Has Covid changed business for ever?

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Stu Anderson

Coronavirus has had a profound impact on working practices around the world, but how many of those changes are likely to be permanent?

That’s one of the questions being asked by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Hub in a business attitudes survey launched this week.

The Growth Hub provides free and impartial help to new and established businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by signposting them to business support and advice.

It wants to assess which of the changes that businesses have made in response to the pandemic are likely to become permanent, and whether the business support landscape in Cornwall and Scilly needs to adapt accordingly.

Growth Hub operations director, Stu Anderson, said: “For many businesses the last 12 months have been about survival and adapting to change. With lockdown easing we want to measure how much of that change could be permanent.

“If businesses are going to do thing differently then they might need different kinds of business support. This survey will help inform us about what we need to know in order to point them in the right direction, so we hope businesses will take a few minutes to fill it out.”

One of the biggest changes as a result of coronavirus has been an increase in home working, with many businesses expected to allow staff to work more flexibly.

But what implications does this have for managing staff, on training and development, and even IT infrastructure? Does your business have a flexible working policy? Is home working likely to increase or reduce costs?

Other businesses have moved their sales online. Does this mean they no longer need as much office or retail space? Have their skills needs changed? Have they ever considered taking on an apprentice?

These and other questions are posed by the Growth Hub’s online survey. It only takes five minutes to complete and is anonymous.