It was hoped that the start of 2021 would mark the end of troubles associated with the coronavirus. However, experts would agree it was foolish to believe or conclude that the problems associated with the pandemic would disappear overnight. Indeed, in many countries, the situation right now is no better than it was nearly a year ago.
Even with multiple vaccinations approved and accessible on the market, it’s still going to take months to ensure that vulnerable people have the doses they require and longer to guarantee vaccines are widespread throughout the population. We are also starting to see the first signs of variations of the virus that are more deadly and potentially resistant to the vaccinations that have already been created.
Ultimately, this means that businesses do still need to be concerned about the impact that COVID-19 could have on their company. Owners will also need to put strategies in place to guarantee that they are dealing with the issues here the right way. Let’s take a look at some of the problems that businesses need to handle right now.
Problems With Employees
Right now, business owners have some important decisions to make about their employees. First, they need to think about social distancing. Experts claim that social distancing will still be important up until winter 2021 and potentially beyond this. Companies must be following the right standards and regulations to keep everyone in their business safe, including employees. If they fail to do this, then they will be leaving themselves open to a massive potential lawsuit.
There are a variety of ways to adhere to social distancing guidelines. First, you can think about adding some new installations to your business environment. Plexiglass is the typical option used by businesses, particularly where there is a large number of employees working in close vicinity to one another and interacting with customers.
Businesses also need to consider where they need to reduce their team numbers. This is a more permanent solution to the issue of social distancing and certain environments indeed make keeping people separate far more difficult. For instance, fast food restaurants such as Mcdonalds had no choice but to let large numbers of team members go during the first lockdown.
It is worth thinking about this as an opportunity to trim the fat in your business model. You can get rid of some of the employees who are not pulling their weight or who are holding your company back.
Of course, it’s also possible that you have lost members of your team and you need to replace them. This could be the case if there were vulnerable team members who now need to shield. There are ways to ensure that you get great replacement team members and fill important positions. You can use specialized services for this like a construction labour hire agency. This could be perfect if you are worried about vetting new team members yourself or you just don’t have time to complete these processes.
Future Lockdowns
While business owners are likely hoping that the days of lockdown are now behind us, there’s every chance that there could be a few more in the future. Researchers and government officials have already stated that this will need to occur if it seems like hospitals are going to be overwhelmed, if death rates are rising or if the R rate is too high.
So, what will lockdowns mean for business owners? Businesses weren’t prepared for the first lockdowns but they have an opportunity to prepare for the next ones. One of the ways to do this is to check your existing business insurance or set up additional plans. You can get the insurance that will guarantee you can keep your finances in order even if you have to shut your doors for an extended period.
As well as exploring insurance options, you might also want to think about exploring your online brand identity and profile. When there is a lockdown, the best way to make money is through online transactions. As such, the business profile online needs to be as strong as possible. There are a few areas to consider improving here.
For instance, you might want to think about ensuring that transactions are as smooth as possible. Improve the structure of your website and ensure any user is only ever three clicks away from a page they are looking for. Pages need to load quickly too otherwise your customers are going to get bored and look elsewhere online. When you think about load times remember that a lot of your customers are going to be using mobile devices. You need to make sure that pages load rapidly on as many devices as possible. A-B testing is one of the best ways to check for issues here and ensure that you don’t disappoint customers.
Security should be a top consideration here too. The last thing that you need right now is to suffer a data breach. There are a variety of ways that you can boost security levels in your business. Our recommendation would be to invest in the services of an IT support team. They’ll keep a check out for signs that your security has been compromised.
Business Costs
Now is the right time to reduce wastage in your business model and tighten things up a little more. One option that you might want to consider is saying goodbye to your business office. Thanks to the latest tech choices on the market, there are very few business models that require an office to work effectively. Work from home and you will reduce your costs immediately.
You can also think about hiring freelance workers rather than a permanent team. This is a trend that you should explore and you won’t be alone. By 2030, the majority of workers will be part of the gig economy.
It’s clear then that the worst may not be behind business owners. However, with the right strategies in place, companies will be able to weather this storm and keep their lights on, while they wait for a better tomorrow.
