Two of the city's biggest offices - City of Greater Bendigo and Bendigo Bank - expect many changes to be permanent.

City of Greater Bendigo health and well-being director Vicky Mason said council had already been considering reviewing its flexible working arrangements prior to the pandemic.

"(Currently), pretty much anyone can work from home is working from home," she said. "For some people it suits to work a few hours in the morning, have a long break and finish in the evening. There's nothing wrong with that if it suits you.

"We are waiting to hear the directions of government and won't (begin to return) until we get clear directions. But that's not to say we're not planning. We have people from various units of our organisation working on a plan. Everyone has different needs, some chomping at the bit to return, some will be worried. It's important to think about the good things (resulting from the pandemic). Bendigo is very linked up, so how can we utilise that to ensure we come back and thrive?"

Bendigo Bank chief people officer Louise Tebbutt said close to 90 per cent of the business' corporate staff are currently working from home. She said the bank has planned a number of changes for its offices.

"Feedback from Bendigo, and broadly over our network, has been incredibly positive about working from home," she said. "The COVID-19 response, in some respects, has catapulted anyone not doing it into (action). I think we will see more of it, it will give organisations an opportunity to pause and think about the role of their office."

In preparing for staff to return, Ms Tebbutt said the bank had ensured hand sanitiser would be at numerous points in their offices, hot desking would cease and hung signs advising how many could be in a room.

"We will carefully follow the advice of the chief medical officer," she said. "Certainly we are of view hand sanitiser is here to stay, that is the minimum expectation of employees. We're not making any drastic changes in terms of moving furniture and are turning our minds to it but the standards we are applying will continue for longer rather than shorter periods."

Ms Mason said council's planning processes had been put in place across their buildings.

"We have (considered) whether we can do the four-square metres rule and measured out buildings," she said. "We are looking at communal areas and cleaning, making sure there is enough access to hand washing facilities, wipes and have installed screens for customer service teams, the visitor information centre and art gallery. The other thing we are talking about is what the COVID-19 dividends are - what have we learnt about how we do business that we want to hang on to and ensure we can work better in the future."

Ms Mason expected some of the the long term and permanent changes brought on by the pandemic could be applied to the GovHub's development.

"We're not on full-on detail design yet but opportunities are there," she said. "We know how many square metres are allocated for staff members and how we will be able to manage communal areas."

For people who have been unable to work from home, both organisation have made sure staff are able to stay safe.

"The depot guys and works teams are still out and about but on staggered shifts and driving straight to job rather than depot and sharing a truck," Ms Mason said. "We are still getting through work and a number of projects are coming to fruition which is fantastic."

Bendigo Bank's branches stayed open during the coronavirus pandemic after being considered essential.

"We have kept branches running and provided staff with gloves and masks and put perspex screens up," Ms Tebbutt said.