Key Findings

Increased virtual meetings/events is the change to working practices that has had the greatest impact during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Remote working is the change viewed most positively by IROs and investors.

Reduced travel has created greater challenges for IROs and investors in Asia than in North America or Europe.

The overwhelming majority of both IROs and investors believe the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to a permanent change in working practices, with 84 percent either agreeing or strongly agreeing.

More companies have underperformed against their pre-pandemic forecast than have outperformed against it. But seven in 10 have done better over the past year than they expected to at the onset of the pandemic.

More than four in 10 IROs have changed their targeting strategy as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

More IROs expect to see an increase rather than a decrease in resources as we come out of the pandemic, although most expect resources to remain the same.

A third of investors in Europe and Asia have changed their investment approach as a consequence of Covid-19, with a quarter of North American investors also doing so. This is down from last year when a majority had changed their investment approach.

Most investors and IROs agree that Covid-19 has increased the importance of ESG, while just 14 percent disagree.

More than two thirds of respondents recognize that economic performance over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic has been better than they initially anticipated when the pandemic first began.

The majority of respondents are concerned about a rise in interest rates in the near future, with just 15 percent unconcerned.

An overwhelming 86 percent of respondents agree that the economic measures taken to combat Covid-19 will have a lasting economic effect, with more than four in 10 strongly agreeing.

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