With vaccines rolling out there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. But what have we learned this year, and do we really want to go back to ‘normal’?
When things go back to normal’ is a sentence we’ve all heard – and probably all said ourselves – a lot this year. During lockdowns, out and about in our face masks, working in strange circumstances; whatever it’s been, we’ve all been guilty of wanting to go back to how it was pre-Covid.
But when we pause to think, was normal a good thing? Did it benefit everyone? Were we all feeling our best? I fear the answer to all of those questions is no.
Did someone say, pandemic fatigue?
It’s been a year of extremes and many of us are experiencing a sort of pandemic fatigue. And one of the main takeaways from this strange year has to be the importance of working together, being together and having a community to turn to.
We’ve video called a hundred times more than we ever thought we would, we’ve washed our hands until they’ve gone red, and we’ve felt a sense of doom at the 6 o’clock news. So now there is something good happening, getting a balance back is going to be really important.
While it has been exhausting from a wellbeing perspective, for everyone, it’s also been an eye-opening time. The last 12 months has given us all food for thought and the things we do while we’re at work – like supporting food banks and funding community groups - many of us now do in our personal lives too. There’s a renewed sense of purpose for businesses, and we’ve all found new ways to make a difference.
There’s a new collective understanding that we must all cherish our communities, support independent businesses and be mindful of others. Because we need to nurture a kinder world than the one we lived in pre-Covid.
Loneliness is an epidemic in itself
In years gone by it’s often been thought that loneliness only affects certain groups in society. But we’ve learned in the past few months that loneliness doesn’t discriminate, and it affects us all.
We’ve put a lot of focus on tackling isolation in the communities we work with. At work, the Buddy Club, which was launched as a temporary welfare initiative, is now continuing because we know many people are feeling isolated in life. My colleagues talk to people weekly, about anything, to remind them that we are here and that they are, truly, not alone.
Work’s been great and has done a lot of things to support its staff. We’ve become really flexible in our approach to working, giving people choice with how, when and where they carry out their duties.
We’re now nine months in to working like this; the sun isn’t showing its face like it was in spring and summer, the nights are drawing in, and winter and the cold that comes with it can be seen with the presence of polo necks and blankets in the corner of cameras. So is agile working like this a long term option?
Sure, it might be the time of year, but it’s shown us that long-term home working isn’t the answer for everyone. And while we have to adhere to it now, we will certainly be looking forward to working in a more agile way in the future, which won’t mean 100% at home.
To keep morale up and organisations thriving, every business has to prioritise the wellbeing of its staff even if it’s simply letting people know that if they need to take time, they can.
Let’s embrace a new normal
We must do more to help those in our country who aren’t thriving, as well as those who we thought were thriving but were just really good at hiding that they weren’t. Because the old normal wasn’t necessarily good, but perhaps the new normal can be.
News of a vaccine is what we’ve all been waiting for and it’s now arrived. But once we’re back out and about, in our offices, on our streets, and in our shops, let’s not lose sight of making the old normal a thing of the past and the new one part of a vibrant, more connected future.
Press and External Affairs Officer
