6. Supporting Employee Wellbeing

Most small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) say the COVID-19 pandemic will change the way their business approaches HR in the future, especially when it comes to improving employee morale and health/ safety. With the pandemic revealing some aspects of their current HR capabilities as lacking, SMB leaders recognize the need for additional HR support as they move forward.

While the majority of SMBs did have a formalized business continuity plan in place before the COVID-19 crisis hit, most of these plans did not specifically account for pandemics. Still, the majority of SMB leaders said their plan was effective in helping them handle the current situation.

The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has hit small- and medium-sized businesses hard. Even more than finances, the uncertainty that SMB leaders face has been the most difficult challenge of all. Fortunately, in the face of this struggle and uncertainty, SMB leaders feel supported by both their colleagues and their local community. 3 in 4 SMB leaders (77%) agreed that “Dealing with the pandemic has been the most difficult challenge my business has faced.” While many SMBs are struggling, a nearly equal number say they are thriving (20%) versus struggling badly (19%).

Small- and medium-sized business (SMB) leaders are optimistically looking to the future by leveraging a recovery strategy that has their businesses bouncing back in a matter of months once operating at full capacity again. Dealing with the economic downturn and new social distancing requirements as a result of the pandemic rise to the top in terms of challenges, even more so than recovering from lost sales. Most SMB leaders (70%) have a recovery strategy in place, and two thirds (68%) expect their businesses will be able to bounce back in 6 months or less once they’re able to operate at full capacity again. About 1 in 5 (21%) expect to be able to recover in 12 months, and 11% expect recovery to take longer than that.