MacIntyre: There are some important aspects that need solving. While you see high flying numbers in certain areas, we are dealing with those who are definitely struggling. Look down Front Street at the boarded-up properties. Some of the people who are long standing in rental arrears are now either being pushed out or needing to leave.

Meanwhile, restaurants close on Monday and Tuesdays. Some of the websites aren’t up to date. I have visiting clients and residents who get frustrated trying to enjoy the lifestyle elements of Bermuda. On the airlift side right now, you can’t get to Bermuda on Tuesday or Wednesdays and various airlines are changing schedules based on demand and seasonality without much notice.

It makes travel and events very hard to plan. It throws a wrench into the whole works. I know they’re having challenges. Restaurants aren’t staffed up because they don’t know whether to commit long term. So it’s that chicken or egg.

I went to New York and you’re moving around if you’re vaccinated. I have to show my vaccination card but everything is open. We need the same. Without that, it’s a nightmare.

Blaser: There’s an irony stemming from the pandemic that works against us economically, and we need to address it. On one hand, Bermuda has been able to attract new businesses and residents to the island throughout COVID-19 via startups and the Island’s Work From Bermuda programme, and other outreach.

These activities continue to build insurance business, bringing in new executives and employees and their families to live and work here. That has very positive ripple effects for the whole economy and can prove a long-term benefit.

And there’s the catch, because on the other hand, we need to keep people here. We can’t drive into the future looking in the rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, if you think about what happened after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, there was a big exodus from Bermuda, close to 9,000 people.

That’s a colossal number relative to our small and fragile economy, and does serious damage to all sectors, from retail to hospitality and healthcare. So, yes, we need to keep attracting people and businesses—but we also need to think seriously about how to retain them. Otherwise, the benefit is lost and the gain only temporary.

Additionally, we have to recognise that technology plays a huge role in life today and it’s accelerating and affecting employment. Tech can take jobs away, but it can also create new jobs. We want Bermuda to be a place where people can start businesses and take advantage of our fantastic work environment. We need to attract those professionals and retain them. We should cultivate a national appreciation for the fact international business is a vital part of our economy and needs to be nurtured in that way.

We’ve talked about the haves and have-nots. We need to focus on how the two Bermudas unite and how we help each other by providing a helping hand through this process—that is going to be essential. Building a culture for everyone to gain the benefits of economic development on the Island will require planning, support and training.

Therefore, nurturing the right environment means creating the right policies to attract and retain people. Bermuda is a great place to live as well as a great place to operate from, but we need to make sure we have the appropriate policies and procedures to facilitate business and processes for residents to be able to remain and contribute to the economy and the community.

For example, hospitality is a vital industry and goes hand in hand with international business in Bermuda. The two sectors are interdependent, each relying on the success of the other, and there’s no reason one should take precedence. But getting the right training and development for people to take up jobs in tourism is going to be essential.

Currently, the sector is understaffed, which opens a growing opportunity for qualified Bermudians. We need to be prepared to seize the moment to attract tourists, along with more residents and businesses to Bermuda.

Huff: I would add that we are a work from Bermuda economy, we are not a work from home economy. We need to get back to work physically, because we will never win the war of trying to build a work from home economy—that’s what you do in a low cost jurisdiction. We are a high cost jurisdiction.

MacIntyre: Hospitality has to translate in every aspect of what we do. That is our most organic way of keeping Bermuda interesting and a place that people want to visit, let alone live. I so often hear from people that they cannot get a taxi or the restaurants are closed on certain nights. There are simple things we’re not getting right.

We can change things. Our airport used to be a nightmare to come through—now it is fantastic. The speed through is much faster.

So there’s good and bad, but I hope the retail and restaurant industry gets the boost that is needed with people coming back into town, creating the vibrancy in the atmosphere we need, because right now it’s like a ghost town.

