Who’s Zooming who? Logic latest…

With the UK slowly starting to emerge from lockdown, we thought it would be useful to set out our thoughts on how we will change the way we work in the coming months:

What has Logic been doing?
It’s very much been a case of business as usual for us in recent months. From the start of lockdown we all switched to working remotely from home and followed the Government’s advice to temporarily close our office in Watlington. All client ‘meetings’ have been held successfully via phone or video call and the team uses similar methods of communication (Zoom, Teams, Facetime etc) to make sure all client work is progressed in a timely fashion.

Are you now re-opening the Logic office?
Until recently one of us was popping in on at least a weekly basis, checking the post and generally making sure all is okay at the office. However, one change we have since made is to allow our staff to work from the office more regularly now that the lockdown restrictions have been eased.

Going forward, we will be steadily increasing the number and frequency of staff working from Watlington over the coming weeks. The need to reflect the social distancing rules means we might have to restrict the numbers present at any one time but we are determined to follow the guidelines and not put anyone at risk.

However, at the same time, we’ve taken the decision to keep our office closed to client visits for the immediate future.  For those familiar with our Bank Chambers location, you will know that it is impractical to operate a one-way system in the office and inserting clear screens at this stage would not provide the protection needed to guarantee social distancing for visitors. We thank you in advance for your understanding.

What about face-to-face meetings?
With the weather (largely) improving and summer here, it is understandable that we have received a few enquiries about the possibility of returning to the days of meeting clients face-to-face, particularly in an outdoor setting.

Again, we have considered this but have decided against it for the time being. This is for the following reasons:

In the normal course of events, our advisers (Harj, Lindsey & Emma) would typically meet upwards of 6-7 clients a week, in various locations and using various means of transport to get to those meetings.  We are conscious that many of our clients are either shielding or come into the “at risk” categories, so we are concerned that by agreeing to meet a client face-to-face we could inadvertently transmit the virus to a number of people before realising we had it.  This isn’t a risk we are prepared to take, for the safety not just of our clients but also of Logic staff.

Couldn’t you just wear a face covering?
At this stage we don’t believe this to be a workable solution and that it is in fact preferable for you (and us!) to “see” each other through a video call such as Zoom or Skype. So we are planning to continue with these virtual meetings for the foreseeable future.  We hope you understand the reasons why.

How long do you think these measures will last?
We plan on instigating these working methods for at least the next couple of months. If the overall Covid-19 picture hasn’t changed significantly by the autumn, we will review our processes at that stage and potentially agree individually with each of you how best we can work together going forward.

In the meantime, we hope you and your families are safe and well and that we all get to have a break of some sort this summer.