So what is the new normal
In the last few months life has changed in a way that could not have imagined back at the beginning of 2020. At BVM we have kept our operation running throughout the lockdown with our production department doing a sterling job meeting all our delivery schedules. Safe working procedures and social distancing measures are in place of course. We’ve been doing our bit for the national effort with projects including medical panel PCs destined for the NHS, embedded PCs into a number of industries and over 1500 sub-assemblies each month for use in the manufacture of medical scanners. All in all a busy time, but very different from the old norm.
The office is quiet! The phones appear to answer themselves. That’s because non-essential staff are remote working making and taking calls from home. Meetings using Microsoft Teams are becoming the norm with the document sharing and messaging facilities proving invaluable. Sharepoint, which has always figured heavily in our engineering, production and sales departments has proved very beneficial both for office working and remote working. As we set it up over the last few years it was always designed to be flexible but who could have imagined the present situation and the intense use all our systems have had.
As lock down eases, the traffic on the roads is slowly increasing, as is the noise and congestion. Now that many have become accustomed to this remote working, will we ever want to return to how it was?
For some jobs it is essential to be present on site. In particular manufacturing roles, hospitality and retail roles. For many others though the office is good for the discipline of the daily routine. Many will miss the social interaction. In the workplace the absence of the corridor meetings and the creative what banter will never be quite as productive when carried out over a video conference.
On the plus side the absence of the commute and the time wasted sitting in traffic jams will be a welcome bonus for many.
It will be interesting to see how things settle down in the coming months and years. Will there be a property plunge as companies downsize or is the idea of remote working going to be short lived and we will all get back to the old normal? Time will tell but some changes are here to stay.