How Coronavirus has shone a light on the true heroes and villains of business
The saying goes that a Crisis brings out the best and worst in people. These words couldn’t ring truer now COVID19 is holding much of the world to ransom through lockdowns and enforced physical distancing. Although individual countries have differing approaches, the consensus has been unified: cut the chain of infection!
This can only be achieved if humans stay away from each other. Simple right? Unfortunately not!
We are social creatures living on an overpopulated planet and the predominant capitalism relies on a 24/7 ‘just in time’ culture of mass consumerism. From year round fresh food availability to next day parcel delivery, this structure, which is still relatively novel and constantly treads a fine line, is now being sorely tested.
Wealthy individuals and large businesses, i.e. those who profit most, have never been in such a position of perceived vulnerability. Yet they also hold a unique position of power and that lies in how they respond to the needs of their stakeholders in these unprecedented times, how they treat the very people that they profit from.
Work force and customer base are the backbone of any successful business and our primary industries, especially those providing goods and services constantly allude to how important we are, but is it all just empty rhetoric?
As consumers we’re massaged with ad speak, telling us that we’re “worth it!” The reality is we’re only worth what we’re willing to spend! This has been proven time and again by companies who reward new custom whilst relying on loyal customers to be too busy, lazy or compromised to argue the toss about increased charges.
With regard to workers, HR speak is rife with sugar coated jargon, for example “change” being synonymous with “sacking people off”. A certain national broadcaster rebranded staff as “talent”, as if that somehow elevated them to an equal footing with on screen colleagues. Were they more valued? Of course not! It was a platitude never reflected in salary, terms or conditions.
The critical consensus is, is that it’s purely a cynical effort to either get us to spend more money with them, or work for them under increasingly difficult terms; whether that’s level of pay, contracted hours or workplace safety.
Yet we put up with it, because it works. The cogs keep turning and some of us are lucky enough to reap the relative rewards of this structure; in particular the 1% in developed nations, leading comfortable lives with housing, education, sanitation and some level of a social care system.
But this voracious virus has not only infected over a million people globally; it’s jammed a spanner in the cogs of society, almost grinding it to a halt! We‘re suddenly and starkly reminded of how intrinsically linked we all are, how we are all cogs that drive the functionality of our global economy.
Industry requires consistent flow and guaranteed relative free movement from component to product to consumer. These have suffered immeasurably from the necessary enforced measures.
The UK is on relative lockdown! We’re not to travel unless absolutely necessary. We’re not to work, unless from home or as a key worker employed by a company or organisation that’s been deemed essential. In the public’s mind this means care givers, emergency services and retail outlets that sell essentials such as food or pharmaceuticals.
This decision, the only sensible choice, effectively severed the lifeblood of many businesses. It was also the key moment in which many nailed their colours to the mast.
If classed as ‘essential’, companies could keep trading and therefore maintain production and cash flow, even with compromised freedom of movement. But this also requires a ‘key’ workforce, exposed to risk, whether from their commute, colleagues or customer contact.
For some, this was an easy decision that put the welfare of workforce and customer base first. They shut shop, put their staff on full pay, end of!
For some it was understandable that confusion ensued, because they retail a vast range of goods including those deemed as essential. There was a degree of backlash against some stores staying open, but they found ways to justify such decisions through noble gestures.
But for some it became an exercise in self-justification, which ranged from dubious to utterly outrageous.
It’s a global pandemic and the world has gone to hell in a handcart, so it’s forgivable that companies got it wrong and in a matter of 48hrs non essential business was either home based or shut.
Good!
Or so we thought … but that depends on one’s interpretation of essential …
One industry stream under exemption, precisely because it’s so critical to those turning cogs, is manufacturing. Fair enough, one might say, if it’s PPE or an effective Corona cure, but boob tubes?
The company’s response was this increasingly familiar piece of PR:
The issue here is twofold!
Firstly, the notion that PLT is remaining open for the greater good. Yes, as pointed out in this article, our economy relies heavily on manufacturing and retail workflow, but the primary objective here is profit. The relative tax benefit does not outweigh the benefit of keeping people safe from the virus and boob tubes are not essential! Equivalent businesses have shut shop (Next, River Island), thereby putting the welfare of their workers first.
Which brings us to the second issue…
Government guidance also stipulates that if a company cannot ensure the safety of their workers to carry out the required distancing, then they should shut shop. Yes, PLT claims that they have measures in place, but with 32 complaints already received by a local MP, this author finds that incredibly hard to believe and it beggars belief that this is allowed to carry on.
The juxtaposition between a company like Timpson’s and PLT is glaring! One can effectively put people on gardening leave, whilst the other can force theirs to work 12 hour shifts in unsafe conditions.
Although there are genuinely principled companies who hold their workforce in esteem and award that duty of care, our ‘just in time’ consumer mindset not only makes space for unscrupulous businesses that exploit loopholes, but actively encourages these sort of practices to flourish.
Under normal circumstances this would go unchecked, but when lives are literally at stake, any contempt for the workforce is being held up to scrutiny, and looks to be reflected in the public’s spend.
There are many examples of good practice and bad, and social media users have been keeping tabs. Hashtags like #coronavillains have been trending since the lockdown and there’s a website called ‘shut out’ under construction that will highlight the heroes and villains, in the hope that the consumer never forgets to shut out those that behaved badly during the crisis.
Yet consumers are also part of the problem. Online sales have sky rocketed and companies like PLT are processing double the orders with the same level of staff. Our money drives their behaviour, so if you want to drive change for the better, the take away from this crisis is to put your money where your mouth is and then back in your wallet.
