Jul 27, 2026 · 39 min · 12 segments
Host Rekha Simpson and guest speakers Jammy Mustafa and Hugo Vijge reflect on the recent Middle East crisis, drawing on their own experiences and those of clients they supported through the…
Rekha SimpsonHost
Jami MustafaGuest
Well thanks Jami and Hugo and as a team we really came together didn't we to advise clients on all of those implications that you mentioned arising from the current Middle East crisis following the US attack on Iran on the 28th of February of this year.
I think you probably will both agree with me that a lot of that work focused on keeping clients informed of travel disruption, assessing potential impact on people, reviewing nationality, those entry requirements into other countries and helping employees think through those really practical options.
Jami and I were also part of the team supporting our own employees in the region, together with our regional and global leadership teams.
So we've spent a lot of time this year advising clients and their employees through a very challenging period.
Before we get into the specifics, I'd really like to ask you both what you think the biggest lesson has been for multinational employers.
For me, actually, this is something that we might be able to explore a bit more in detail later on.
There's a lot of examples that I can provide and things that I've helped clients with, be that internal disruption, but very much external as well.
And this kind of geopolitical disruption we saw recently, it was a crisis like no other.
And it was very challenging, but also very interesting to work with clients to see how we can come to the best solutions in RECA, as you rightly say, was a very difficult situation for a lot of people.
And I think for me, it's more of how much ever you planned you are, there's still something which needs to change.
which you need to adapt to and that flexibility side of things being flexible and understanding what the issue is and you've rightly said about no crisis is the same and the priorities keep shifting initially it's about safety then it's about making sure being compliant getting people across so it's like a moving goal post depending on when what what the focus is and rec i'm sure you agree as well because that's what we've seen across even within our teams as well right
I think more than between us anyways, we've been working together probably more than any other crisis that we've had to support clients on.
And I think, you know, we will be getting to those points around being prepared.
You know, all of those conversations that we've had with clients about being prepared for future crises, which, you know, goes to sort of the lessons that have been learned really and what needs to be in place now.
But going to, you know, moving on to the actual specifics of this present crisis, Hugo, when the escalation first occurred, what did we see employees doing practice?
Well thanks Jami and Hugo and as a team we really came together didn't we to advise clients on all of those implications that you mentioned arising from the current Middle East crisis following the US attack on Iran on the 28th of February of this year.
I think you probably will both agree with me that a lot of that work focused on keeping clients informed of travel disruption, assessing potential impact on people, reviewing nationality, those entry requirements into other countries and helping employees think through those really practical options.
Jami and I were also part of the team supporting our own employees in the region, together with our regional and global leadership teams.
So we've spent a lot of time this year advising clients and their employees through a very challenging period.
Before we get into the specifics, I'd really like to ask you both what you think the biggest lesson has been for multinational employers.
For me, actually, this is something that we might be able to explore a bit more in detail later on.
There's a lot of examples that I can provide and things that I've helped clients with, be that internal disruption, but very much external as well.
And this kind of geopolitical disruption we saw recently, it was a crisis like no other.
And it was very challenging, but also very interesting to work with clients to see how we can come to the best solutions in RECA, as you rightly say, was a very difficult situation for a lot of people.
And I think for me, it's more of how much ever you planned you are, there's still something which needs to change.
which you need to adapt to and that flexibility side of things being flexible and understanding what the issue is and you've rightly said about no crisis is the same and the priorities keep shifting initially it's about safety then it's about making sure being compliant getting people across so it's like a moving goal post depending on when what what the focus is and rec i'm sure you agree as well because that's what we've seen across even within our teams as well right
I think more than between us anyways, we've been working together probably more than any other crisis that we've had to support clients on.
And I think, you know, we will be getting to those points around being prepared.
You know, all of those conversations that we've had with clients about being prepared for future crises, which, you know, goes to sort of the lessons that have been learned really and what needs to be in place now.
But going to, you know, moving on to the actual specifics of this present crisis, Hugo, when the escalation first occurred, what did we see employees doing practice?
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