Keeping your company afloat in the middle of a pandemic followed by an economic crisis is a tough nut to crack! Businesses in every field are being tested for any downturns and disruptions. Sadly, few won’t survive this, and the majority of them will experience a downfall in terms of revenue collection and profits. To address and prioritize upcoming issues in this changing business environment, leadership teams have quickened their decision making processes to help their employees and communities.
Top companies have set their first goal towards health and Safety, Set up war rooms to mitigate problems, adjusted operations to meet demand. More than 70% of the companies have given work from home to all their employees. Industry-based companies like Reliance Industries Limited are operating with 10-20 % of employees.
With stock markets plunging, all their businesses know the fact that they will fall short on cash and, at this very fact, threaten their survival. Alas, there is no wolf of Wall Street that will come for their rescue.
Companies will come across a lot of problems as they shift their priorities to prevent any mishaps; there are steps that businesses can follow to help themselves.
If the impact of COVID-19 is not something your business can take and you have reached a point where you have to lay-off, think again. When you take out your company from the crisis, there will be an additional cost of restraining and rehiring that you will have to undertake.
Instead of laying-off employees, you can choose employment in installments and unpaid leaves with the employee’s consent. You can give 30-40 percent of the salary for the employee’s survival. Employees can rotate in terms of unpaid leaves or can choose to get their pay at the end of the year or in installments every two months. It is essential to safeguard the company’s liquidity in times of crisis.
Immediate decisions to reduce spending can be implemented. These decisions can be mandated until the next financial year or till the crisis subsides. Few examples like a review of the expenditure on marketing, a reduction in travel expenses, and freezing hiring.
Create a war room exclusively to tackle problems involving cash outflows under CFO’s guidance.
The war room team typically has employees from the finance department, sales, HR, and purchase. Moreover, this approach enables real-time and quick decision making and lets leadership groups focus on urgent cash needs and preservation techniques.
Make a cash-flow forecast of the days when your company operations will remain shut due to lockdown. Let’s say ten weeks to diagnose your current scenarios in the market. Plan, monitor, and forecast cash inflows and outflows as much as possible and regularly compare it with real-time data.
This pandemic took everyone by surprise. Thus, a lot of companies need a few policies, which are disaster-proof to save them from the next big thing.
In fact, a good plan would be preparations for remote work, investment in tools and software to perform the tasks, tackle travel issues, meetings, etc.
Covering business insurance plans is very important. Projects like finding out supply chain alternatives, finance alternatives should also be included.
Coming to work from home – this one needs a good internet connection, laptop, and phone also. Most of the employees will to have it; a few of them might have lower bandwidths. Companies should be ready to bear these costs and also. Invest in software to conduct meetings efficiently.
No matter how many preventive measures or backstops you take, your business will take a hit. Finally, while the government is making sure to help out by giving economic benefits, you have to be prepared for the worse.
“Be optimistic, keep sailing, and wait for the economy to soar again!”