Post pandemic planning

It is important that as well as planning for and preparing to respond to pandemics businesses needed to prepare for and plan recovery from pandemics – returning to a “new normality” or perhaps back to business as usual..

Future of office space: Smaller firms less likely to reduce space, some larger firms see the opportunity for working from home enabling them to reduce space by implementing staggered hours/days, hot desking, office hoteling. Most firms see a hybrid model where many staff will be given the opportunity to work from home for part of the time but preserving a minimum core presence in the office. Staffing levels; due to cost savings over a number of years, the staffing numbers in certain areas is minimal and we hold a lot of posts which are single points of failure. Insurance and legal commentators have indicated that there has been and will continue to be an increase in COVID-19 related litigation: people having issues working from home (long term mental impacts will be tricky, accidents at home etc.); people catching COVID-19 and attributing it to someone who coughed near them or to a close work colleague for example. Staff who normally worked away from home base on short-term overseas assignments, travelling sales representatives, business development staff etc. will in many cases have continued to work using digital collaboration methods (Zoom, Teams, etc.) and may continue in this manner as part of a ‘new normal.’ McKinsey (29) estimates that about 20% of business travel may not return after the pandemic. In addition to an increased number of staffs working from home organisations had to deal with staff who will need to be mobile again, and there will be those who have continued to be mobile to some degree. There should be clear plans and procedures in place for them – particularly where constraints, vaccinations, infection rates etc. vary from those “at home”. Proper risk assessments need to be made of mobility plans and movements. Some form of journey management/risk assessment process will need to be developed and put in place, as well as clear guidelines for how to deal with possible infection, forced quarantine and so on.