Time to look ahead: the shifting issues

What do you do during corona time? 

Experiences of public affairs professionals in times of crisis, part 4.

What is the effect of the corona crisis on the themes that public affairs professionals deal with? Are priorities shifting? What will be the new political agenda?

We asked public affairs professionals from large companies. Varying per sector and professional group, they expect consequences for major social themes. Such as: the position of vital professions, the future of mobility, localization and the social role of companies.

In The Hague they have already gone one step further. Political parties think about the themes in their election manifestos. A think tank of the Social-Economic Council came up with outlines for one intelligent recovery policy.

Many individual companies have not yet gotten that far. They are now in short-term crisis mode. It turns out to be difficult to crawl out of there.

"Everyone is so used to thinking in the here and now that they hardly look at the next four years," says Jacco van der Tak of the Dutch Railways. 'The days of the people at the helm are affected by corona and the consequences for health and the economy. That is more than understandable.'

'But especially from the perspective of political parties, it is relevant and important to think about the period after the corona crisis. How do we recover? What ambitions do we have?'

Desired and forced changes
From the conversations with the public affairs professionals of the large companies, we have identified a few likely – desired and forced – shifts in social issues.

Vital professions
The corona crisis reminds us what the vital professions actually are. Who contributes to our basic necessities? The teachers, the healthcare providers. These are professional groups that have been asking for higher wages for years and more recognition are now being told how vital they are. Now they get all the appreciation. But does it also make vital professions more attractive? Will it remain with organized applause or will more money be spent on a structural basis?

Dependency
Imports of all kinds of industrial goods, raw materials for face masks or medicines started to falter when far-reaching measures were taken in China to contain the virus. The dependence of the Netherlands and Europe on the supply of products from Asia appeared to cause problems in many sectors. Mattress manufacturer Auping produces face masks for the home market. DSM makes test sticks for corona tests, also for the Netherlands. We see a shift from globalization to localization, to resourcing after a period of outsourcing, more production close to home, in shorter chains, to reduce dependency.

Mobility
We have now all passed the live stress test 'less mobility'. After the first weeks of working from home, all that traveling back and forth turned out to be less necessary than we always thought. We see roads without traffic jams, the trains and planes are empty. What are the consequences for the construction of new infrastructure and the services and capacity of transport companies.

Digitization
Everyone we spoke to says they will continue to work from home more after the crisis. Digital working has thus acquired its definitive place. This also includes concerns about privacy and safety at work, the balance between work and private life, the consequences for personal contacts, cohesion in organizations and the quality of relationships within households.

Sustainability
Sustainability was and remains a central issue. That will continue. At the beginning of April, 170 scientists published a manifesto in which they urged to 'radically make society more sustainable' so that we can emerge from the corona crisis greener. This call for politics and society to make sustainable choices was successful. Environmental organizations called on the government to impose conditions on financial support for large companies: these companies should only be helped if they promise to become more sustainable afterwards.

Job market
What do we do with the vulnerable self-employed people who are now surviving thanks to government support operations? The discussion about the relationship between flexible and permanent jobs appears in a different light. Will the role of the government remain so important during the economic recovery? The time of market liberalism seems to be over. In crisis-sensitive sectors we are gaining experience with a new form of state capitalism.

Social responsibility
And then the social contribution of large companies. Should billions in state aid go to companies that have paid virtually no profit tax in recent years, pay a bonus to their CEO or pay out extra dividends to their shareholders?

The European Commission recently presented a proposal to allow large companies with a global turnover of more than 750 million to contribute to the economic recovery through a tax. The political question is how far the government can go in enforcing social responsibility social lobbying?

Established order
Will the trade organizations and umbrella organizations remain the government's prominent discussion partners after the crisis? The government now regards the established actors as the preferred supplier of crisis policy, often out of necessity. It is the role of the government to encourage new interest groups, the professional group lobbies and other citizen lobbies, to challenge the established order with new ideas. Or even more likely: the challengers take the initiative and claim their own place on the playing field.

Exciting times for public affairs
With all these shifting issues, it is important for every public affairs professional to realize which processes are gaining momentum and which others are being put on the back burner. PA professionals map out these changes so as not to lag behind the facts. And then it is time to reconsider priorities and solutions offered and choose an influence strategy with associated allies.

With input from Jacco van der Tak (Dutch Railways), Jaap Jelle Feenstra (Port of Rotterdam), Walter Annard (Rabobank), Wouter Thalen (PFZW), Ad Antonisse (AstraZeneca), Tim Stok (RELX) and Mark Esseboom (IBM).

This is part 4 of a series about public affairs in the corona crisis. Do you have completely different experiences? Let us know.

Also read the previous blogs in the series:

PA in crisis mode ensures more creativity

From your bunker, the quality of relationships deteriorates

Back to the trusted network   

Sybrig van Keep and Bas Lans work at communications agency De Issuemakers. Erik van Venice is a consultant and trainer in the field of public affairs.

With the cooperation of Noor Broeders from De Issuemakers.