Survey: The Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic on business operations

Our recent survey focused on the impact of Covid-19 on businesses, as well as to understand the perceptions of employees and employers on how they have been affected.

We asked the question, “Has the coronavirus pandemic had a positive or negative impact on your overall business operations?”

75% of the respondents noted a negative impact on overall business operations

25% noted a positive impact.

 

Summary of Comments / insights from respondents   

• Companies have not been performing well therefore they had to retrench employees and some have cut down salaries to half.
• Working from home also has its challenges in that some employees have to buy their own data to be able to work online and yet data charges have gone up and the employer is not willing to pay for the data.
• Lack of conducive working environment was also highlighted.
• Those who had a positive response explained that though Covid-19 has its challenges there are positives that can be drawn, such as cutting down on administrative costs.
• Others, especially those in the pharmaceutical sector, had their sales increase to the point that they were able to meet their targets.
• Some participants alluded to the fact that working from home has had its challenges but it has helped them to be technologically advanced.
• Previously, they were not well versed with the use of online conferencing platforms, like Zoom and Meetup, but they had to figure it out with no training as they had to deliver on their mandates.
• Spending more time with the family was one of the positives that came out from the participants who took part in the poll.
• Other comments on the positive was that time management has improved, no over supervision or monitoring of employees, and teams have become more productive compared to when they work from the office. There is no time limit e.g. work finishes at a certain time, employees will deliver their assignments without being confined to normal working hours.

Overall findings conclude that businesses have been negatively impacted by Covid-19, but there are also positives for some businesses who have been able to navigate past the negatives and have had a positive comeback to the growing external complexity.