In October we ran a survey gauging the experiences of our customers during the coronavirus pandemic, to get a better picture of how business was coping and what the mood was like as we started to feel the impact of more restrictions. Since then we have obviously had another month-long lockdown, and we are now operating in a new tiered system of local restrictions. But the responses we received are still a very illuminating insight into this most challenging of years.
These are the questions we asked and the responses we received:
At what capacity is your company functioning compared to before the pandemic?
30% of respondents, the highest percentage, said that they had seen no change, while 23% said they were only operating at less than 25%.
At what capacity is your company functioning compared to before the pandemic?
If you have made use of the furlough scheme, what percerntage of your staff is currently furloughed?
More than half of the replies we received here said that no staff in their businesses were furloughed, and only one indicated that more than 75% of their payroll were still furloughed. This question was asked in October, at the end of which month the furlough scheme was due to end, although it has subsequently been extended.
How many of your employees are working back on site?
Half of the respondents for this question said that all of their staff were back on site, with only 25% saying that more than three quarters of their workforce were still working remotely or not back on business premises. This is an encouraging sign that a return to full capacity is not too far away.
How much have you had to change the way your site operates to reduce the risk from Covid-19?
23% of businesses said they haven't done anything differently, 46% have added some signage, hand sanitising stations, staggered start/end times and clean more frequently, while over 30% revealed that they have had to make a significant investment in new resources, guidelines & systems. Ensuring safety within the workplace has become an essential part of post-lockdown activity for firms of all sizes, and customers are more likely to be receptive to businesses that have made a greater effort to be Covid-secure.
How much has your business been affected by Covid-19?
Perhaps surprisingly, but also encouragingly, the highest proportion of answers to this question (30%) said that they had experienced no change to their turnover. 23% reported a significant reduction in income and a further 23% chose the 'it's been bad but we have coped' option. Just one respondent said they were doing better than they had been before the pandemic.
How confident are you about the next 12 months for your business?
61% of respondents said that they were optimistic - the highest proportion we received for any question in this survey. 15% were pessimistic, while 23% felt that it was too difficult to predict at this stage.
What is your biggest challenge at the moment?
For this last question we gave respondents the chance to provide their own comments on what they feel is their organisation's most pressing issue in response to the pandemic. These are just some of the answers we received:
Salaries. It always is. We are in the entertainments business and business is albeit at zero.
Getting events secured in the future when nothing is clear.
Too much work to be on site ourselves and then also be on top of everything (organising, materials, rams etc) but not quite enough to warrant hiring more full time installers just yet. Once we get over that hurdle we will be more organised.
Lack of export orders.
Getting people to pay.
Other companies not being pragmatic about the situation."
New tier restrictions."
We are appreciative of every business who took some moments out of their day to take part. With a vaccine about to be rolled out we can only hope that some normality will return in 2021.
