Julie Mazzei is a Principal Consultant at VMA GROUP focusing on interim and permanent communications recruitment in the Midlands and North.

Coronavirus has upset the business world (and the entire world for that matter) in ways that I would never have imagined and there is a long list of things I could go on about that I have hated over the last few months. However, I wanted to focus on some of the positives that will hopefully go on to change the way organisations work going forward.

To be fair, I have been in lockdown training for a few years: I already worked from home, did Joe Wicks workouts regularly and facetime my parents weekly as we live in different countries. I was already a home working champion before this all kicked-off. I love having a capsule work wardrobe, not wearing make-up every day and will never ever miss the daily commute. I’ve also learned how to manage (to a degree) the importance of stepping away from work which can be difficult to separate when you blend the two places together. I think my colleagues will echo that I have made it work very well.

Having mastered home working myself, I am always exasperated when clients tell me that they need someone on site five days a week as they do not operate a flexible working policy. I constantly question why in the hopes of them seeing that being present does not equal excellence. Clients could miss out on the best candidates for the role if I am forced to produce a shortlist of the best local candidates that are okay with zero flexibility in their working life.   

Coronavirus has at least shown the skeptical that home working does work. Employees are still productive and often get more done when they are out of the office environment with countless interruptions and unnecessary meetings. We have learned to embrace tec