Covid has spurred people to consider moving to the island to live and work, says a senior partner in the accountancy firm KPMG.

Simon Nicholas, who works at the company’s office in Athol Street, Douglas, said the island is flying the flag as a place to do business.

He told Business News there was a challenge to ensure the island is always included in the conversation when looking at a ’regional hub’ for an individual or a business to relocate to.

He added: ’Our (KPMG) website numbers for those looking at relocating to the Isle of Man during the Covid period have been consistently within the top three most visited web pages, which is extremely encouraging.

’And the hope is Covid has made people realise they need that work/life balance ... and what better place to look than the Isle of Man.’

Mr Nicholas went to on to say: ’Hopefully as a business community we can get the right balance so IoM PLC continues to thrive and staff, who can enjoy all aspects of island life, become the best advert for why the Isle of Man can give you a good work life balance, resulting in more individuals considering the island as their new home.’

Mr Nicholas also spoke about the company’s attitude to staff wanting to continue working from home.

He said that ’whilst our office is open, we haven’t made it mandatory for staff to return unless, of course, there is a client requirement to do so.

’With schools and nurseries returning, we’re naturally seeing a phased return of staff into the office and with holiday season almost upon us and staff going on leave, we’re looking to maintain the flexibility with remote working until September.’ He added the demand for remote working has ’undoubtedly been on the rise over the past few years and especially in major cities, you may have people working four days in the office and one day from home’.

Whereas on-island, he believes that while there has been a general resistance by many to embrace it in the past ’now you can easily see scenarios whereby staff, if appropriate, can work a couple of days at home and a couple of days in the office’.