The pandemic has plunged the world into a crisis the like of which has never been seen before. The spread of the disease and the social distancing measures have had a monumental impact that has left virtually no-one unaffected.
With the government placing the country on lockdown from March 23, people have been asked to stay at home as much as possible and leave home for exercise or essential items such as food and medical supplies.
But what effect are these guidelines having on the economy?
The travel industry has ground to a halt with flights severely restricted, while businesses everywhere are having to adapt to their workforces operating from home.
A survey from the Office for National Statistics revealed that 24 per cent of respondents had temporarily closed or paused trading between March 23 and April 5. And 80 per cent expressed an interest in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. But what else can companies do to manage their finances and their employees through this crisis?
Assess your funding options
Many businesses are feeling the financial pinch as the economy suffers. If your organisation has fallen on hard times, you may wish to consider your options in terms of external funding. For example, Nucleus’ cash flow finance is an unsecured loan that could help you through the fallow period until your company starts to recover.
Keep in touch with your people
Now more than ever, communication with your employees is key. Those in charge need to be as accessible as possible and must be aware that some team members may struggle with the challenges of working from home. Encourage staff to continue to socialise via video calls, while it could be a good idea to introduce regular one-on-one catch-ups to ensure they’re coping on both a personal and a professional level.
Communicate with your clients
As well as keeping in touch with your employees, it’s vital that you maintain open lines of communication with your clients and customers. This should always be a two-way conversation – as well as informing them of how you’re being affected and how that impacts your service to them, it’s important you’re aware of the challenges they’re facing. Armed with that information, you might be able to help them out, which will engender feelings of goodwill towards you.
Use the extra time wisely
If things are a little quieter than normal, the spare hours you have on your hands could be put to good use. Those mundane administration tasks that always seem to get pushed down the list of priorities can suddenly take on greater importance if you’re looking to remain productive.
You can take a great deal of satisfaction from chasing up late payments and updating employee records. By getting those jobs ticked off, you’ll be in a stronger position to hit the ground running once the Covid-19 crisis begins to ease.
This was a sponsored post on behalf of Nucleus
