The coronavirus pandemic has now taken hold around the world, and it is becoming clear that it will take a significant toll on the global economy.
Remote working has become the norm in several sectors, while at the same time overwhelming demand in essential frontline services is seeing key workers working longer hours than ever in extremely difficult conditions.
This research was undertaken before the crisis unfolded globally: the vast majority of the survey took place during November and December 2019. Therefore, the views outlined in this report reflect a pre-COVID-19 world, in which optimism is high but several trends are already notable, such as rapid technological innovation and the burgeoning gig economy.
Clearly, an event as seismic as COVID-19 will have a major impact on sentiment and will potentially accelerate or reverse many of the developments we are already seeing. Therefore, this research was re-run in May 2020 to find out how the outlook for workers has changed on critical issues in several key geographies. The results of that second study are available to download in Volume Two of this report.
