Lifestyle

How small businesses can survive coronavirus



Working from home, for many businesses, is an easy go-to policy, providing you already have a tested plan in place.

But, what happens if you’re building the plane as it flies, and figuring it out as you go along? This is the reality for a number of small businesses across the UK, facing the reality of pulling together a work from home policy, ensuring the team is trained, briefed and ready to continue to generate the same output, without causing disruption to clients and investors.

Tech giants including Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Twitter announced last week, that most of their staff are mandated to work remotely due to the coronavirus. Good for them. What about the little guys?


In times of crisis, facing the unknown, having a plan can halve the stress. If you don’t have the luxury of a COO, or you’re a young founder without a board, a chairman, or a senior team, the fear can be very real.

CEO of leading communications agency EMERGE, Emily Austen, has launched and scaled some of our favourite brands, from Rayban to Huel, 1Rebel and Fiit, to Missoma and Oatly. In times of crisis, clear communication prevails.

Here are some practical tips for working from home, and figuring out how to cut through the noise, and protect yourself and your business.

CEO Emily Austen lays out practical steps small businesses can take (Emily Austen)

1. Curate the channels through which you are downloading information. Fifty-plus news alerts daily won’t do anything to calm your nerves. The sheer volume of column inches is alarming, and the distraction of reading constantly about Coronavirus is unproductive at best and destructive at worst. Limit your news alerts to those most relevant, and check which Instagram and Twitter accounts you need to mute. 

2. Think before you post. Everyday, we wake up with a set of choices about how we spend our day. The horror stories from the last week have been sobering; people losing their jobs, losing their loved ones, companies going bust, weddings cancelled. We have a choice about how we use social media, how we share and shout and educate. Choose to share the warming moments, the wins, the heroes, the leaders. Use your choice. Share the good stuff. Choose good news. @rtbcheerful on Instagram is serving up some of the warmer stories.

3. Educate yourself. There are a number of brilliant sources online. Chatham House has a seminar this Friday to explain the Government response to the crisis, The Department of Health and Social Care provides direct information that can check in online, and the Federation of Small Businesses is pumping out some incredibly valuable information.

4. Know your risk. Scenario mapping is a really important tool, although uncomfortable. Consider your worst case scenario, however painful, and work backwards from there. What is the most vulnerable position the business has the possibility of being in? What are the protective measures that would need to be taken to avoid that? If the worst case becomes your reality, what is the protocol? Small businesses should be setting up Wave one, two and three, in terms of redundancies, cost cutting and predictive mapping.

5. Check your contracts. You might have heard from friends or on social media about redundancies, and people being laid off. The reality is, that you cannot just fire all of your staff, legally. Redundancy is a complex process that requires legal input, and takes time and resource. Employees still have notice periods, and can claim unlawful dismissal if you aren’t careful. It is a really painful, often last resort scenario to consider. There are measures that can be taken prior to this. Ask your team whether they would take a voluntarily pay cut (20-30% is common), see if staff members will be willing to donate back to the business their Q2 holiday, to avoid reducing man power, and reduce the holiday being bunched up to later in the year (which will cause you disruption later in 2020). There are a number of free legal advisors, and specialise employment law or HR specialists, who can advise you on the phone. 

6. Tighten your belts. Any extra cost cutting needs to be done today. Examples include; minimised travel, cancelling any non-essential subscriptions, reduce online sponsored posts, reduce or eliminate meetings to reduce expenses, pause any large costs that could be undertaken at a later stage.

7. Over communication is the key to successful remote working. Working from home doesn’t have to mean people take their foot off the gas with regards to talking to each other, or to clients. Updating each other, checking in, dialling in to Google Hangout to see each others faces, it’s all a crucial part of keeping the dialogue going.

8. Know your channels. Ensure that you provide a guide for tone and content across all channels, including email, Google Hangout, Zoom, WhatsApp, Slack and more. Ensure that the team has a clear route through these different channels, and what your expectation is of their use of them. 

9. See the opportunities. There have been a number of conversations over the last 18 months about flexible working increasing in the UK. Although this feels hard and fast, it is an opportunity to demonstrate team work, pulling together, and testing and learning. The benefit of working from home might introduce a new way of working, for the future, and encourage your team to step up and demonstrate why they are worth investing in. 

10. Take care of your mental health. Ensure that you are taking walks around the block, getting fresh air, going for a run at lunch, downloading at home fitness streaming services, such as Fiit, or apps such as Headspace or 10% Happier. Subscribe to Podcasts and Audible to ensure that you are exposing yourself to interesting and positive learning. 

11. Set clear parameters. Give your staff a clear business response, rather than a personal one. Create a plan for the day. What time does the team have to check in? Which channels are you using to do this? What is your expectation in terms of lunch breaks, and leaving their computer? Will you allow your team to recharge the business for data on their phones? What time does the day end? Where are you logging your information? How are you keeping in touch with each other? Slack is a brilliant channel for this, and one that most of our clients use. Get up, get dressed and get on with it. 

12. Insurance? Am I covered? If you are sending the team home with company laptops phones, or they are using their own, what does your insurance cover? What does their home insurance cover? Set up an internal document where you can log this to keep track. In addition, what does your sick pay say? Often, employees can be sick for four days before they need to produce a sick note, but many businesses will have different systems set up to pay sick leave. Ensure that you have considered what would happen if someone in your team contracted Coronavirus. Get to grips with what self-isolation means, what ensure that your staff know exactly what is expected of them, what is their responsibility, and how to keep themselves out of any danger. Prevention is important. 

13. Work together. We are all in this together, there is no one benefiting from any of the measures that are having to be taken. It is stressful, unknown, difficult, and there is a reality that there are lives at risk. Everyone’s problems are ultimately their own, but be kind, be thoughtful, be considerate, and work with people, not against them. If there was ever a time to lean in, it has arrived. 





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