“This has been a wakeup call. Our vulnerability has been laid bare.”
We have all had to change over the past few months. Our views and approaches to life and work have had to adapt and it is highly unlikely that we can take a step back from here.
Over the course of history, global events have all had an impact on previous generations. In this context, 2020 will be another event in the world’s dark history and will indelibly be marked down as the year of coronavirus.
From a corporate prospective, coronavirus has forced every company to adapt. Employees are now largely working from home and communications with colleagues is no longer a short walk to their desk.
In a few short weeks, we have had to fast-track our knowledge of how to work remotely, not dress for work or fight the commute. Instead we are thinking about the wellbeing of our families and the extraordinary work being done by the health services.
During this period, Western companies have undergone more disruptive structural change than at any other period since the Second World War.
For those who have jobs to go back to - when we can - it cannot be on the same terms as before. Businesses will be remembered for how they treated their employees and clients, long after a cure is found. There are already many heroes but also villains. And social distancing, as things stand, will be in place for a long time to come.
How businesses adapt to this new world remains to be seen, for as things stand there are no right or wrong answers, but rotational systems were trialled going into this pandemic, and are likely to continue afterwards. It is going to be awkward, but we will adapt, and may well mean the death knell of many large offices.
Out of this we now know how well – or how badly - we can work from home and without doubt it will be advantageous for companies to lean on this newfound skill.
Going into this year, we had already started to see tangible changes in corporate attitudes. We were starting to see a desire amongst many of the largest companies in the world to do the right thing. The 2020’s was marked down as the decade for change. Companies were being held to account by big banks and other investors. Good corporate citizenship was the goal.
In the new world that we now in, this must be the base case at the very least. This has been a wakeup call. Our vulnerability has been laid bare, especially the precariousness of life (which was far more apparently to our forebears). We must ensure that we do not make the same mistakes again.
There will be new expectations on companies to make tangible differences to society. Corporate citizenship will be raised several notches, with far higher accountability and I believe a stronger desire by stakeholders to change for good.
On top of which, there is also likely to be greater focus on smarter business continuity, with closer supply chains and greater emphasis on domestic markets.
The die has been cast. There are big changes afoot.