another one. What will our purpose be for travelling to our office on any given day? Or for staying at home, for that matter?
We can grab the chance to get back to the old routine, buy the same old season ticket and try to pretend Covid never happened; we can dictate a new policy about where our colleagues will spend their time on different days of the week; or we can encourage our colleagues to plan what they’ll look to achieve with their time that day, and trust them to gauge whether home or the office will be the better place to do that.
If we decide to travel (or stay at home) with a purpose in mind, we might be onto something.