New home working order another blow for small firms

It's a Christmas present that tens of thousands of businesses were dreading.

From Monday, the government says, people should once again work from home "if you can", as measures are stepped up to fight the Omicron variant of Covid.

The move comes after 20 months of pandemic disruption, just as Christmas festivities were supposed to be ramping up.

Some companies have done well out of working from home, as rises in the share prices on Wednesday of delivery firms Ocado and Deliveroo show.

But for others, the latest Plan B move is another layer of uncertainty. As one business owner told the BBC: "I can't quite believe the timing."

He runs a group of small inner-city gift shops, dependent on office workers and passing trade. After the last lockdown, several shops were closed permanently and rental leases on others are in the middle of re-negotiation.

"No business needs this bad news during a restructuring," he said.

The BBC tested the mood among several owners of small businesses - and staff - about the new guidance to work from home.

David Abramovitch says his chain of nine café restaurants in London were only just starting to get back on their financial feet after the last lockdown.

It will be "painful" to go into "reverse gear again", said the chief executive and co-founder of Grind.

He needs people back in the city's centre, and working from home obviously doesn't encourage people to do that, he said.

"Already we've seen a big drop-off in Christmas party bookings since the Omicron variant emerged. This this will further exacerbate that hit."

The firm, which has 250 staff, is lucky because it also has a coffee machine pods business that is likely to benefit from more home working.

That should protect the business from serious damage, Mr Abramovitch said.

Even so, "Christmas is an incredibly important trading period. Almost all business like our lose money in January, so we have to make more in December."

James Greenhalgh says he felt sick to his stomach when he heard the reports about a likely work-from-home order.

He owns the Flamingos Coffee House, in Leeds city centre, and says about 50% his trade comes from the local office crowd.

"We've had such a hard time in the pandemic and things were just starting to pick up again. The rules change every week, it seems. It's just so hard. I've genuinely thought about whether to throw in the towel."

He employs six staff at Flamingos and was just about to open a much bigger second shop - plans that he will have to put on ice now.

Christmas is a vital period for the business, he says, and he's got staff and rent to pay. If the government doesn't provide more financial assistance, he fears many businesses like his will have to close.

"The government should have been clear with business owners what might happen if a new variant came along. They should have told us about the contingency plans," he says.

"But there is no information and that makes it impossible for businesses to plan ahead and grow."

Rich Bool was already noticing more staff working from home, even before the latest restrictions. He runs a mobile café, making up to 30 trips a day to offices and industrial estates.

"It can be so difficult trying to work out from one week to the next what stocks and sandwiches you need," says Mr Bool. "There are just so many variables. More uncertainty is never welcome."

He has, however, learned a lot from previous lockdowns and mass home-working. Having a van means his Chippenham-based Cafe2U service can be nimble, going to where the best custom might be.

Mr Bool now even visits some customers at their homes. "We've built up a trusted relationship with some of our customers when we went to their offices.

"Now we take our food and drink to a few of them at home," he says. Sometimes, neighbours will spot his van and come out for food and drink.

He adds: "Obviously it's easy to make your own sandwich. But when you're working from home all the time, sometimes it's good to buy something if it's on your doorstep."

There have been occasions, he adds, when customers have had a type of "water-cooler moment" on the pavement.

Christmas lunches are in full swing in the Oast House in Manchester. In a huge alpine-themed marquee, four parties are under way.

Robyn, Heidi and Ruth are joined by a dozen colleagues from their offices, for fizz and a catch-up, and none of them are pleased about the idea of a return to working from home more often.

Heidi was at work full-time for more than six months and really missed her colleagues. "I felt like I was living at work rather than living at home," she said. "And I missed being around people and bouncing ideas off them."

Robyn feels the same: "I think it's better for us to be in the workplace, with our colleagues, supporting each other. Working from home is really isolating."

Heidi adds: "When we had the first lockdown, we didn't know what we were up against. I feel so much better prepared. I feel like we're safe now and we don't need to do that anymore."

The ladies said everyone at work has had at least two vaccinations.

Ruth, who is a practicing dentist and has to be in work for patients, feels like they've learned enough to keep working as they are.

She said: "With the vaccinations and the PPE, we have to learn to live with these things. If you lock people down constantly, they are just going to stop, they're not going to behave themselves."

Ruth said: "I am someone who plays by the rules. So if I'm frustrated, what's it like for those who don't?"