Impact of Covid-19

Many stay on course

Impact of Covid-19

Have you made any changes to your entity management work as a result of Covid-19?

The Covid-19 pandemic has made a noticeable difference to many professionals due to factors such as travel restrictions, delays at some regulatory bodies and remote working. But those changes have not translated to widespread shifts in entity management programs, according to the research. Overall, around one fifth (21 percent) of respondents say they have made changes to their entity management work as a result of the pandemic. Around two thirds (64 percent) have not made any changes and 15 percent don’t know.

Respondents at small caps (23 percent) and mega-cap companies (29 percent) are more likely to have changed their work due to the crisis than those at mid-caps and large-cap companies (both 12 percent). Regionally, almost a third (29 percent) of respondents in Canada have changed their entity management work as a result of the pandemic, compared with 13 percent of those in the US and 13 percent of those in Europe.

Asked whether they will continue with changes to their entity management work as a result of Covid-19, several respondents say they will. Specific comments include:

We have moved to using DocuSign for signatures for all consent resolutions, inter-company agreements, and so on, rather than manual signatures. We will continue to do this where permitted by local law

More virtual work

Possibly retain certain work-from-home protocols

Yes: more use of e-signatures and delegated authority levels

Not sure; most have been adaptive, but may go back to normal operations once we return to the office

Online maintenance of signed or filed documents, rather than paper

Unsure

Yes, use of online platforms for meetings and training

No

Yes, the business continuity plan was activated and remote working has come to stay for now

Yes, the whole area of managing remote working

Electronic signatures

Don’t know yet

Flexibility on working from home, although our intention has been clearly communicated that we will return to the office

All my team and I work from home and it works well – everyone was
sent home to work at the beginning
of March last year as I recognized
this was going to be a long and difficult situation. Home working is going well and the office is closed to the public

High reliance on technology to track governance issues. Virtual/digital correspondence with regulators