OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – Business as usual in Wisconsin is likely to include extra precautions to ensure the health and safety of employees and customers amid the pandemic.
The majority of businesses responding to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s November COVID-19 business and economic impact survey reported introducing significant changes in their operations in the last several months.
“The majority of respondents suggested that they either limited hours or came up with some kind of change in layout either by installing physical barriers or reducing occupancy. For example, in a restaurant, spacing tables further apart,” said Jeffrey Sachse, interim director of UWO’s Center for Customized Research and Services (CCRS).
Changes in hours (31%), addition of physical barriers (21%) and changes in layout (18%) are the most common adaptations. Many respondents suggested that the last two accommodations were impractical given space limitations. This continues to be a challenge, especially in the restaurant and retail sectors, he said.
However, Sachse points out that the rate of adopting things like delivery services or personal shopper consultations remains relatively low.
“Businesses will be more likely to put in changes today that they can reverse tomorrow…You install a barrier, you can take the barrier down. But with some of these are the longer term investments such as e-commerce and delivery contracts – those are services that customers, even when we get back to normal, will continue to expect. And it’s an ongoing expense for that business,” Sachse told WTAQ News. “So what we’re seeing right now, again, is businesses doing what they need to do to get by – not necessarily what they may need to do in the future.”
Nearly 480 Wisconsin businesses responded to the eighth survey administered by CCRS since the pandemic began. Study respondents reported the following top-level impacts for October:
Inventory losses of $804,000
Income gains of $9.5 million
Wage and productivity losses of $1.8 million
Other financial losses of $5.2 million
Sachse said these results confirm the weaknesses that have been observed in other economic indicators, including consumer spending and consumer confidence.
“What we’re seeing is fairly consistent with what we’ve seen over the last two months…It’s a really mixed bag. Basically what we’re seeing is that most of the gains that we reported last month were concentrated in two dominant sectors, that being the construction and manufacturing sectors,” Sachse said. “The fourth quarter is really one of their prime quarters for booking business into the subsequent next six months. They’ll book valued contracts now that they’ll actually deliver upon in the winter and spring.”
Responding businesses also reported adding 52 new employees last month. This remains abnormally low in light of typical holiday season hiring, he added.
The November survey also showed continued concern regarding business survivability, with 30 percent of businesses reporting viability under six months with current conditions.
“Businesses are feeling a lot more optimistic about the coming year and of course the vaccine that’s been reported the last several weeks has been indicative that…We know that businesses are still kind of dealing with the reality of the pandemic on their operations, but they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Sachse said. “But that being said, where they are in the current point in time really doesn’t point to the realities of that recovery…We’re still chugging along, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be to begin to see real, strong signs of recovery.”
As the vaccines roll out and the summer approaches, Sachse expects businesses to start making bigger investments towards a serious comeback. He thinks that could initiate growth that would move the economy out of the situation much more quickly than anticipated when the pandemic began.
The final survey of 2020 will be sent to a sample of 4,500 Wisconsin businesses beginning December 3rd. Sachse predicts the survey will continue until the pandemic is over, and will then morph into a similar, but more generalized business development survey.
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