Member-only story
Governments Ignoring Covid’s Wake-up Call for Travel
Supporting the hospitality industry is not the way to restart the economy.
It has been reported that one of the reasons the UK government wants people to stop working from home is because it is bad for the businesses that serve office workers in ghettos of bureaucracy like the City of London.
It seems utterly bizarre that people are being told to commute to work for no better reason than to provide profits for the proprietors of coffee shops and restaurants and the owners of city office blocks.
People who work from home still need to consume food and drink. Doing it at home means they are supporting local businesses, those small shops and cafes that are the beating heart of a community.
Working from home eliminates congestion on routes into the city, reduces fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
Apparently, working from home suits employers as well as employees. They can operate from smaller premises with lowered energy bills and the reduction of other overheads making them more efficient.
Where the employee has a young family it can mean they do not have to rely on someone else to care for those children.