Get used to it: working from home may be for life, not just for Christmas | Imogen West-Knights
England has changed its rules in the face of Omicron, and this time there’s a sense of resignation in the air
In 2018, a man in Germany slipped on his way to work. The fall broke one of his vertebrae, and as such his workplace insurance was obliged to pay out for the accident. This wasn’t your average commute, though: the man was walking between his bedroom and his home office when he fell on the spiral staircase between the two rooms. Against the protestations of his company’s insurer, Germany’s federal social court ruled last week that the journey, less than a minute and inside the man’s own home, counted as a workplace accident.
Although the accident took place before the pandemic, the verdict comes at just the right moment: it feels like the latest brick removed from the wall that separates the home from the workplace. Last week Boris Johnson announced yet another return to home working in England, where possible. Just as many businesses had finally got their heads around hybrid working, or indeed had mandated a full return for workers, a large proportion of the country has now had to turn around again.
Imogen West-Knights is a writer and journalist based in London
