Hazlewoods leader insight from Ruth Dooley
Time to bounce back
2020 is a year most of us will be happy to put behind us, although it maybe wasn’t quite as bad for some as had been anticipated. Certainly, our initial fears about how Hazlewoods might have been affected did not come to fruition and have been much busier as a firm than we had expected.
We have been helping clients with furlough requirements, COVID-19 business interruption loans and other coronavirus related issues. Now there is much assistance needed with the implications of Brexit and in the run up to the Budget corporate finance activity was at a peak.
In the next few weeks, we are expecting, like many of our clients, to be returning to our offices. It is something everyone I speak to is really looking forward to as they haven’t seen some of their colleagues for such a long time. There is a buzz in the office that you just don’t get at home or on video calls. It will be good to actually meet some lockdown recruits who have only been seen electronically by many of their colleagues to date.
It will be interesting to see the different approaches taken by businesses. Some are already saying everyone must return to the office full time; others are planning to stay home-working permanently and are selling their premises. Most of our office-based clients, however, seem to be planning a mix of home working and office attendance at varying points along the spectrum. We are the same as we want both what is best for the needs of our business as well as looking after the needs of our staff and clients.
A key goal will be to not lose some of the benefits of lockdown. Mixing up face-to-face meetings with video meetings should help maintain relationships whilst giving the time efficiencies of reduced travel. Fewer trips around the county will also help reduce the carbon footprint of our businesses as well as creating a significant cost saving.
In the offices we want to ensure the safety of our staff by continuing with the protocols of screens, hand sanitising and social distancing as long as required, whilst at the same time rebuilding the space where ideas are shared and coaching comes from direct conversations rather than from electronic communication.
Longer term, I expect that there will be a significant bounce back in the economy. You can almost feel the pent-up desire to get going properly again. Both in business and social life, everyone seems to be saying ‘let’s meet up as soon as we can’. Foreign holidays may be delayed a while, but I anticipate that the pubs and restaurants that have survived the pandemic will be in big demand come the lifting of restrictions. Maybe boom time is coming and there will be a repeat of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ last seen a century ago!
