Most companies not prepared for second wave of COVID-19, report reveals

The majority of companies have not prepared any special measures to counter the effects of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a recent research report has been able to suggest.

The report, entitled ‘Better Business Resilience’, was commissioned by Driving for Better Business (DfBB), the government-backed Highways England programme, surveying 150 SME business owners and over 150 decision-makers at board level in large enterprises.

It aims to demonstrate the attitudes and behaviours of SMEs and large enterprises towards business resilience across the UK and has revealed that two-thirds of companies have no plans in place for the resurgence of the COVID-19 virus. Larger firms are slightly better prepared for localised lockdowns (45%) and a second wave (39%) than SMEs, but the figures are still under half of businesses.

Many businesses failed to implement measures prior to lockdown, with one-quarter of SMEs not having any measures or policies in place to prepare. Large enterprises were more prepared than their SME counterparts; all large firms had prior measures or policies in place to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and provision for subsequent government advice. Almost twice as many large firms had some form of policy in place to support staff wellbeing and health relating to COVID-19 compared to SMEs.

Responsiveness to lockdown measures was on the whole quite low with only 28% of large firms and 40% of SMEs introducing working from home policies for their staff. Measures to protect the mental health and wellbeing of staff varied across the nation. Nearly half of firms in Greater London (42%), the West Midlands (42%), and the East of England (45%) integrated COVID-19 wellbeing and welfare measures into their company policy; the North East of England lagged behind with only 29% of businesses introducing these measures.

How can Tensor assist you in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and following the health and safety guidelines?

We can help you:

• deploy comprehensive contactless access control and time and attendance solutions with temperature screening that ensure a higher level of hygiene and reduce the risk of infection with COVID-19 and/or other dangerous viruses or bacteria.
• install completely contactless, touch-free door entry and exit control systems, including automated door opening mechanisms.
• implement stringent COVID-19 health and safety policies, issuing alerts when a member of staff has an elevated body temperature and/or preventing them from accessing your site.
• keep your site secure at all times, accurately monitor visitors and premises and ensure that only authorized staff can gain access.
• install a touch-free self-service visitor management system (SSVM) and reduce interaction with reception staff. Visitor questionnaires can be filled-in off-site previous to arrival, while on-site registration is conducted via contactless QR code scanning.
• accurately manage and record staff’s working times, whether in the office or on site / working from home, and offer your staff the tools they need to manage their clockings, flexitimes or holidays wherever they might be.