A real hunger for information
Covid-19 has created a real hunger for information and advice among New Zealand businesses. For many business owners, getting the right information at the right time has been a matter of survival.
In response to the pandemic, the Government very quickly launched business support programmes such as the wage subsidy, businessfriendly changes to the tax system and interest-free loans for viable businesses.
The breadth and speed of the Government’s response, combined with businesses’ urgent need, created eye-popping timelines for decision makers.
The past two months have required businesspeople and their advisers to absorb and respond to government initiatives much more quickly than usual.
The Government has done a good job at communicating often complex changes, but this official information has only gone so far.
Organisations such as Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and Business New
Zealand have had to deal with a torrent of follow-up questions: ‘‘I think the business may be eligible for the wage subsidy, but does it meet the criteria and can it keep the staff on?’’ or ‘‘The loan scheme looks good now, but will I regret taking on more debt down the track?’’
In the past two months, CA ANZ has run Covid-19 knowledge-sharing webinars for thousands of its New Zealand chartered accountants, and responded to hundreds of questions from them about the detail of the government support and legislative changes – all driven by business clients wanting more information.
Initially questions were focused on the here and now. What do I have to do to access this programme?
The thrust of the questions is starting to shift from survival to recovery. Businesses are now saying: ‘‘OK. I think I’m going to survive, so what can I do to ensure my business is in the best possible shape for the future?’’
Not all are in this better space yet. Some businesses are still in survival mode and a substantial percentage may not last the distance.
But in general, the conversations chartered accountants are having with their business clients have generally shifted to a more optimistic mindset, admittedly from a very pessimistic starting point.
Business continuity plans are an essential tool to help businesses survive, recover and prosper.
CA ANZ has produced a very popular and highly regarded business continuity playbook.
In a blueprint for business leaders, the playbook identifies three stages of change:
Adjusting to change
People may feel overwhelmed, uncertain, anxious and emotional. They have little capacity to consider anything other than basic work functions and spending downtime adjusting.
Business unusual
Clear communications and systems are now in place and people begin to settle into a stable, though abnormal, routine. They want to take their focus off Covid-19 and concentrate on other aspects of their lives, including work, hobbies and helping the community.
Recovery and resilience
Behaviours and expectations change towards acceptance of the ‘‘new normal’’. People become more optimistic and engaged and confidence begins to return, with more certainty for the future.
Businesses in each of these stages require different sets of information.
Stage one, what we called ‘‘peak uncertainty’’, was a harrowing time for many businesses that had to make life or death commercial decisions based on web page upon web page of information which had to be to absorbed in an incredibly short period of time.
The worst of that is over for most businesses as they settle in to a more stabilised, but still abnormal environment. However, the hunger for information remains. The edge of that hunger may have come off for many businesses, but the success of their recoveries will hinge on timely and correct information and advice.