It has now been several weeks since instability escalated across the Middle East. While many organizations initially focused on immediate evacuation and employee safety, a clear shift is underway. A number of companies have moved beyond crisis response and are now designing longer-term workforce strategies to maintain business continuity as far as possible.
A key theme we are seeing is organizations reassessing where work can be performed, rather than treating relocations as purely temporary fixes. Many clients are identifying alternative locations where employees can continue working effectively, balancing operational needs with compliance considerations. This includes evaluating jurisdictions where teams can stabilize for a longer period while still supporting business-as-usual activity.
At the same time, organizations are increasingly focused on the compliance implications of a more distributed workforce. Even short-term cross-border working arrangements can trigger obligations across immigration, employment law, income tax, social security, and corporate tax, while also introducing data security and cyber risk considerations as employees operate from new locations, networks, and devices. As a result, companies are taking a more structured approach to risk assessment and mitigation.
Several common approaches are emerging:
Different organizational starting points are shaping how these strategies are being implemented.
Organizations that already had remote working policies in place are generally extending or flexing those frameworks. Existing policies, often designed for short-term, employee-driven mobility, are being adapted to accommodate longer stays, with additional compliance oversight layered in where required. This has enabled a relatively quick transition from emergency response to a more structured interim model.
By contrast, organizations without established remote working frameworks are building their approach from the ground up. This typically involves identifying where employees are located, assessing a shortlist of viable host countries, and communicating the associated risks to employees. Many are also introducing employee support mechanisms, such as individual tax briefings, while simultaneously developing more formal policies and governance structures for longer-term workforce deployment.
Across both groups, some organizations are also facilitating the return of employees to their home countries as a more stable interim solution, alongside reviewing the related tax and corporate implications.
A common thread across all approaches is the need to balance agility with governance. What began as reactive decision-making is evolving into more deliberate workforce design, with organizations recognizing that short-term measures may need to operate for an extended period.
As the situation continues to develop, early planning and structured decision-making will be critical. Organizations that align mobility, compliance, and business strategy will be better positioned to maintain continuity while managing risk over the longer term.
| Case study A | Case study B | Case study C |
| The client offers optional relocation support for affected employees, helping foreign nationals return to their home countries and providing temporary support for local nationals in locations where they can legally work. | Business B does not have an existing remote working policy and has fewer than 300 employees in the region.
They have identified employee locations and potential risk areas, are working with the Vialto crisis | Business C has an existing 20-working day remote working policy, which has been extended by an additional month for impacted employees. They have identified locations where employees have the right to work and reviewed the associated tax position, allowing relocations in line with their policy while continuing to assess longer-term considerations. |
What is emerging is not a single model, but a set of evolving approaches shaped by each organization’s current state, resilience posture, risk appetite, and operational priorities.
Beyond the immediate response, this moment is beginning to reshape how organizations think about global work more fundamentally. Short-term mobility decisions are increasingly intersecting with longer-term questions around workforce placement, infrastructure, and risk ownership—bringing mobility, tax, legal, and technology considerations into closer alignment.
For some, this will result in incremental adjustments to existing frameworks. For others, it may accelerate a shift toward more deliberate, location-aware workforce strategies that extend beyond traditional mobility models.
As conditions continue to evolve, the focus is likely to move from managing disruption to embedding more resilient and flexible operating models, capable of supporting a workforce that is, by design, more distributed.
Contact us:
Claire Pepper
Partner, Immigration Technology Leader
Amanda McIntyre
Global Leader, Remote Work
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