As governments around the world grapple with the decisions of how to lift lockdown and when to ease social distancing, businesses face decisions on how to re-open and return to work. These range from employees coming out of furlough to assessing how to operate safely and in line with health and safety requirements and revised social distancing rules.

Global businesses will need to assess and deal with different requirements around the world. A critical challenge will be that different countries are going back to normal at different times but also at a different pace. For businesses that operate outside and/or do not have the public visiting the ability to return to operations sooner – but this may mean heavier restrictions to comply with. For those in the leisure and hospitality sector the return to full operations is likely to be severely extended and businesses will need to work out how to operate in these new ways for an extended interim period.

One thing remains certain, as we exit the Covid-19 pandemic we will all be moving to a new ‘normal’. All businesses will need to adjust and re-assess their finances, the markets in which they operate, their customers, their ways of working and their operations. For some this may well be a catalyst for change as they seek to accelerate their business and recover the time and ground lost to Covid-19.

Our Coronavirus taskforce has put together a working checklist to support businesses that are re-opening. Further support and guidance can be found clicking on the relevant links to get the most up to date deep dive information on these issues.

Clare Francis

Partner