This is Red Five’s sixth weekly report detailing proactive steps you, your family, or your company can take to be prepared for the week ahead. This report represents work product derived from various reliable sources, and contains the most accurate information available at the time of print. However, it may be based in part upon information provided by third party sources, which may be subject to change at any time.
Individuals, families, and companies will need to be resilient in the weeks ahead as they continue to find themselves in a new “normal.” Businesses should focus on their local health conditions as the nation’s governors will be responsible for the reopening of states’ economies. Local conditions will drive how businesses need to phase in their return to a “new normal.”
Last week, we focused on steps you and your family could do to be prepared and resilient for the week(s) ahead. This week, we are turning our attention to ways companies can prepare and be resilient for the week(s) ahead.
We recommend you take the following steps in order to be prepared and resilient for the week(s) ahead.
- Reduce expenses where you can but balance that with keeping employees employed, or otherwise close so that may be rehired quickly when appropriate.
- Continue to retain a ready reserve of cash, and secure additional sources of working capital to weather the downturn. By now companies should have applied for the federal SBA loans and/or the Paycheck Protection Program.
- Employ technology that allows employees to work securely regardless of geographic restrictions. This includes hardware, software, training, and bandwidth resources. Get what you need now so you are better prepared.
- Begin to pivot to modified products and services that allow you to maintain income in the new normal, and pay your core employees and vendors for as long as possible. You will need to be creative, and should have a plan in place to shift to those modified offerings. Communicate those adjustments to clients, old and new, quickly and clearly. Ask your clients what they need, and ask your team what they think they can do more of, and more efficiently in the new normal.
- Continue your planning for a phased return to work. The first week back will be different and it will continue to change. European companies are starting to return back to work on a rolling basis, with core staff returning to the office first, followed by other staff members.
- Plan for a resurgence of cases this fall, and the possibility that we could find ourselves in a stay at home situation again.
- Keep in mind, this too will pass. We are a resilient country, and a resilient people.
