Why social work can’t become too remote

Whole office blocks in London and other major cities remain deserted since March. The three big London investment banks HSBC, Citi and Goldman, having previously instructed staff to get back to their desks, have done what in city parlance is called a ‘reverse-ferret’ and told staff to stay away. 

Spare rooms, kitchens and even hallways are the new corporate habitat, while team meetings have been usurped by Zoom or Microsoft Teams virtual gatherings.

But what of social work? And how does a profession that has hitherto considered the quality of the relationship between client and professional so sacrosanct whole books have been written on it. I would wager that pre 23 March the suggestion that it was possible to develop a meaningful professional relationship with someone without being in the same room would have been considered at best radical and at worst unethical.