The COVID-19 pandemic forced most businesses to dismantle their entire concept of the traditional workplace – almost overnight. Most firms were extraordinarily quick in implementing an operational set-up that would under normal circumstances have taken years.
The focus was on simply getting people working without the infrastructure of their offices, often at the expense of risk management. While the end of pandemic restrictions heralded a very welcome return to normalcy, it left many firms struggling to adapt to a new way of working, often incompatible with regulation that no longer meets reality. Yet reverting to pre-pandemic working models is no longer an option.
Critical risks regarding tax and social security, IT security etc. must be urgently addressed and many firms are finding challenging to reconcile new employee expectations with compliance. Aside risk management, there are also other areas such as real estate, facility and infrastructure management and space optimization that need attention.
