Boris Johnson addressed the nation last night, and unveiled new #StayAlert messaging (see tweet below) – already the subject of much criticism online – around the government response to the virus crisis.
However, his address, which can be read in full here, raised many questions, particularly in regard to people returning to work.
Johnson stated: “We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.
“And we want it to be safe for you to get to work. So you should avoid public transport if at all possible – because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited.
“So work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can’t work from home.
“And to ensure you are safe at work we have been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces Covid-secure.”
BPIF chief executive Charles Jarrold described the speech as “a bit of an anti-climax”, and said much more detail was required.
“We need to see what they say in the detailed guidance to be published today,” he said.
“Personally, what I think would help is if the government were clear on what they are trying to achieve – are they trying to eliminate the virus, or manage the infection rate?”
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Unite the Union leader Len McCluskey said: “Why didn't we wait till we've seen the 50 page document and the guidelines...before there was any indication about going back to work?”
“Millions of people this morning will be completely dumbfounded.”
He added: “We have a standing army of tens of thousands of experienced health and safety reps who can play a key role. I was looking for the government to say it will use them to ensure Covid-secure workplaces are just that and it’s unbelievable they haven’t.”
Print bosses are also awaiting more clarity.
Grafenia chief executive Peter Gunning said: “I was fascinated by the psychology of changing the colour scheme from red to green, subliminally signalling ‘stop’ to ‘go’.”
“But overall, it was a confusing message. I mean, he talked about hospitality possibly reopening from July, but the graphic was a takeaway drink cup – and takeaways are already allowed to trade. Our clients aren’t clear on what they need to do and are worried of falling foul of guidelines. We’ve been working on some common sense ideas our Nettl and Printing.com partners can use to help clients navigate, but more explicit guidance would be welcome.”
Ben Moss, joint CEO of Jupiter Visual Communications, commented: “My take on the speech is the country in split in two camps which mirrors employees in our sector. One half just want to get back to work and last night’s speech was a green light but the problem is that the majority are furloughed with companies grappling with the best way to bring them back while working out what redundancies they are planning for, and I would expect a 25% level of job losses from July onwards.
“The other half of employees have been frightened so much that they would rather sit at home on furlough until they are instructed that the world is safe now.
"The government continues to mix the message and right now the print sector along with the whole business community needs decisive clear instructions so planning for the recovery can take place.”
Everyone has a role to play in helping to control the virus by staying alert and following the rules.
— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) May 10, 2020
This is how we can continue to save lives as we start to recover from coronavirus.#StayAlert pic.twitter.com/2z9yl1Fxs4
