Three years on

Posted on March 21, 2023March 21, 2023 by David Hopkins

Friday, March 20th, 2020. The day we cleaned and closed our Coventry office and headed home for an uncertain future.

This was the day we said our goodbyes to friends, colleagues, and family members and waited to find out what Covid-19 would do to us next. With case numbers on the rise, the only thing we could be was proactive and protect ourselves and those around us. Thankfully, at Coventry, we’d been planning for this eventuality and took the very heavy decision to close the office. A matter of days later the instruction came from Government that all non-essential workers were to work from home, if they could, and to remain inside.

So started the three-year journey we’ve all been on.

Here’s what I wrote about this same journey after one year – March 2021 / One Year – and after two years – March 2022 / Two Years

What can we say has changed in the three years since then? Sometimes it feels like it’s easier to list what hasn’t changed than what has, it might be a shorter list, but … sadly this is where we find ourselves now:

The key workers (nurses, teachers, emergency services, delivery drivers, health workers, etc) we used to clap for every week to show our thanks have been targeted and vilified by the UK government and refused decent living wages. The UK has had and will continue to have interrupted services as they strike for wages, pensions, and working conditions. it’s pretty disgraceful how they’ve been treated, and I stand with you all as you do your best to get recognition for what you do, the conditions you have to work in, and the lack of respect our so-called government have for you.
The B-word is still causing an almighty sh*t-storm in politics, travel, visas, trade, and a massive dip in respect the rest of the world has for the UK. It’s clear we were lied to by the people who are supposed to look out for us, and all for their own personal profit (or that of their friends). Disgraceful. If I could leave, I would. Actually, I can …
We’re in the middle of an energy crisis, which isn’t what you think it is. Calling it an ‘energy crisis’ makes it sound like we’re having repeated and expected black- or brown-outs. We’re not. We’re just being fleeced by the government (again) and the energy companies as prices continue to rise and rise as the cost caps are changed and moved. Yet the energy companies continue to post record profits and the tax they have to pay somehow continues to drop. Go figure!
Society is even more divided than ever. Social media has been weaponised against anyone who dares to try and speak the truth, to speak out against injustice, or to use it in any way to voice an opinion. Musk now owns Twitter and is universally attributed for its demise; sacking swathes of Twitter staff within days of taking over, allowing hate speech and banned accounts back on the platform, etc.
Conversations around the validity and expectations of the work we do and where we do it continue. There are two sides to this; firstly the employer who wants to see their staff working, and the employer who trusts their staff to work. Yes, I know, this is a very complex issue that I’ve just simplified into a black/white situation, but ultimately the employee, the worker, sees only this. Trust me and I’ll repay you with hard work, don’t trust me and I’ll, well, leave? We’ve heard about quiet-quitting, but it’s so much more than this – it’s about trust, as I’ve said, but also about opportunities, wellbeing, work/life balance, and more.

OK. Rant over.

We have learned a lot. About ourselves. About others, About work and where we can do it (and do it well). About society and culture and wellbeing. What we must not do is lose this knowledge and experience just because someone said that Covid-19 is no longer a threat. It is – I had Covid for the first time before Christmas last year, and half the teaching staff at my wife’s school are off with Covid at the moment (even if one of them refuses to believe it and test (they keep coming to work and infecting the rest of the staff and children!! Seriously?). We have learned to live with Covid, but that doesn’t mean we need to be complacent about its transmission and infection rates, nor ignore that this is something that can still result in serious lifelong symptoms.

All in all, I am in a much better place than I have been for a while – a new fully remote role, feeling healthier and fitter than I have for a very long while (but a very long way to go), a growing (and expensive) habit in both Lego and vinyl music collections, etc. I would not be where I am now if it wasn’t for the pandemic, I would not have wished this on anyone (it could and should have been handled better and sooner), but it has led me right here. And I fully expect to maximise the opportunities ahead of me.