Outcomes of the survey report on enterprises response and impact of the Covid-19 crisis

The International Labour Organization – Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ILO-ACT/EMP) has recently published the outcome of a global survey conducted in cooperation with Employer and Business Membership Organizations (EBMOs).
The report allows a better understanding about the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on enterprise activities.

Thanks to the support of EBMOs, the survey reached enterprises in 45 countries across four regions, namely, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, categorizing its findings in relation to their operational continuity, financial health and workforce status. It was carried out online between mid-March and June 2020, and contains the views of 4,530 enterprises.

Overall, the ILO-ACTEMP survey found that Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact, disrupting enterprises’ activities worldwide irrespective of size, sector or region of operation. The economic contraction and additional shocks have put significant pressure to enterprises. The disruptive effects of the Covid-19 crisis cover a vast array of aspects in relation to the enterprises’ performance, and goes from shortages in cash flow to maintain staff and business operations, the reduction of demand for products and services, supply chain disruptions, transport restrictions and workers’ inability to go to their physical workplaces, among others. The key findings of the survey report can be summarized as the following:

First of all, on terms of their operational impact, 78% of enterprises changed business operations or service delivery to protect their enterprises against Covid-19;
On the crisis prevention front, less than half of enterprises had a business continuity plan (only 33% of micro enterprises had a business continuity plan);
From a financial standpoint, the damage is noteworthy: 86% of enterprises reported a high or medium level of financial impact. Micro/small businesses had a higher level of financial impact compared to large enterprises;
In terms of cash flow and supplies over 60% of enterprises answered that they did not have enough cash flow. More than half of enterprises said that suppliers were unable to provide inputs.
The results dealing with the key issue of support policies and programmes are also a matter of concern, as 40% of enterprises declared they had no funding to support business recovery. 67% of enterprises reported funding was insufficient for recovery.
In terms of workforce management, 80% of enterprises globally retained or plan to retain staff.

Finally, the recovery expectations range from 1 to 6 months with larger enterprises in a more favourable situation compared to micro, small and medium size enterprises.