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If nothing else, the Covid-19 pandemic will force businesses to re-evaluate the way they approach and do business in the future. What has been very apparent is that many businesses have coped admirably, whilst others who were not ready to face the challenges or who have had to close during the pandemic have struggled. Fundamentally it has forced people to adapt. Staff who historically were told they could only work in the office, have spent 4 months working from home. Casual clothes and seeing people sat in their kitchens working, is the new norm. So, what are the areas that firms will need to look at when they return?
How will this affect the business landscape?
The biggest change I believe will be in the fundamental view held by many that it is important that everyone is in the office, all of the time. Going forward, I believe that there will be a paradigm shift in the way we all work. When we look at office space, where once everyone in the firm had a desk, this may no longer be the case. People will hot desk more and people who used to be in the office 5 days a week may only be there 2-3 days a week going forward. Intrinsically this will mean that companies will need less space to operate from. This over time will have an impact on the office property market, especially at the mid to lower end.
Pre Covid many serviced office providers were struggling with over supply, Going forward as firms have less need for permanent office space, places like We Work & Regus are going to have a renaissance. It is important to consider what effect the changes will have on your business. When is the next break clause in your lease? Should you be considering downsizing? Should your Company become completely virtual?
Given that offices and workplaces are clearly going to change, how is this going to impact on staff?
There are many positives that can be drawn from working at home and in future I think that many of us will do it more and more. However, building a cohesive team and collaborative work is much harder. Creating an office with a familial feel and a sense of belonging is considerably harder when you don’t meet your colleagues. People take their lead from colleagues around them, but if there aren’t any, how will people know what is the norm?
Staff also need to take a lead from management and written communication is certainly not as effective as real time personal interaction. Have you even considered which staff might need help and those that will struggle to work as effectively from home? Will line managers be able to assess individuals effectively, especially, if they cannot see and hear the conversations they are having and the direct results of their work.
From an HR perspective the issues surrounding mental health can be negative and positive. There are many who hate the commute and travelling into the office and the onset of Covid has brought relief to those individuals. However, there are just as many people who are struggling with the issues around working at home with little help and support. Dealing with children without childcare, having to work in a bedroom or the kitchen, being with a spouse full time are all considerations. People are out of sight of other members of staff and it is difficult to ascertain how people are genuinely coping. Do you have an effective HR team to manage this? Will workplace stress be replaced by homeworking stress?
Another serious consideration that I believe will have been overlooked by most companies is, are staff properly kitted out at home to work properly and effectively without hurting themselves? I am sure that most companies have not undertaken a workplace assessment of an individual’s bedroom or kitchen table. Do staff have the same equipment at home as they have in the office to work efficiently? Are the processes the same or are they more time consuming? Once we get back to the office I feel that there will be a lot of work undertaken to ensure that home working is properly assessed to maximise productivity.
For many firms staff costs are the single biggest expense so serious consideration should be given to the issues that surround a company’s most important asset.
Not many businesses were set-up to work completely remotely prior to March 2020. As such the software and hardware capabilities of most firms has not been stress tested for this sort of situation. In addition, security which is becoming more and more of an issue has I am sure not been properly assessed for the whole firm being out of the office, exposing many firms to a security breach or worse.
Is it possible for staff working at home to have their access to the office computer hacked? Do they have the relevant safeguards in place? Has a full review been undertaken of the requirements of the individual members of staff and of the company in relation to GDPR?
With the development of Microsoft 365 many firms had in place Teams or have been using Zoom or an equivalent. Imagine what the situation would have been like even 3 years ago. If Covid had hit then, I am not sure that many firms would have coped as well as they have done.
Although this has been a pandemic and not a natural or worse a manmade disaster, it begs the question, what safeguards are in place if the office is destroyed. Imagine what effect that would have on the office. Are all your files available online? Would your business be able to operate? Are you set up in the event that your servers go down and nobody can access your office to fix them?
In short do you have a disaster recovery plan?
Where we find ourselves is a surreal situation and the fact that everyone is in the same boat, means that clients have been very understanding of the situation. I feel that there has definitely been, an increased level of engagement with clients. I believe that this is to be expected in these times of stress and uncertainty, when clients feel they need help and advice. Their usual port of call in these times has always been their trusted advisers from whom they want help in navigating the murky waters.
For us this has undoubtedly been a positive, with client relationships being strengthened by the additional input. However, once the furlough starts to unwind, we will see the full extent of the issues being faced by many companies. To date there has been a cushion provided by the government, which has achieved its goal of preventing widescale redundancies. But when this ceases and companies will have to stand on their own two feet again, it will be interesting to see how they cope and how much more help will be required. Given the lack of general footfall in the retail sector and the dearth of people in the city and the west end, I believe many businesses will struggle, even when we return to normality, whatever that looks like.
How have you and your business continued to engage with your clients? Have you continued to communicate with them on a regular basis? Have you got an engagement plan in place with them?
Given the changes in the way we operate that have come about by our enforced absence from the office, firms will fundamentally have to change how and what they do in relation to sales and marketing. Whereas, there was significant interaction between people through networking and other similar mediums, this has all stopped. Social distancing will be with us for some time yet. “Zoom” networking calls and virtual wine tasting and drinks has taken over. But it is never the same. People like doing business with people and whilst online meetings fulfil part of the need, it does not allow real interaction. The nuances of face-to-face meeting are lost and body language is difficult to determine online.
Once again we will need to adapt, and this will not be easy. Will this sound the death knell of the salesman? Or is it a case that he will change to an online communicator? What will the effect be? If you have been into town it is obvious that there are very few people working in the offices and all the relevant support businesses will struggle if they are not already struggling. So how will people generate new business.
We are finding that we need to keep in touch with our introducers and we have been having regular face to digital device calls to ensure that we maintain an ongoing dialogue.
I find it interesting to hear about those businesses that have tried to adapt and have looked for alternative ways to generating income – those are the ones that will survive in the long run. How are you altering the way which you interact with your customers? What sort of response are you getting? Have you generated any more clients?
So, given that sales and marketing strategies have had to change, how will this affect business models generally and industries in particular. To my mind the bricks and mortar retail stores with no internet presence, will need to look at their whole raison d’être. Obviously, the exception to this is “essential” businesses. But spending patterns have definitely changed. Most people have lived in casual wear for the last 4 months. People have been exercising at home. Will this mean that they will stay away from the gyms? Online retailers have done amazingly well. But is this temporary?
Whilst some high profile online retailers have done well, it is not clear how all online retailers coped? Additional stock will have been required with the consequential drag on cash. Was stock available for certain products? How have businesses been able to ship the goods where covid has affected the staff availability?
Delivery firms must have done a roaring trade. I know that our doorbell has rung and rung during lockdown as Amazon package after Amazon package has arrived. Will this change for good or is this a short-term phenomenon?
Will the property market need to reassess property needs over the next 10 years? Will there be a reduction in demand and a consequent over supply, which will result in reduced rents? Will businesses require smaller spaces generally and will landlords need to look at splitting floors? All of these issues need to be addressed
In conclusion it may seem obvious, but the world is a very different place now to what it was in January. We are yet to see the real effect on the economy or on businesses in general. It is clear that only the fittest will survive and that those firms that do not adapt will suffer in the long-run. There is a famous book called “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson. In it he describes that change happens and that unless you are responsive and willing to change you will be left behind.
Don’t be left behind let us help you move your business forward and address any of the concerns that you may have.
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- Lee Davy-Martin – Partner
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