Renatus conducted a short survey amongst its valued network to establish some insights into the effects and implications of Covid-19. The survey, which gathered almost 1,000 responses, ran from 12/04/2020 to 14/04/2020.

Over half of the respondents are either C-level or Business owners:

The highlights from the survey are as follows:

• Cumulatively, over 85% of people expect that we will be fully or partially back to office-based working by the end of the July.
• Despite expecting a partial easing of restrictions by the end of the Summer most people (70%+) don’t expect a return of mass gatherings till at least September.
• There is a definite expectation of increased remote working post-Covid-19 with over 75% of respondents expecting increased remote working and 85% of respondents expecting to use online video solutions more.
• Only 18% plan to travel significantly less.
• More than half (58%) of respondents expect business performance in 2021 to either be a little or significantly worse versus their 2019 business performance.
• Meanwhile, 28% of respondents expect 2021 performance to outpace that of 2019 while 14% are expecting performance to be similar.

The results can be reviewed in full below. 

• June appears to be when largest portion of respondents expects to be some form of easing on the current restrictions (43%).
• Cumulatively, over 85% of people expect that we will be fully or partially back to office-based working by the end of the July.

• Despite expecting to a partial easing of restrictions by the end of the Summer most people (70%+) don’t expect a return of mass gatherings till at least September.

• There is a definite expectation of increased remote working post-Covid-19 with over 75% of respondents expecting increased remote working.
• Of these, 2/3rds expect it to be a marginal increase in remote working while 1/3rd expect the increase to be significant.

• A natural consequence of increased remote working is an increased demand for video conferencing solutions with nearly 85% of respondents expecting to use these solutions more.

• Nearly half expect no change in the amount they travel by air or more 45%.
• Only 19% plan to travel significantly less.

• More than half (58%) of respondents expect business performance in 2021 to either be a little or significantly worse versus their 2019 business performance.
• Meanwhile, 28% of respondents expect 2021 performance to outpace that of 2019 while 14% are expecting performance to be similar.

• This was an optional question of which there were 359 responses. These responses were segmented into 430 individual responses based on the themes they touched on (some responses touched on more than one).
• 26% of responses indicated that Digital innovation is the most important consideration for businesses going forward (i.e. video conferencing, in house innovation, paperless work, online delivery systems, B2C focused integration, CRM systems).
• Working from home will appear to be more common place in the long run, with 23% of respondents indicating that they will implementing WFH options for staff while creating more flexible working conditions across their organisation.

23% of respondents gave their opinion on their respective industries in the immediate future. To summarise:

• Business models going forward will need to be adapted to be able to sustain significant revenue reductions in a short period of time.
• While still deemed important, face-to-face contact/meetings will be significantly reduced.
• Employees contracts may be altered to incorporate a force majeure clause centred around a COVID 19 like event happening again.
• Contract/flexible staff might over take traditional full time staff.
• Greater emphasis will be placed on cash flow management.
• The requirement for physical or tangible work practices to be lessened greatly i.e. paperless offices, enhanced online communication, less need for support staff.