What Employers Can Learn From the COVID-19 Pandemic

Currently, due to the ongoing health crisis, over a million registered small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia are facing uncertainty when it comes to assuring business resiliency and sustainability. Employers understand the necessity of planning for the unexpected, but few could have predicted the onset of a worldwide crisis like the one we've seen today.

SME Association Malaysia reported that up to a quarter of SMEs were facing closure. Employers are facing challenges on several fronts, including supply chain interruptions, decreased local and international demand, changing consumer trends, and staff shortages. SME owners can't undo what's already happened, but they can influence the path of their future by refocusing their attention.

What can SMEs do now to help them overcome the health crisis tomorrow?

 

1. Diversify and rebuild your supply chain

The need of diversifying our supply chains has been repeatedly demonstrated by the health crises. Relying on a single, low-cost source is not a sustainable strategy, and it will almost certainly backfire in the future.

When it comes to your supply chains, consider the following: Do you only buy from one supplier? Or are you completely dependent on a single client? Will your company be able to survive if one of them leaves?

SME owners should carefully examine and manage interdependent organisational levers such as multiple sourcing, localisation, and market penetration. With a solid risk management system in place, your supply chain model should be altered to allow for additional flexibility and decentralisation.

Whether it's personnel, logistics, or raw materials, the lesson is the same: to achieve long-term success, you need to establish resilience in your supply chains. Many businesses have begun to recognise this, and it is an important lesson that we should remember long after the pandemic has passed.

 

2. Enhance your communication with partners and clients 

Most businesses avoid the limelight during times of crisis as no one wants to be the bearer of bad news. We bury our heads beneath the surface, hoping the crisis would pass and we can resume our operations normally.

However, most SME owners overlook the fact that no one likes being kept in the dark. Communication that is timely and relevant is critical to the success of any relationship, especially business ones.

What your business associates and clients want to know is not how terribly the pandemic has affected you, but how you are dealing with it:

• What are you doing to get back on your feet after this crisis?

• What are you doing to avoid another shutdown?

Giving honest updates and addressing difficult questions can help your stakeholders gain confidence in you.

All organisations must have a crisis communication plan in place; however, this does not mean you need to hire an army of public relations experts. A simple email or a quick phone call to your clients will suffice.

 

3. Reskill and upskill your workers with online training

To meet the ever-increasing needs of digitisation, the government has placed a strong emphasis on upskilling and reskilling SME employees. The National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana), through its upskilling and reskilling initiatives, provided certification and non-certification programmes for employees to develop their abilities and be future-ready for the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0), especially in high and knowledge-based businesses.

The government also announced the SemarakNiaga Keluarga Malaysia Program, an RM40 billion initiative to assist businesses in recovering from the Covid-19 outbreak while also providing new job prospects. The programme, according to the prime minister, will assist businesses in developing workers' skills and enabling reforms that will help the country move to a sustainable economy via digital transformation.

The best thing an SME owner can do is encourage their staff to enrol in courses and learn new skills relevant to their industry. Digital training not only ensures that employees are making the most of their time, but it also helps to close the gap so that when the economy picks up again, your employees will be among the first to hit the ground running.

 

4. Improve workplace health and safety

One thing is certain: the world as we know it will no longer be the same. Even when the pandemic is over, the focus on workplace health and safety will increase. Locally, occupational health and safety regulations have been raised to ensure that employees are as comfortable as possible.

According to a poll conducted by the World Economic Forum and Ipsos in 33 countries, Malaysia topped the list with 91% of employers requiring unvaccinated employees to undergo regular Covid-19 testing. Malaysia placed in fourth place with 94% of employers mandating staff to wear masks in common areas and when working in close proximity to others.

SME owners may keep their excellent reputation by teaching staff about the new regulations and encouraging healthy workplace habits, even after the pandemic has passed. Given that these rules are here to stay, consider if you'll be able to manage these safety standards manually in the future. If the answer is no, look into how you can automate and digitalise such functions to free up time and resources for other important tasks.

 

5. Invest in automation to increase your capabilities

If the Covid-19 problem has taught us anything, it is that businesses that can adapt, automate, and digitalise functions will benefit the most in the long run. As people began to work from home and businesses migrated online, those that cling to old-school ways have little choice except to pause, if not entirely shut down their operations.

What SMEs should take away from this is that automating and digitalising processes is not a question of "if," but rather "when." It is a myth that small businesses can't afford the cost of automation and that only large firms can afford it. The cost of a two-to-three-month operations shutdown has far-reaching ramifications for your company, and this income loss obviously outweighs the cost of automation, which should be viewed as an investment in growth and transformation.

As a small business owner, consider how you might prepare for automation. Even if you are a manufacturing SME that depends primarily on labour and manual processes, you can benefit from a variety of digital solutions.

The government is also assisting small businesses in obtaining these solutions. With RM200 million set aside under the SME Digitalisation Grant Scheme in the latest 2022 Budget announcement, the Malaysian government is focusing on offering incentives to SMEs that adopt digital technology.

 

If SME owners are prepared to take the necessary next steps, they can sustain and remain resilient. It is critical for SMEs to do so since it contributes not only to the success of the company but also to the prosperity of the country.

The 12th Malaysian Plan has already stated that one of the main focuses is to support the growth of all economic sectors, with a particular emphasis on accelerating the transformation of SMEs, which account for 45% of the country's gross domestic product. These lessons may provide SMEs with ample opportunities to survive and even thrive during the pandemic.

 

Source: TheSunDaily