Neff: It’s worth remembering that the size of the economy in Bermuda is a function of labour force multiplied by productivity. Productivity isn’t going to be a big mover. The working population is the big mover. And from where we sit, we would say we need to be doing everything we can to attract working age people to this Island across all the sectors.

We’re going to need folks to come back here. To do that, we need government and all the stakeholders to make this as attractive and welcoming a destination as possible. From a tourism perspective, from a business perspective, we need to make it as seamless as possible to get established here.

Meanwhile, we’re going to pitch Bermuda as a climate risk finance hub, which I think is a very credible thing to pitch for. You have to be able to back that up with a service that gets people on to the Island, people into homes, people into commercial real estate, and kids into schools.

We need to endorse anything and everything that would grow the working age population. To the government’s credit, it has acted on some things that achieve that. We have enacted some short-term policies that have attracted people. But we need to do that for the long term.

One of the things that does worry me about work from home is it takes people out of Hamilton, or off the Island completely. I agree that Bermuda absolutely cannot be a work from home place. We need to get people back into the city.

We must consider all sectors. A bigger working age population creates more economic activity, which will in turn benefit everybody. This is a small town of 60,000 people, so we need to get together and turn the faucets on. We need policies that will make the place more attractive, make it easier to do business, make it easier to come here. That will help us turn the corner.

We also need to create tax revenue, to help the Finance Minister get his deficit under control. It will help healthcare because we’ll have more people paying into a healthcare system that’s really struggling. A lot of our problems can be solved by raising the working population, and policies that support that should be front and centre of government deliberations and the Chamber of Commerce and all the different stakeholders.

Jeffers: Hamilton has been our hub for hundreds of years—and, yes, it is looking closed. But this didn’t begin with COVID-19. We could see things changing in Hamilton before that. Some of the most iconic stores had already gone and the diversity of our restaurants seems to have dwindled.

All of that impacts the visitors and our overall our economy because people are looking to spend money. And if they can’t find anywhere to spend their money, they take it back home.

Changing the protocols and getting people to come here is not the only answer. There’s a whole lot of things that we need to do beyond that.

I’m hopeful that the private and public sectors can come together to work on these things together because, this is not about any one of our organisations. It’s really about the country.

The pandemic has given us an opportunity to be more collaborative and we need to take advantage of that. Leaders need to come to the front and start leading. We can’t just sit back and wait for things to happen. We need to start making things happen. And I’m one who’s willing to roll up my sleeves and be a part of that. If we don’t, we are going to be left behind.

We cannot blame the pandemic forever. We have to figure out how we can move on from this and potentially live with COVID-19. As part of that, we must rebuild the heartbeat of our country, which is Hamilton.

In terms of the staff shortages some industries are experiencing, the Ministry of Labour has a moratorium on issuing work permits. Unfortunately, we also have a lot of people who are not working but who are not willing to take on hospitality jobs.

So where do hotels and restaurants find people? They have to bring people in, but if you can’t get a work permit for them, then you’re having to close on certain days, as some restaurants are doing now. That’s the reality. Some of our larger and bigger known restaurants cannot open seven days a week.

If we’re talking about getting the economy going, we have to let people in; we must bring more people to the Island to live and work. At the moment, we’re stifling the economy. We are suffering because we’re not ready to welcome people back as a country.

Wilson: There remain challenges for Bermuda’s economy. The retail and the service sectors are suffering as is our tourism because of the testing regime and people not wanting to travel still.

But many of our clients are willing to come to Bermuda—but they are thinking long term. They’re more about growing their businesses, and they’re looking for favourable policies and procedures from the government and regulators. They want to be able to come to Bermuda, get the work permits they need and run and to grow their businesses effectively.

It is hard to criticise the government or regulator because they have developed policies to attract investment and businesses. Bermuda has one of the best reputations for regulation. That said, there are some things we can do to make it more attractive.

One of the things that our clients ask about is the speed of opening a bank account. It takes some time to open a bank account for a company. That is something that the private sector can work on.

