Security and Covid-19: going from nothing to everything

People confined, travel cancelled, events postponed: from the very start of the pandemic, the coronavirus has had a major impact on the population. very strong impact on business travelstarting with Asiathen Europebefore the the curtain for a few months., defeated by the circulation of the virus. "With the safety of our agents a top priority, we had to look after our expatriates, first in China, then in many other parts of the world where we are present, particularly in Africa and South America.It's all about security," explains Émile Perez, EDF Group's Director of Security. This is done on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether or not the person has family on site, and whether or not they want to stay. "Where applicable, repatriation has been organisedeither individually or on flights organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs"explains Émile Perez.

To help companies, assistance companies and travel agencies have taken the following measures an active part in the scheme. American Express GBT has organised almost 35,000 repatriations. "This was not always easy, as some flights were cancelled or no longer available.says Julien Kauffmann, CEO France of TMC. We've come up with some rather bizarre itineraries, for example a customer who had to cross a border on foot in order to catch a plane in a neighbouring country."

Both assistance companies and travel agencies have played an active role in repatriation arrangements.

In addition to the repatriations, GardaWorld was also responsible for making employees' day-to-day lives safer when there was no way back. Grégoire PintonGardaWorld's Global Head of Traveller Security Services, explains that he received a number of such requests in April.at a certain point, our approach was less to extract than to secure both the buildings and the expatriates and their places of residence."

At the same time, confinement has led Garda to review its continuation plans on a new basis. "Traditionally, companies with call centres think about what to do if they have to move to another location.explains Grégoire Pinton. But in this case, we no longer needed a change of building or server, but to enable everyone to work from home while having access to the necessary tools."

Similarly, EDF did not suddenly cease its activities. "Like others, we have a public service remit and the Group has continued to produce electricity. Without this, working from home would not have been possible for millions of French people.s." As far as employees not directly linked to production are concerned, however, the Group has adopted the key principle of containment: "stay at home. "Our employees are constantly on the move, so working remotely was anticipated a long time ago.says Émile Pérez. We were able to set up 60,000 simultaneous connections on secure servers."

In the tertiary sector, the 100 % teleworking has suddenly become the norm, without creating too great a break with the past. "Our company has not suffered at all from the confinement in terms of efficiency. We have even won tenders during the periodsays Arnaud Kalika, Head of Security at Meridiam. It was generally well received, but we had to remain vigilant and be a little flexible. Managers had to call their staff regularly, for example. And we allowed those who needed a break, who needed to get out of the house because they lived in small flats, to come into the office on an exceptional basis."

Now that travel is possible again, will companies take the risk of sending their staff around the world? "In absolute terms, all travel can be resumed, particularly in Africa, provided that the rules governing tests on departure and arrival are respected.explains Arnaud Kalika. However, for countries that are subject to quarantineIf you're going to do this, you need to be highly strategic. We avoid at all costs ending up with blocked and unproductive employees. All the more so as there are other ways of doing things, even when it comes to signing a contract."