‘Pandemic was a wake-up call for most Britons’

PANDEMIC and the lockdown made most Britons re-evaluate important aspects of their lives, two recent independent studies suggest.

More than three-quarters of people in the UK say the coronavirus pandemic has made them re-evaluate the most important aspects of their lives like work, relationship and living place, says a recent survey by thinktank Global Future.

The survey, conducted on 2000 people, states that while more than a third had thought about changing jobs, a separate third had looked at moving house. One in 10 people said they had looked at moving abroad and almost one in 10 had considered breaking up with their partner or starting a new relationship.

Claiming that the pandemic had been a wake-up call for many people, cultural psychologist and founder of Global Future Gurnek Bains urged the government and employers to put in place structures to help people make changes to their daily lives.

“The pandemic forced us to confront the big questions about what we do, where we live and who we love,” said Bains.

“The problem is that the British people have changed, but Britain has not. Structural barriers continue to restrain our freedom to act on our dreams.”

A separate polling from Aviva also found similar revelations how most people have been re-evaluating work-life balance during the lockdown.

Pandemic has made almost half of employees less career-focused- up from a third in August 2020- the survey says.

About 44 per cent of people said they were unable to switch off from work “as many employers are seen to encourage an always-on, ever-present culture”.

Half of people complained that the boundary between work and home had become "increasingly blurred". And the impact of that has disproportionately affected women, with 46 per cent concerned about burnout - compared to 35 per cent of men, says the Aviva survey.

Men were more likely to favour a full return to the office, while more women said they prefer working from home full time.

Debbie Bullock, wellbeing lead at Aviva, told the BBC's Today programme: "The pandemic may have been a collective experience, but the impact has been fragmented in so many ways, with women especially facing particularly acute stresses from the blurring of lines between home and work.”