Backwards to “work from home”

“Work from home” is a continuing divisive subject and the latest guidelines from HMG have brought it to the fore once again. Being December, its fair to say that the directive might not have much of an immediate impact but how will the future pan out and what are the longer term issues?

Two contrasting points from people in my network have been highlighted in the past week

Firstly lenders are perhaps becoming uneasy about businesses which are too reliant on remote working. Rightly in my opinion, they are wary of the ability of such a business to truly work as a unit and also be in a position to grow. The dynamism is lost and for this very reason, I understand that underwriters at at least one bank are writing down the ratings of businesses lost in what the consider to be the drift of constant WFH. I tend to agree with their assessment

A totally different issue is one raised by a valued friend in a high quality professional services organisation and one I hadn’t considered enough. It’s a point that also demonstrates the disconnect between the young and the experienced on this issue and also between those who believe they can manage people and those that can. The issue is one of confidence. My contact has found that junior staff are finding that they are often losing confidence working in isolation and this is something I can appreciate having managed many teams in my career. It is assumed that the office presence is solely so that the management can check that their staff are actually working but thats really only a fraction of the story. At any stage of a career but especially in your early days, endorsement is essential for building confidence and this can only be achieved by managers being a genuinely sympathetic presence. Presence being the key word here

WFH is here to stay but I strongly believe it should be the exception in the working week rather than the rule. A rudderless business with low morale is the likely alternative

Business recovery loan changes

Better late than never, here is a summary of the changes for the extended BRL

Clearly the lending is gradually being scaled back and I sense that we will not see an extension beyond the end of june

At Autumn Budget 2021, the government announced that the Recovery Loan Scheme will be extended by six months to 30 June 2022.

From 1 January 2022, the following changes will come into force:

• The scheme will only be open to small and medium sized enterprises (turnover less than £45 million)
• The maximum amount of finance available will be £2 million per business (maximum amount per Group is limited to £6 million)
• The guarantee coverage that the government will provide to lenders will be reduced to 70%
• These changes will apply to all offers made from 1 January 2022