‘When does a crisis cease and become normal?’: Corporate life is about to change in a big way

Coronavirus has changed our way of living, we all know that, but how much of it will stick? In our corporate lives, along with #MeToo and Black Lives Matter and the climate crisis, I imagine quite a lot, writes Chris Blackhurst

Office buildings of the financial district of Canary Wharf in the background (AFP via Getty)

The contrast was stark. Where I live, in southwest London, the coffee bars were doing a brisk trade at 8am. Folk were queueing for their morning caffeine shots and pastries. At Euston, 40 minutes later, on a trip to visit relatives in the north of England, everything, bar a branch of WHSmith, was closed. All the snack bars and cafes were shut. Breakfast? Forget it. Something for the journey? Likewise.

But then the normally heaving mainline terminus was quiet. Passengers were turning up for trains, as were we. Our service to Cumbria, though, was about a fifth full. Crucially, there were hardly any commuters rushing off the usually packed lines from north of the capital. They were working from home, they were buying their provisions, their coffees and pastries, from local outlets.

None of us know how long this way of living is going to last. I changed the description there – from crisis to way of living. When does a crisis cease and become normal?