5 reasons why remote work won’t last. Unless you take these actions.

Despite the increase of COVID-19 cases again in many countries (up to the point that some already speak of a Second Wave), many companies are planning their return to the office.

Some mayors, as well as some Governments, are worried of the risks of emptying large cities and are picking on large companies to ensure there will be a return to physically in-presence work, worrying that a mostly remote workforce may cause a significant shift in the Economy. Yet, more and more companies are announcing flexibility in their working regulations, if not a full implementation of Remote Working policies. I bet that most large companies are studying the issue, weighing in the possible cost savings of such measures, the benefits that have been seen during the lockdown period (although there are some signals that employee engagement is dropping after the initial high) and the increase in performance and productivity.

For sure, there are a lot of complications for remote work from a tax and legal perspective, mostly if seen from an international perspective. I have already written about the many taxation issues that can arise from not carefully considering these aspects. There are solutions, but they are a bit convoluted. There needs to be a political will to make some reform in the area, and some countries have already created ad-hoc legislation on this topic, starting with Estonia and its Digital Nomad Visa program, and now several Caribbean countries, as well as Georgia, are following suit.

Most probably the large majority of companies will allow some remote worker arrangement, if not for the entire population at least for a significant portion of employees. So what will most probably happen is that most companies will find themselves in a situation with a partially remote workforce. I think there are going to be at least five significant issues here that we need to focus on.

Sergio Caredda

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