The COVID-19 pandemic was likely to have profound implications for how NIB's 1500 staff worked in the future, the organisation's chief executive officer Mark Fitzgibbon believes.
"Our return to work policies and plans that we are working on are not just going to take us back to where we were. They are going to be based on a more creative and thoughtful process about what are the fundamental challenges of management," Mr Fitzgibbon told a Hunter Business Chamber webinar on Wednesday.
As an example he said the organisation was weighing up whether it was best to continue basing large numbers of contact centre and IT staff in one office.
"Does camaraderie and socialisation require people to be on top of each other five days a week? Do we all need to work the same work hours in order to be productive?," Mr Fitzgibbon asked.
"We will certainly be taking our time about how we create the new work places and spaces."
In addition to the workplace, Mr Fitzgibbon said the pandemic was also likely to result in a general aversion of hospitals.
But this would create an opportunity to develop technologies to allow physicians to treat people outside traditional institutional settings.
This would include the rise of an Amazon style pharmaceutical home delivery services.
