Covid Changes in Business That Are Here to Stay

The Covid-19 global pandemic had a huge effect on individuals and businesses around the world. Some of the changes that the pandemic caused are likely to stay with us, and while the pandemic itself was incredibly bad, some of these changes are very much for the better. This article takes a look at a few of these changes.

Flexible Work Environment

Many, many people worked from home for an extended time during the pandemic lockdowns. Employers and employees are negotiating how to move forward now that employees can go back to working in offices. Some employees want to stay home; some want a hybrid solution of working from home and working in the office, and some employers have discovered that they don’t need to pay for large office spaces. Ideally, we can come up with solutions that suit everyone involved. This video explores this idea.

Expanded Services

Many companies were not able to offer their usual services during the pandemic lockdowns, and were forced to pivot to find ways to make money and stay in business. For accounting companies, the intricacies of government loans and benefits paid to companies and individual citizens created a need for more advisory services to help deal with the tax implications of all of this.

Shopping and Sourcing Local

Supply chains have been seriously disrupted, encouraging people to shop and source locally, where you can pick up your items and take them with you, rather than waiting months for them to be shipped. There is also a renewed sense of community, that we’re all in this together, and local businesses and people need the help of their neighbours in tough times.

Better Communication

An unexpected benefit of the pandemic lockdowns were people learning to communicate better. When no one could visit in person and all communication was email, texts, phone calls, and video calls, we discovered that in-person visits were virtually unnecessary, and were much more time intensive than all the other ways to communicate.

Adaptability

Every business that survived from 2020 to now has been adaptable—we all had to be. We all learned that “because we’ve always done it that way” wasn’t a good enough reason for continuing how you operate your business. People came to expect adaptability from businesses, and will continue to do so now that businesses have shown they are capable of it.

There are many changes still facing our society and all the businesses in it, but we’ve shown some incredible strengths over the last two years, and there’s no reason to stop now.

Contact Shaw & Associates Chartered Accountants for accounting help you can count on. One complimentary meeting with us will put you and your business on a more profitable and positive path.