Your business will be going through hardship of some sort or another because of the global pandemic. Your venture may sit within the hospitality, the tourism, or the retail sectors. These are the industries that have struggled most to stay in the black. If your cash flow is looking poor, your financial forecasting looks precarious, and you are concerned about the survival of your startup, you may be considering redundancies. Letting people go is traumatic for everyone involved, but more so for the individual finding themselves unemployed. As an employer, you need to care for the well being of your team whether you are planning on letting them go or not.

 

Redundancies will save your business money. However, alongside making a worker redundancy, you will have a whole host of tasks and duties that now need to be redistributed among the staff you are retaining. This can lead to low morale, an overstretched team, and a lack of productivity, resulting in poor customer experiences and bad reviews popping up online. While saving money on a salary is an obvious way to limit your cash flow, the fallout from this can be even more damaging to your business. If you do have no other option than actioning redundancies you need to do so with union involvement and with transparent communication.

 

Alternatives To Redundancies

 

Your supply chain will be one of the most expensive aspects of your startup. It doesn’t matter whether you import ball bearings from Mexico or whether you need a constant supply of basic cotton white tees for your graphic design clothing agency, you have to consider every aspect of your chain. Those facets of your supply chain that are unreliable and expensive need to be looked at again. Check out http://eplogistics.com/customs.html and consider how you can employ a logistics specialist that will ensure a swift movement for your goods through customs. This is where snags and hold-ups can occur, so consider employing a specialist to help make this more seamless.

 

Any supplier that is trying to increase their prices needs to be released from their contracts with you. While you care about your suppliers, you also need to consider your business survival. Go with a freight carrier that has great reviews and adheres to all industry guidelines and legalities when transporting goods across borders. Renegotiating and sourcing new suppliers can help you to save money and streamline your business.

 

If you have a workforce that has had to cope with the new remote way of working, consider extending this business model as suggested at https://www.15five.com/blog/. Flexible working often scares employers as they assume that their staff will be watching Netflix or procrastinating when they should be working. However, this hasn’t happened. Productivity across industries has remained high. To maintain this high morale among your staff and to save money, think about turning to a wholly remote way of working, negating the need for costly premises leases. These chunks of money that you are spending out on rent can be saved and reinvested in other aspects of your business model to help your venture to survive. 

 

Follow this guide and you may realize that you don’t have to make redundancies as you can save money elsewhere for your business.