Data from 2022 Surveys
Foreword: 2022 – Covid19, the pandemic and RTO “normality and a return to office is far from guaranteed for many”
On 22nd November 2022 it will be 974 days since New York (March 22 at 8 PM) and London (March 23rd at 1 pm) first went into lockdown. Since these dates we have experienced many false horizons, with early hope of an autumn return to the office in 2020, being replaced by a series of push backs, to the extent 2 years later normality and a return to office is far from guaranteed for many.
A very small percentage of people would have predicated this extended state of dislocation in the spring of 2020. At the time of writing, the UK has recorded 156,000 deaths (0.23% of the total population), the USA 883,000 deaths 0.26% of the total population). In 2020, there were over 695,000 deaths in the United Kingdom, making that year the deadliest since 1918, at the height of the Spanish influenza pandemic.
An estimated 3,358,814 deaths occurred in the United States in 2020, up by 17.7% from 2,854,838 deaths in 2019. Whatever way you look at the data, the impact on society has been significant, with perhaps the spirit of human ingenuity in producing several vaccines so quickly being a bright light for humanity.
Within this period of test, transformation in how society works and in the state of work itself have taken flight, with challenges within human capital management arguably greater today than ever. How the leaders of commerce and industry adjust to these challenges and how forward looking they are, whilst not turning their back on still relevant and proven practices from the past, will manifest itself in how industries, sectors, and corporates within each will retain competitive advantage for hiring and retaining the best people.
To this end at the heart of a COO’s mandate, time, and effort in 2022 will be on retaining and enhancing staff morale and managing productivity. This will link to conduct, culture and purpose,
as leaders seek ways to anchor their talent to their companies, just as the need exists to work as an industry to address inequalities and foster inclusion.
