UK businesses are optimistic about Covid-19 recovery

Just over half of all c-suite survey respondents have indicated that the pandemic has actually had a neutral-to-positive impact on business confidence, while 42% feel adversely impacted.

These figures are from a Robert Half survey, which also shows that as many as 92% of executives said they are pushing forward with various opportunities post-lockdown, with digital transformation the top priority for 41% of businesses.

A significant proportion of firms have also redesigned job roles (29%) and adopted new business models (28%) in response to Covid-19’s impact.

According to the report, despite the government furlough scheme coming to an end next month, many companies remain positive about recruitment for the remainder of the year.

For example, three quarters of the companies surveyed had hired and/or onboarded new staff remotely during lockdown, with the majority of respondents (88%) expecting to employ further full-time or temporary/contract workers between now and December.

Matt Weston, Managing Director of Robert Half UK, commented, “Commercial agility, use of new technologies, effective forward planning and risk management will remain vital to business recovery following the impact of Covid-19.

“Businesses should determine which projects they want to prioritise over the remainder of the year and conduct a skills audit to ascertain if their current workforce is equipped with the capabilities needed to achieve their new-look goals.

“The essential competencies needed to grow their business may have shifted during the pandemic, so they may need to redesign job roles, upskill current employees or consider new combinations of permanent, temporary and project-based staff in order to build a smart, flexible staffing plan to power their post-lockdown recovery.”

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