How Lockdown Broke the Will to Work

The former boss of Waitrose, Lord Price, has blamed lockdowns for annihilating the will of many Britons to go to work. Not surprising really, because lockdowns effectively gave workers a taste of what it’s like to be retired. But for those of working age the favoured option is to go on a permanent sickie, with the main concern being to maximise sick pay. The Telegraph has the story.

Many workers are now more worried about sick pay than other in-work benefits, Lord Price said, as he highlighted research from his think tank WorkL showing that almost a fifth of people who said health was a major issue in their workplace were most concerned about sick pay.

“It’s a reflection of attitudes,” he said. “We picked up lots of comments about ‘we want sick pay to be increased’ or ‘we want sick pay time to be extended’. And so there is something about ‘I want to be paid better for being off sick’.

Lord Price, who also served as Trade Minister, said lockdowns during the pandemic had “undoubtedly played a part” in the rise in economic inactivity since 2020, with close to 2.8 million people now neither in work nor looking for a job due to long-term illness.

He added that lockdown, which saw millions of people receive Government-funded furlough payments, had paved the way for a sick-note culture.

Lord Price told the Telegraph: “I just think that those Covid years found people being paid to be at home. And as a consequence of that and not working, I think there is a mindset switch about: well, the state will pay for us to be at home or not to work.

Not only is this chronic problem helping to prevent economic growth, but it’s also a reflection of unhappiness at work.

The study also found that British workers were among the unhappiest in the world. Just 74% of Britons believed their job meant they were doing something “worthwhile”, which was the joint lowest score with Ireland.

No surprises there for readers of this website. Back in 2020 it was already obvious that lockdowns were going to leave a devastating and long-lasting legacy far worse than the problem they were supposed to solve.

Worth reading in full.