Coronavirus impact on US businesses has begun to stabilize

Coronavirus US business tracker: May 7th 2020

There have been several news reports around the reopening of America over the past week or so, which may sound like music to the ears of many US businesses.

with expectations remaining stable, many may feel less burdened than they did before

While the impact of coronavirus on businesses, in general, remains negative, our data shows that the rate of impact has started to stabilize over the past two weeks.

The crisis is still disrupting normal working patterns, but the expectation for the length of impact on US businesses hasn’t increased. It has stayed at the same level as last week, with US businesses predicting an impact of around seven months.

Businesses are still uneasy, with half believing that the pandemic will negatively impact their sales. However, the number of those who have reported a decline in their revenues and projects remains steady at 52% – and hasn’t taken a turn for the worse.

How does it all affect employees?

Among business leaders, concern for the future isn’t necessarily easing up, but with expectations remaining stable, many may feel less burdened than they did before.

In fact, the feeling of consistency is perhaps creating room for US businesses to set aside worries and focus on looking after their employees.

Over six in ten (64%) US businesses are offering access to online yoga and other exercise (up from 57% the previous week), half (53%) are negotiating flexible working hours and 37% are providing learning and training opportunities. Making sure that employees remain motivated and feel rewarded is also vital to many, with four in ten (39%) arranging virtual social happy hours for their staff to let off steam.

When businesses do eventually reopen, safety is a continually rising priority. Over six in ten (64%) say they will prioritize designing health and safety plans for employees – up significantly from 57% last week. Office structure may also be set to change for good, with over a third (37%) expecting increased reliance on remote working in the future.

Savanta’s US weekly business tracker measures the business impact of COVID-19 among decision makers within organizations of all sizes and industries. It tracks the perceptions on the economy overall as well as organization specific impacts including sales, employee outlook, productivity and performance.

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