At present, many companies are battling for cash with debtors days growing, reduced turnover and thin margins.
The buzz-phrase ‘new norm’ is now part of everyone’s vocabulary. And while an end to any form of lockdown seems unlikely in the near future, only those companies that are fully prepared for the ‘new norm’ will survive. And, indeed, prosper.
At present, many companies are battling for cash with debtors days growing, reduced turnover and thin margins.
Organisations will need to continually review the landscape as the country (and the world) works through the various levels of lockdown, to ensure that they move ahead, and remain ahead of the competition when we move into the ‘new norm’.
- Nothing will ever be the same
‘Business as usual’ is no longer relevant. With the onset of Covid-19, many employees are working from home. IT and employees need to keep pace with technology changes from holding virtual constructive group meetings and ensuring all employees know what is required of them, to the preparation of reports and monitoring of the business and individual performance. Communication with all employees is vital and methods must be established to enhance communications. This will be more important than ever before! - Be informed
Make sure you are up to date with information relayed by various stakeholders, such as the government – national, regional and local. What are the new laws and rules? How do these affect your company? What rules for Covid-19 will you need in place to keep operating? - Your competitive edge will be redefined
- Your competitors will most likely have changed. They will have changed the way they do business, there may be new ones and others that no longer exist. Research your competition and understand how your company will maintain or develop a new competitive edge.
- What does your market look like now? Keep in touch with your present customer base. Their needs may have changed. Who are your new customers? How will you meet their demands? Or will you have to accept that they no longer need your products or services? Will you need to rethink your service or product offerings to meet the demands of the new markets and maintain a competitive advantage?
- Contact your suppliers. Do they still exist? What about imports, prices, lead times?
- Rethinking your workforce
All organisations depend on skilled motivated employees. However, working from home puts a unique pressure on the employer and employee relationship. Even if the employees are part of a skeleton staff in the office or employed in a factory or mine, their routine will have and will need to change, and change is not always welcome. Home-based employees will have to deal with having children and a spouse around, the possibility of load shedding and an uncertain wi-fi service, printers, cartridges, paper and stationery.
The lack of interaction with other employees will also negatively affect many employees. How do you ensure your organisation’s culture is maintained and enhanced with so many remote employees?
Employers may need to restructure their workforce to encompass both the present circumstances and the ‘new norm’ when – hopefully – we emerge from lockdown. - Be willing to accept change
We are in uncharted waters. Almost everything has changed. And business structures need to change and adopt new strategies – new structures, new roles, new skills, new changes to the pay structures and market benchmarks, new benefits, new incentive schemes and novel ways of presenting services and products to new and existing markets.
Strategy hits the tarmac when remuneration is aligned to performance. Make sure your remuneration is aligned to you strategy!
Our team is available to assist you in planning the way forward. We keep it simple and add-value.
Khokhela Remuneration Advisors core focus is to add value to our clients by assisting them in designing remuneration and reward solutions that engage the talent within their businesses to enhance their productivity and ultimately, improve the bottom line. Linked to this is the design and development of performance management systems and processes to ensure that reward is linked to real performance. Strategy, in many cases, needs to be reviewed or re-developed as strategy ‘hits the tarmac’ when remuneration is linked to performance aligned to strategy.