Jeffers: It is difficult for individuals to open a bank account too; it’s a laborious process. I believe that’s something that can be fixed. We miss the wood for the trees sometimes.

Wilson: Many of the big firms have said that they will never go back to the office full time. They’re always going to have some form of flexibility built into their workforce. In that sense, COVID-19 has also been a watershed moment for how people view their work or their interaction with their work and their life.

And a lot of people are looking for that flexibility. They’re looking for the ability to be nimble and maybe not be in a physical location for more time than they need to.

It is easy to say that we need to get people back into the city because that’s going to help with the retail space, the commercial space. But some different thinking is needed around how to stimulate these sectors. The solution needs to be multifaceted, just as the issues caused by the pandemic are multifaceted.

Another positive around flexible working is that there’s an opportunity here for entrepreneurs. I’m not an economist, but we in Bermuda will need to have a multifaceted approach. That’s my belief, and we will need to take a look at how we can get people back to the city, but also keeping in mind their safety in relation to COVID-19.

The challenge will be to continue to make Bermuda an attractive place, which the government has done, and continue to fine-tune it.

Jeffers: In the US, a lot of cities have located more housing downtown. In Bermuda, maybe we consider converting some of this empty office space into housing. That could stimulate the economy and bring more vibrancy to downtown. I agree there’s a real opportunity for us to look at things differently than we have in the past.

Laframboise: Innovation progress in the life insurance industry has historically been influenced by longstanding approaches to risk management and legacy technology. One of the challenges of the business, for example, is that, due to its long-term nature, it requires robust validation through proper pricing of the business.

But that will need to adapt and innovate more quickly than it has in the past. And the life sector in Bermuda can help develop partnerships to accelerate that timeline as generations and demands of policyholders change.

It is also important for us that the Bermuda maintains its stance as a premier financial jurisdiction. For example, Solvency II equivalence must be a top priority for Bermuda insurers to continue write EU business on a level playing field with European peers. With its full Solvency II equivalence (2016) and recent US reciprocal jurisdiction agreed by the NAIC, where Bermuda can also write business (or will be for when all states pass its legislation) without additional regulatory capital or collateral requirements, this ensure Bermuda meet international regulatory standards.

Such global standards are important to us. There is another trend towards increasing or standardising tax and capital requirements around the world. Ultimately, policyholders pay for this through increased premium. We need to ensure this entire chain is well understood and continue lobby for treatment that is fair and commensurate to the true underlying risks involved.

In terms of the jobs market, it is very competitive at the moment. Companies need to continue to adapt to the new normal, including remote working, defining their long-term policies post-COVID-19. But our sector specifically is growing fast and is in need of talent.

In summary, while there continues to be increased competition from other jurisdictions as you might expect, Bermuda has done a great job of staying first choice for many sectors. I’m confident that Bermuda will continue to find ways to adapt to the changing economic environment and maintain its competitive position.

Huff: First and foremost, we have a tremendous reputation in international markets. We have transparency and compliance and have internationally earned recognitions, including Solvency II and reciprocal status with the US. But maintaining our reputation must always be job one.

Second, as we get into the digital asset space, we must ensure we maintain that reputation and that there’s a full understanding of what we’re doing. There’s so much going on globally that we need to make sure that we’re leading in terms of being more transparent and more compliant than other jurisdictions.

If I take a step back and see what Bermuda has to offer globally, our best opportunities are around some of the global challenges to the economy—whether that be future pandemic or climate or cyber or retirement security, those are the issues where Bermuda excels. And, those are the product lines that we know the most about. So, we are well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities.

Part of our advantage in Bermuda is that we are small and agile. I have every reason to believe that we will be able to move quickly. We’ll be able to get things back open again. But I agree that we can’t have closed storefronts and restaurants. We must bite the bullet and get those places open for business.

We want visitors—tourists and business travellers—to leave Bermuda, having spent a bit more money than they should have. But if the experience was so positive, whether it be on the business side or the tourism side, then everyone’s happy.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock / Protasov AN