• News
  • 17 October 2021

In his seminal work, Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Spring is the time of plans and projects,” which in this current environment, appears appropriate. Despite best intentions, the spectre of COVID-19 looms over Australia, both business and government grappling with the virus’s projected short, medium and long-term effects. To that end, I’d like to take aim at one subject in particular; the future.

There’s no escaping the fact that globally, lockdowns appear to be increasingly unpopular. Public demonstrations rising in frequency, and  in the United States Governors ignoring White House and CDC directives favouring politically expedient guidance. As an optimist, I fervently believe most running COVID-19 responses are trying to help, but one has to wonder what effect lockdowns will, and are having, on the mental health of Australians and our economy over the long-term.

By nature, humans are social creatures and with the stratification of employment status, studies have found feelings of isolation, depression and hopelessness are on the rise, especially with those charged with carrying the nation’s future; young adults. There is, however, a silver lining — work from home may have contributed to the discovery of previously unrecognised strength, untapped abilities and the reassessment of priorities with a focus on wellness.

Unsurprisingly, lockdowns accelerated anticipated changes to work. In some instances, facilitating rapid uptake of remote and split working arrangements, with requests to continue hybrid working environments on the rise. With more people choosing to split work across office and home environments, the delivery economy has blossomed but also, self-service kiosks and checkouts have become prevalent likely affecting low and minimum wage employment. 

Ironically, COVID-19 brought about a larger awareness of wellness, allowing us to rethink how offices are designed and how they should function. Whether its access to natural daylight, focusing on ergonomic design or space efficiency and dynamism. 

With hybrid working on the cards, the office needs to become a place of magic, one people associate with happiness and joy. For owners, it means capital expenditure. Whether it’s moving away from cubicle arrangements to more open plan scenarios, to investing in the portability of laptops opposed to desktops. Whichever way it’s spun, it’s worth remembering the success of any office comes down to one thing, its people.

The last thing I’d like to touch on is the future of the client-firm relationship. Throughout the pandemic, clients have looked to professional service providers for information and guidance. For the advisor, this created opportunities to connect or in technical jargon, a touch point. Clearly, lockdowns heightened the need to communicate through digital forums but with a return to normality, elevated levels of communication need not abate. The ‘my client’ idea should be replaced with an ‘our client’ mantra, one focused on innovating to meet changing customer needs faster and better.

While COVID-19 may have thrown a wrench into best laid plans, the human spirit is imbued with the ability to overcome and working together, with the right attitude and application, a bigger, better and brighter future may be just around the corner.

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