The pandemic has already had a profound effect on the way people behave and how businesses operate. But as governments lift restrictions, many organizations are considering how to open their offices safely. As Accenture people return to the workplace, we are using the impetus behind our response to COVID-19 to rethink and plan for the future of work.
Backed by our overarching approach to business resilience, Accenture’s global IT and Corporate Services & Sustainability teams have collaborated to put in place a solution that enables a confident return to the workplace. As you can imagine, it’s not simply a case of unlocking the office doors. Neither is it appropriate to take a “one-size-fits all” approach.
Accenture’s corporate real estate portfolio is complex and large, but with a commitment toward the safety and well-being of our people, a focus on the stability of client services and a phased, flexible approach, we carefully found a way to orchestrate a return to our offices.
Technology is fundamental to our approach. Whether taking advantage of automated, intelligent return-to-workplace tools, benefitting from the services of our valued partners such as Salesforce, or providing a central portal to plan an office visit for our clients, our IT and Corporate Services & Sustainability teams have created essential and dynamic solutions that ease returning to the workplace.
Based on what we have learned during the pandemic, we have taken the opportunity to reimagine the long-term operations of our business—rethinking existing processes and engineering new, more resilient, ones—in areas such as health and safety, facilities planning, travel and sustainability.
In short, Accenture has developed a globally organized, locally implemented evaluation and pre-approval process that serves the needs of our people and our clients as working environments adapt to the new normal.