It is by no means breaking news that the past 12 months have been the most unusual ones of our lifetimes. We are (still) facing a health crisis around the world. Governments are doing their best to prevent an economic crisis: many governments are keeping their economies afloat by subsidizing businesses and employment costs. These stimulus packages have been working rather well and have, so far, prevented a deluge of redundancies across the globe. But this may last much longer. Sooner or later, businesses may be on their own to handle the new economic situation which has been resulting from the pandemic.
The impact of the pandemic has been quite divergent based on whether a business is essential or non-essential, whether a business can work remotely or requires physical presence, whether it services persons at home or in the office. Some sectors have done well, mostly high tech and food shopping, whereas other sectors have been simply devastated, such as travel, leisure, restaurants, and aviation. Moreover, many businesses are not planning to “go back” to a pre-covid-19 working environment; many are planning to integrate remote work on a long-term basis. For those significantly impacted, and those experimenting with new working models, restructuring and reengineering of the workforce are just around the corner, and will likely lead to headcount reductions
