With the Government announcement on Wednesday 8th December that England will move to plan B, we look into the impacts this will have on small-to-medium-sized businesses across a select range of sectors. This has come as a result of the new Omicron Covid variant, rapidly spreading across the country with experts becoming unsure of the full extent of its impact. Early analysis has already suggested that cases could be doubling at a rate of as little as 2.5 to 3 days.
What are the new restrictions/rules?
- Wearing Masks
- Working from Home
- Booster Jabs moving forward
- Covid passports for nightclubs and venues with a generally large attendance.
Wearing Masks
When it comes to the basics of covid restrictions, wearing masks are at the top of the list. This restriction is brought in when people are travelling on public transport or even shopping in retail stores. Generally anywhere in a congested indoor space – with other individuals as it is used to help reduce the spread of the Omicron Covid variant. Due to it being brought back a second time, it has caused a lot of unrest within the local communities and this could impact the public transport sector as it may reduce consumers’ incentivised demand for wanting to travel in taxis, Ubers, trains and buses etc. With some people being asthmatic (and other respiratory concerns), they are able to go by with the ‘exempt’ pass meaning that there are still consumers who are going about their daily lives – shopping and eating out without the need of feeling restricted. Retailers are encouraged to provide customers with masks as they enter the store, this is because it’s best to combat this potential issue to customers coming in who do not possess a mask or may have simply forgotten.
Working from Home
The Government has outlined that if people can work from home then they should, leading many to return to this work situation from 2020. However, this is mostly workers from a corporate environment whether it’s sales, finance, HR etc. People working in retail and hospitality will still be working. This can impact SMEs to an extent where they have to adjust their internal office layout to abide by covid standards and regulations. This can include anything from setting up barriers around each staff member’s desk or even segmenting the tables where there is at least a table (2 metres) gap between each person. A lot of processing will be involved in strategically adjusting to meet the regulated guidelines for those staff members wanting to work from the office. Conversely, for those wanting to work from home, this could impact SMEs from a cost side as some may have to invest in personal equipment such as laptops to take home with them. This can also have a knock-on effect on other businesses operating in the hospitality and retail industries as the increase in work from home may lead to a decrease in footfall in the town cities. Meaning that these businesses will have a smaller chance of converting the customers coming in (what’s known as) “peak time”.
Covid Passports
Large venues with massive capacity holdings will have to change the way they can accept entry for people entering. This is by asking each individual for proof of a covid passport where it shows someone’s covid vaccination or test details. Venues currently have ongoing issues with speed and efficiency as for people to get into the arena and into their seat, they need to firstly get their tickets scanned then go through security checks. So, this process alone makes entering a venue time-consuming, now add to that the added covid passport scanning (and allow time for potential errors). Consumers are known for wanting things fast, adding covid passports to venues like football stadiums and local bars and nightclubs can have a significant impact on the businesses. This could be due to some consumers not even wanting to do the covid passports for their personal reasons.
