Guest blog: How is COVID-19 effecting businesses and ways of working ? - By Chris Smith - Head Writer at Spend It Like Beckham
/All around the world businesses are in a state of crisis. The outbreak of Covid-19 has brought many businesses, big and small, to their knees all around the world. The UK has been in almost total lockdown since mid-March, but what has this meant for the UK’s businesses?
In this article, we’re going to look at some of the most notable ways that Covid-19 has had an impact on businesses, how they are coping and what the future of work in the UK may look like once this is all over.
How Are Businesses Being Affected?
Coronavirus has impacted UK businesses in many different ways. As of April 18th, the Government issued advice that all businesses and employees that could work from home, should be. This took a toll on the UK's workforce, with employees across the country, in every sector, being affected.
Thousands were now expected to work from home; others were put on Government-backed furlough and, unfortunately, many more were let go.
Businesses have been subject to serious loss of cash flow and custom, while some are thriving, deepening on the industry.
So, let’s break down some of the effects this is having.
Cash Flow Crisis
One of the major dents that Coronavirus has left on the UK businesses is with their cash flow. This applies to all businesses, although some more detrimentally than others.
It comes as no surprise that the travel and hospitality industry has been hit the hardest by this outbreak. Almost every country around the world has some form of a travel ban in place and is likely to continue to do so for the coming months, which really hits hard for the travel sector. With all restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs also closed for the foreseeable future; the hospitality sector is also taking a significant hit.
Smaller businesses, especially those reliant on physical locations for sales, are also seeing significant dents to their cashflow, as are many high street retailers.
So, what is the Government doing to help? A few things: -
· Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – The UK Government are paying 80% of an employee’s wages when they are put on ‘furlough’ by their employer.
· Claim back Statutory Sick Pay paid to employees due to Coronavirus
· Multiple deferral schemes for VAT and self-employed taxes
· Business rates relief for retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses
· Multiple loans, grants and funds for small and medium-sized businesses
· Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and COIVD-19 Corporates Financing Facility for large businesses
Employment
Aside from the loss of businesses, employment is the next biggest thing to take a hot during this lockdown. All across the UK employees are either working full time from home, have been furloughed or have unfortunately been laid off.
What does this mean for employees and businesses, though?
Well, for working from home, this means that businesses can continue as close to normal as possible. It takes a lot of trust from an employed too allow staff to work from home, so for that reason, it is vital that businesses are equipping employees with all for the information and tools they need to work from successfully.
Thanks to technology, there should be little to no issues with staff working from home. With the use of tools such as Microsoft Remote Machine, VPN access, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc., it is now more possible than ever to working both remotely and collaboratively.
For the 800,000 employees who have been furloughed the added worry of job security after the furlough period ends. Employers are under no obligation to keep staff in employment once the furlough period ends, so it is understandable that those on furlough are worried about their career. However, it is the hope of mist businesses that by the time the furlough period ends, they will be in a position to return some, if not all, of their employees to the workforce.
Looking to The Future
So, where does this leave us looking to a future post-COVID? Well, there are a lot of assumptions and theories out there, so let's break down a few of the most common ones.
It will take a long time for the travel and hospitality sector to be fully back to normal,
This one seems a given. It is going to take a fairly long time after the ease of travel bans and lockdowns for people to feel safe enough to travel internationally again, which is going to be a big hit for a sector that is so crucial to the global economy. In fact, as it stands right now, n estimated 25 million aviation jobs and 100 million travel and tourism jobs are at risk as a result of restricted travel as a result of the Coronavirus.
Employees will want a shift towards more remote working in the future.
For many, working from home has a huge number of benefits that people don’t want to lose out on in a post-COVID world. For some, working from home has meant more flexibility, more time with family, huge savings in travel costs and even better sleeping schedules and mental health.
All around the world, there seems to be a general consensus that even after the restrictions of Covid-19 have passed, many employees would still like to see working from home as a viable option as an alternative to in-office work.
Possibility of an (even more) cashless society
Nowadays, most people, particularly this in younger generations, barely use physical cash as it is. But, could the current situation push us much closer to a cashless society after Covid-19 has passed?
Many people seem to agree that after this has passed, cashless will be here to stay.
It is very evident that within the UK, businesses have taken a severe hit as results of the Coronavirus outbreak. Everyone from employee to businesses owner has been affected, and no industry has been completely safe from the impact this virus has had.
However, there is help out there and light at the end of the tunnel. There is help for any businesses that are struggling to cope at the minute and, though it is going to take a lot of time and hard work, businesses within the UK and around the world will recover from this.
