Over the past months we’ve seen the Government discuss the benefits of face coverings and this Friday it becomes mandatory to wear a face covering in shops in England. The ongoing debate over the benefit of wearing face coverings in the workplace continues to rumble on but, how likely is it that we will eventually see guidance which enforces the wearing of these in the office?

Health secretary Matt Hancock has already very publicly stated that the government has no plans to make us wear face coverings in offices. However, in contrast to this the Environment Secretary George Eustice said he hadn't ruled it out in the future.

What we do know is that the government is keen to get people back to the workplace, demonstrated in Boris Johnsons most recent address to the nation in which we found him ‘telling’ employees to go back to work. There is already a mountain of guidance for employers to manage employees return to the office - including guidance on office set up, staggered working hours, dedicated entrances and exits etc - but, would the introduction of face coverings make the process quicker for employers and ease the anxiety that some employees are feeling about returning to work? Possibly.  

The first question is how reasonable would it be in practice to ask an employee to wear a face covering for potentially hours at a time? We’re not sure that we would be overjoyed with the prospect! If you have already been wearing a face covering in public, you will know that wearing a face covering for a short period of time is very different to the prospect of wearing one for a full working day.  

There is also the challenge of social interaction. We all rely heavily on being able to interpret one another’s mood, feelings and emotions by seeing each other’s faces and without this it will make conversations and interactions more challenging. If face coverings were to become compulsory it begs the question of what type of communication would be more beneficial, a Skype or Zoom call where employees can see one another clearly or, a meeting in person with social distancing in place and face coverings. We suspect that many employees would prefer the former even if that does mean having to work from home.

And where would employers stand if an employee refused to wear a face covering? If the Government issues guidance but not legislation on the matter it will be very challenging for a business to enforce these rules or to initiate formal disciplinary proceedings if an employee won’t comply.

Costs would also be a consideration for businesses if the burden were put on the employer to provide face coverings. At a time when businesses across the UK are making cost savings, including redundancies, is it really feasible to add this additional cost to businesses in the current climate?

Of course none of these challenges means that employers won’t find themselves faced with another U-turn from the Government on the wearing of face coverings in the office and at the moment, although we don’t believe it will become mandatory, we simply don’t know what lies ahead.  

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