Covid-19 has caused a significant shift in the tax market. Not only has it altered the way we partake in day to day life, but it has sparked international debate around our working styles, patterns and facilities.
To this point, it has been impossible to avoid the fact that The Business Environment has changed. With the consistent development of Technology and the establishment of cloud based working becoming all the more important for Multinational Enterprises, the approach to a more flexible style of working has inevitably been thrust into consideration.
Flexible working has become a point of heated discussion over the last decade as with many changes to the working environment that are challenging the status quo. The idea of Flexible Working was born out of several factors.
Firstly, cost. Commercial Real Estate has been at an all time high over the last 5 years with centrally located businesses struggling to grow in square foot at the same rate as their own Strategic expansion plans. This led to the establishment of Shared Service Centres in Lower Cost Locations however created a decentralized function which led to ‘brain drain’ across the discipline in Centrally Located Business Commercial Functions which ultimately led to Tax Functions suffering in the talent market. Allowing people to work remotely solved this issue while still maintaining a degree of responsibility and commitment to the Central Commercial Function and attracting a wider pool of Tax Talent. A trend that I predict will only grow with the introduction of the coronavirus.
Secondly, the Tax Market has not seen the same rate of increase in Salaries over the last few years. With remuneration staying relatively stagnant and accelerated bonuses being a memory the past, businesses have been forced to re-evaluate their softer benefits and in turn have re-evaluated their flexible working policies. This has encouraged a wider and more diverse pool of Tax Candidates to be eligible for Opportunities in the market and has encouraged inclusion across a wider group of people. This has been reflected in Multinational Enterprise’s and Small to Medium businesses scrutinising their Diversity & Inclusion Policies and establishing a more robust framework around being flexible.
Thirdly, promoting a flexible working environment has proven to promote a happier, loyal and more productive workforce with Companies observing that employees were voluntarily working outside of normal office hours as they were saved their usual commute time. This led to the movement being increasingly endorsed by more traditional outfits who hadn’t really considered this style of working in the past.
The difficulty comes in achieving balance. Tax Leadership teams may find it difficult to establish significant controls around the flexible working regimes and may open themselves up to difficulty if they only agree flexible working requests for parents and carers as oppose to personal reasons behind a request. This will mean that more leadership teams will have to use value judgement in their decision-making process and look at the request on a case specific basis rather than one size fits all.
But how are businesses managing their internal progression rates while still being open to flexible working? Growing concerns about the lack of physical contact with office colleagues meaning a lack of internal progression opportunities has led to Accountancy Practices and In-house Tax Functions establishing a Flexible Talent Network Initiative under which existing and new recruits will be able to express their Favoured Work Pattern more formally and therefore allows the business to cater to a higher degree and larger audience.
As more Tax Employees expect increased flexibility, the discussion of working patterns and preferred styles has started to become a more formalised discussion during the hiring process as oppose to an afterthought. Employers have made significant strides in achieving a more balanced workforce allowing for a more diverse range of employees which has only been received positively and continues to be the theme in light of the recent pandemic.
The ‘flexible working’ debate has been a fundamental development in the professional arena over the last few years, however, in light of the Coronavirus the ambiguity over what the next few weeks looks like, let alone the next few months, has caused many businesses to rethink their strategy for 2020 and put further measures in place to guarantee flexibility in working patterns.
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