Coronavirus: Britons urged to return to office - but Sturgeon warns against 'intimidating' workers
Cabinet minister Grant Shapps tells Sky News there is a "limit" to home working in being able to get "some types of work done".
Friday 28 August 2020 15:53, UK
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned against any effort to "intimidate" people to go back to work ahead of a push by the UK government to encourage a return to offices.
In new adverts next week, UK government messages will emphasise the benefits of employees returning to workplaces, as well as encouraging businesses to make their offices COVID-secure.
It comes after the UK reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases since 12 June, with 1,522 people receiving a laboratory-confirmed positive COVID-19 test on Thursday.
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The new adverts will be in a similar format to previous government information campaigns such as the "stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives" media push.
The move represents a bolstering of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "back to work" message and puts Downing Street at odds with devolved governments around the UK.
In guidance published earlier this week, the Scottish government said that remote working "should remain the default position for those who can".
The Welsh government is also continuing to advise people to work from home where possible.
Ms Sturgeon warned that getting people back to workplaces "has to be done in the context of suppressing the virus".
Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing on Friday, the first minister also said she would "not countenance in Scotland any kind of narrative around this that is seeking to almost intimidate people back to work before, as a country, we have taken a decision that that is safe".
Ms Sturgeon spoke after Downing Street distanced itself from reports that those who continue to work from home could be more vulnerable to being sacked.
The Daily Telegraph quoted a government source as describing working from home as "not the benign option it seems".
"Suddenly the word 'restructure' is bandied about and people who have been working from home find themselves in the most vulnerable position," the source was quoted as adding.
Labour called on the government to condemn the reports.
Speaking to Sky News earlier on Friday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps called for "common sense" between employers and employees on the return to workplaces.
He said: "We're absolutely clear that employers and employees need to work together to resolve this.
"There are, of course, a whole host of employee protections in place. If employees have concerns about the workplace, for example, the Health and Safety Executive, the local authority, will be the right places to go.
"The vast majority of employers just want to get their businesses back up and running, they want to do the right thing."
Mr Shapps added that the government's message to workers was that "it is now safe to go back", adding: "Your employer should have made arrangements which are appropriate to make sure it is coronavirus-safe to work.
"You will see some changes, if you haven't been in for a bit, as a result."
Nearly half of workers did some work from home during the coronavirus lockdown.
But Mr Shapps said there was a "limit" to the use of video-conferencing software, such as Zoom, in being able to get "some types of work done".
"Clearly there are things you can't just do remotely, and a lot of those people have carried on working," he added.
"But for the rest of us, also, you just miss out on that human spark when you're not with people.
"You will find the office has been reorganised into a coronavirus-avoidance friendly environment and probably a few changes as a result."
Figures compiled for Sky News revealed that worker footfall in Britain's cities was just 17% of pre-lockdown levels in the first two weeks of August.
Office attendance flat-lined despite the government abandoning its "work from home" guidance on 1 August and Mr Johnson personally urging staff to return.
A survey of businesses by the Office for National Statistics showed that, between 27 July to 9 August, 42% were working at their normal place of work.
This compared to 39% working remotely instead of at their normal place of work.
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Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, has warned the UK's city centres will continue to be "ghost towns" without the return of workers to offices, which she described as "vital drivers of our economy".
The CBI is calling for a "hybrid" approach of encouraging both home working and office working to "get the best of both worlds".
The British Safety Council said that now was "not the time for unnecessary trips to the office", as it expressed concerns about the UK government's new push for workers to return.
Its chair, Lawrence Waterman, said: "This new campaign should be more about choice - treating workers as responsible adults who should agree with their employers a sensible balance of work in formal workplaces and home."
Carlone Waters, the interim chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "The lessons of 2020 show that different forms of flexible working can be combined to create effective working conditions which benefit both employer and employee.
"We'd urge the government to bring forward its planned consultation on flexible working and reiterate our calls for it to be the default, unless there is a genuine business reason not to, and to make it a day one right."