Approximately eight out every ten companies in the services sector in Barbados have reported a decrease in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was one of the main findings coming out of a Barbados Coalition of Service Industries (BCSI) impact study of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Barbadian services sector, which was carried out between May 22 and June 9.
The transport and renewable energy sectors were not involved in the survey, and while 100 participants were identified, only 83 respondents completed the electronic survey.
Presenting the findings on Wednesday during a live streamed media conference, BCSI’s Trade and Research Officer Elihu Wahid said 83 per cent of the respondents reported a decline in revenue since the start of the pandemic here.
He said the average decline in revenue for the service sector companies was 66 per cent.
The survey also found that a quarter of the respondents needed to come to an agreement with their creditors.
And while opting not to give figures, Wahid reported that employers showed a preference for layoffs as opposed to pay cuts during the pandemic.
“Just about two-thirds (66 per cent) of the persons who identified as employers who implemented these measures said it would apply to more than half of their staff. So we see a vast majority of the workforce was impacted,” he said.
“When this study was done we were in a high period of lock down and some businesses were unable to operate. And with zero revenue coming in it was very hard to keep people on the payroll and keep expenditure going out when you have no revenue coming in,” he explained.
The survey showed that 76 per cent of the service industry companies implemented some form of workforce intervention during the pandemic. Fifty-five per cent of respondents implemented a work from home policy while 45 per cent said they implemented online consultations.
A third of the companies reported that they developed online payment processes, which the BCSI said confirmed the school of thought that firms have already generally invested in technology, but those investments were being underutilized.
Wahid said: “The shining light coming out of this is that significant number of firms said they would have to implement further measures than what were already implemented during the lockdown period, which means that we can look forward to a gradual improvement of everything [over] time.”
Several recommendations also came out of the study including the need for the BCSI to increase its public outreach campaigns, the need for member organisations to play a more active role within the association, and the need for firms to better utilize technology.
Wahid promised that the BCSI would do all it could in the short, medium and long-term to improve on any shortcomings identified by the members.
The study, which was also designed to inform the BCSI’s programming during and after the pandemic, showed that respondents called for increased training opportunities and for the BCSI to increase the publication of its activities.
“As we chart the path forward from COVID-19, businesses are not going to pick back up to the same point they were before. Businesses will have to continue to make things work and increase output with lower cost,” said Wahid, as he called on firms to implement efficiency measures as opposed to seeking to cut staff.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
