A new technology product to help clients concoct their return-to-the-office strategy
BY:
Alexis de Hahn
Avocat Reporteur
PROJECT COUNSEL MEDIA
18 August 2020 (Paris, France) – Taylor Wessing has worked with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati on a new technology product to help clients concoct their return to the office strategy, the latest step in a non-exclusive agreement relationship struck by the two firms in 2019. The firms relied on software development work carried out by SixFifty, a technology subsidiary owned by Wilson Sonsini. The resulting so-called “return to work toolset” allows corporate management at client companies to transition staff back into office premises in the US and the Europe. The technology has three primary pieces:
(1) the ability to assess your back-to-work readiness
(2) generates the back-to-work policies and other documents you need, and
(3) tracks employee health so you can keep sick employees at home
More can be found here.
Kimball Dean Parker, CEO of the SixFifty venture that contributed the technology behind the platform, said the tool was aimed at helping business chiefs elaborate protocols to ensure a safe return based on government guidance at a time when recommendations keep changing.
The automated online platform includes guidance on risk and governance when it comes to safely reopen offices. It comprises assessment criteria to help companies understand whether they are ready or not to reopen through a series of questions, resulting in an assessment report. The information stemming from the assessment is then used to create personalised policies and terms around the return to work.
The same data feeds a questionnaire that can be used to screen individual employees to check if they are in a position to come back to the headquarters without posing risks to themselves or their colleagues. Along the way, the information and communication trail is stored as a record in case a new spate of infections occurs.
The tool was debuted in the US in May, where it was used by several corporations as they pondered how to reopen.
It encapsulates the knowledge of employment lawyers at Taylor Wessing, who provided insights on legislation across countries such as UK, France, Austria and the Netherlands. Taylor Wessing partner Paul Callaghan, who leads the firm’s UK employment practice, said in a press release:
More than ever, our clients and their businesses need our support. With so many regulatory considerations to deal with as well as business continuity planning and obligations to their employees, we wanted to provide businesses and their HR teams with a solution that would give them the reassurance and support they needed to make decisions on their future – and quickly.
Taylor Wessing managing partner Shane Gleghorn recently praised the benefits stemming out of its non-exclusive alliance with US firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati when the firm posted its 2019/20 financials, saying that it resulted in a stream of new deals the firm wouldn’t have had access to before:
This will help pursue new strategic opportunities for cross-border work around technology and life sciences both in the US and in market hubs like London, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Paris.
In August last year, Taylor Wessing advised UK digital startup Babylon Health on a $500m investment round, marking the first time the firm closed a deal with US firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati under their relationship agreement.
