Take a fresh look at doing business

The easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions – which allows more businesses to operate – seems to be a welcome and necessary move. After all, some companies have been unable to trade for almost six weeks, because they have not been considered “essential services”.

That time in lockdown will, sadly, have caused many to close their doors for good and to put their workers out on the street, metaphorically speaking.

They will not – in an already tough economy – have had the financial resources to fall back on and absorb the lack of income for so long. Also, many would have been unable to borrow money from financial institutions to tide them over.

But reopening businesses is far from being as simple as it sounds, given the laundry list of mandatory safety measures that companies will have to implement before being allowed to open their doors again.

These new requirements – announced yesterday by Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi – are aimed at ensuring the safety of workers in the workplace – and also at formalising requirements for social distancing, medical monitoring and sanitising.

Companies will not be allowed to resume business unless these requirements are met … and face being closed down if they fail to adhere.

Those restrictions and regulations will, in themselves, add significantly to the cost of doing business. Nxesi believes companies should do the right thing and absorb the new costs but, inevitably, some or all of these extra expenses will be passed on to the consumer. That is the way business operates.

But business will not be the same. Consumers will have less money and will spend much more carefully. In addition, they will be more conscious of companies which try to profit from national suffering.

So, perhaps this is an opportunity for companies to properly sanitise their business practices.