Almost one year after the World Health Organization’s declaration, we are still far from understanding the real impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the world. In the first semester of 2020 alone, more than 2,700 companies went bankrupt and the unemployment rate reached 8% in Portugal.
In this challenging landscape, many companies tried to quickly adapt, creating new working models to face the economic challenges of 2020. And even though some simply adopted temporary adjustments, some changes are here to stay.
4 Changes caused by the pandemic
Moving to remote work
The most immediate change that almost all companies were forced to undergo in the first trimester of 2020 was to move their employees to a remote work solution. At the peak of the pandemic, Portugal had more than 1 million people working from home. And while that number has decreased over time, many companies have maintained their preference for a more flexible working framework that better allows their employees to manage their work-life balance.
A new design at the office
As soon as it was allowed, some companies chose to bring their employees back to the office – but not before first adapting their workspaces. Meeting rooms started to have booking times, desks were stripped of paperwork and personal objects, parking spaces were increased, and some companies even created their own apps to diagnose their employees’ health. Even though many of these measures were mandatory to ensure employees’ safety, they also altered the working experience making teams more focused, organized, and productive at their workspace.
Digital transformation
The restrictions on travel and indoor spaces imposed by the pandemic forced many companies to also change the way they interact with their clients. In this regard, digital was the favored method to ensure a safe and quick delivery of services at the click of a button. According to a study by IBM, six in every ten companies worldwide accelerated their digitalization during the pandemic. And even though there is still a long way to go in terms of new technology for digital team and project management, there is also no going back from this shift.
Cautious expansion
In a time of crisis, it is natural that companies may look for ways to save and cut unnecessary expenses. In fact, at the end of 2020 cost reduction became one of the main strategies adopted by Chief Financial Officers (CFO) to deal with the financial crisis that is slowly creeping in. However, companies are also aware that the way to make it to the other side of any challenging time is through innovation. That is why many companies are starting to look for opportunities to expand their businesses, mainly through growth in their current markets or by introducing new products and services.
