Remote Work, Hiring Freezes Among Largest Impacts of COVID-19 on Businesses, Survey Finds
A survey of executives has found that the transition to remote work has been the largest impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on American businesses.
According to the survey, which was conducted by Arizent in March and April and included over 500 c-suite, management and staff leaders from a cross-section of American financial businesses, 38 percent of respondents said that remote work has been the largest impact on their business since the start of the pandemic. The impact varied by the size of the organization. Where 58 percent of large businesses said that remote work was the most significant impact, only 33 percent of small businesses said the same.
In the financial services sector, 45 percent of respondents said that their organizations have needed to shift to remote work environments. And sentiment varies on returning. Thirty-eight percent of all companies surveyed expect to return to their offices in one to three months, and 41 percent of financial services companies indicated the same. Under one third (30 percent) of financial services executives expect returns to be four to six away. An additional 11 percent said that they would never be able to return to the old approach.
Customer order delays and revenue loss were the next most significant effects, the survey found, at 25 percent and 23 percent respectively. Customer attrition and liquidity were the top concerns moving forward, the survey found.
Hiring was also hugely impacted, according to the survey. Eight-six percent of respondents said that they have added no new employees since the U.S. declared an emergency over the pandemic on March 13th. One in four executives said that they have laid off at least one employee since the declaration.
The respondents also indicated satisfaction with their companies’ responses to the crisis. Around 85 percent rated their companies’ employee resiliency performance at or above expectations. Close to six-in-ten rated their performance somewhat above or significantly above expectations, and 27 percent rated their companies as meeting expectations.
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