(Trinidad Guardian) After surveying 148 executives in T&T and the Caribbean in April, HRC Associates in collaboration with the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce has found that almost one third of the CEO’s are expecting staff severances in the coming months.
The survey disclosed: “Presently, however, 30 per cent of executives are anticipating some staff retrenchment within the next three months.”
It continued: “As a less permanent measure, 34 per cent of respondents expect that they will need to temporarily layoff some staff during the same period.”
In March 2020, six per cent of respondents stated that they were likely to retrench staff when surveyed.
The increase in staff cutting expectations comes as many businesses remain closed as T&T’s reopening of the economy is being done on a phased basis—a decision made by the government with which many in the business community have found issue.
According to the survey, the companies that are receiving less than $100 million in revenue expect to be more impacted than the companies whose revenues exceed that amount.
Of the organisations whose annual revenues were less than $100 million, 41 per cent of executives expect furloughs to occur in the next three months, while 37 per cent reported that they may retrench staff during the same period.
In contrast, only 29 per cent and 19 per cent of executives from companies whose annual revenues exceeds $100 million reported that furloughs and retrenchment exercises were to be expected within the next three months respectively. This can be inferred as these larger revenue earning companies are well capitalised and have the ability to withstand economic troughs.
In the face of increased layoffs and unemployment, 56 per cent of respondents to the survey recommend unemployment benefits and 55 per cent believed that the implementation of a national job retraining programme for individuals who became unemployed as a result of COVID-19 would be beneficial.
Meanwhile, when HRC Associates surveyed employees, of the 2,447 participants surveyed, 88 per cent are still employed, eight per cent were temporarily laid off, and four per cent were retrenched since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of those surveyed that are still employed, 85 per cent were working from home, 79 per cent attest to no change in salary or wage rate, 64 per cent have experienced no decrease in productivity while working from home and 77 per cent agree that their employer cares about their well being.
The survey also indicated that the majority of still employed respondents (74 per cent) are at least somewhat concerned about job security as a result of COVID-19.
Of retrenched employees, 30 per cent came from the sales, retail, services, and distribution sector, 21 per cent from the gas & oil and energy services sector and 20 per cent from the hospitality, entertainment, and tourism sector.
However, the majority of retrenched workers did not receive any parting compensation from their employers; 84 per cent of these retrenched employees reported that they did not receive a severance package or gratuity upon their separation from the organisation and only two per cent stated that they were offered career management services/outplacement services by their former employer.
Whereas only, 13 per cent of retrenched workers reported that they have an alternate source of income to support themselves and their dependants. When asked how long they believed they would be able to sustain their acceptable standard of living before acquiring another job, 51 per cent respondents said one to three months.
According to the findings, 24 per cent stated that less than one month was the timeframe before they transitioned into barely getting by. For 20 per cent of respondents, alternative sources of income would prop up their standard of living for three to six months, while four per cent would have an adequate living standard for six to 12 months.
Only one per cent of the respondents expected that they could maintain their standard of living for more than 1 year.
Of the temporarily laid off employees 51 per cent were somewhat confident that their employers would call them back out to work, while 23 per cent were very confident and 26 per cent were not confident.
The reasons for the current and expected layoffs can possibly be due to the fact that an 83 per cent decrease in consumer demand and spending was reported by executives in the survey. According to HRC, the figure is more than double of what was reported in the March 2020 survey.
In addition to the decrease in demand, 76 per cent of the leaders surveyed expect that there will be a decrease in their projected 2020 revenues. As a result 91 per cent of these CEOs have implemented cost containment measures to better manage cash flow and safeguard the financial position of the organisation. Moreover, 90 per cent of executives plan to or have already reviewed their Human Resources strategy to optimize workforce capacity and productivity.