Half of US businesses cutting back on nonessential spending

Coronavirus US business tracker: May 14th 2020

US businesses are tightening their belts to brace themselves for the new normal.

Leaders are feeling the pressure to stack away their dollars

The days of lengthy business lunches and overseas trips look set to become a thing of the past, our new coronavirus business tracker data shows.

US companies are having to navigate new territory, and fast – half (48%) have started to focus on reducing all nonessential spending to keep bottom lines in control.

Leaders are feeling the pressure to stack away their dollars, with four in ten (39%) saying that they are adopting cost-cutting measures as a way of making sure their businesses continue to survive.

And they are right to be making savings now. Not only have almost half of businesses reported a dip in their company revenues, but who knows what future financial changes may hold?

For example – over a quarter (27%) are expecting more investment in virtual platforms once the coronavirus crisis ends – and integration of these platforms may be costly.

In general, the rate of impact on US businesses is relatively stable. For three weeks running, US businesses have said that they expect the impact of coronavirus to disrupt them for approximately seven months.

There still may not be any signs of improvement in the business outlook, but companies are still trying hard to make their employees feel as calm and looked after as possible.

Businesses continue to provide access to online workouts/yoga, followed by flexible working hours and learning and training opportunities.

Whether or not working life will resume as normal is yet to be seen – but the data points to some significant potential changes. Almost two-thirds (67%) of professionals expect a shift towards more work from home policies once the pandemic is over, and with many already practicing WFH, this could signify the end of office life as we know it.

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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