Most small businesses are not passing on the costs of Covid-19 safety measures to customers, and it's the largest small businesses that are most likely to say profits are taking a hit as a result.Regenerating demand after emerging from lockdown is proving to take longer than would be ideal. More than 4 in 10 small business owners say that demand for their business's core products or services has decreased in the last three months.
In the May CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey, 80% of workers who had been continuing to work from their usual workplace said they were satisfied with the safety measures their companies had instated. In that survey, the two most commonly cited safety measures were requirements on mask wearing while in the workplace and limitations on the number of people who could be gathered in one room.
As businesses have reopened and workers have been called back to the offices, restaurants, stores, and schools where they usually work, they have the same fears about safety as everyone else. For small businesses, money is spent on safety precautions as much to protect workers as to protect customers.
Despite the sustained high levels of unemployment the country has seen since April, 31% of small business owners say it has gotten harder to hire compared to a year ago, while just 6% say it has gotten easier. Given all their other stresses, small business owners are motivated to retain their current employees rather than adding on additional concerns about hiring.
The mask requirements, social distancing reminders, and plexiglass barriers that may have popped up in local small businesses are as much for the peace of mind of the consumer as they are for the employee.
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Source: CNBC - 🏆 12. / 72 Read more »