Do CEOs need some love?
With most employees taking pulse surveys—has anyone asked CEOs & COOs how they’re doing?
This week was a bad one to be in my contact lists:
I’ve spoken to someone whose turnover has dropped from £70 million to nothing, in three months.
To another who has gone from £30 million to £2 million.
From someone who was leading a team of 1250, and now has a team of less than 100.
A CEO whose HR director is on Zoom all day every day making people redundant.
And a director who made 26 people in their own team redundant yesterday. Today she went to the office first thing to restart a work vehicle—because there is no one else left to do it.
It’s such a brutal time for business change that many are comparing what we’re going through to World War Two.
WW2 vs. COVID: Let’s look at the numbers
During six years of war, fewer than three million British troops were enlisted. They moved in waves, as the military adapted equipment, training and structure to meet the challenges.
By comparison, this year:
On 23 March, about eight million people moved to WFH.
Between April 6 to 19, around 22 percent of the UK’s working-age population, nine million people, were furloughed.
Economic activity dropped by 30% between an average week in February vs. May (McKinsey).
In terms of deaths, 68,000 civilians were killed in six years of war: 2/3 that number have died of Covid-19 in six months.
The term “unprecedented” (yuk) has been plastered everywhere and become hollow. But it is important to remember that what is happening now has never happened before. For business leaders, that means that are trying to keep up with an incredible pace of change.
I keep hearing three things plaguing their minds
[1] Jobs
All I do is work to save jobs,” says Chris Mitchell, who runs contract catering business Genuine Dining. “If we make our own sandwiches, can we save a few jobs? If we deliver food to offices, can we save a few more? But the hard truth is that we’ve already had to let go of 150 out of 750 people, because you have to accept the reality that your business is much smaller than it was. You can’t keep everyone, when the offices we serve are running at 5-10% capacity.”
This is echoed by other leaders trying to work out how to time possible redundancies, to combine notice periods with time on furlough, fearing that otherwise their business will be bankrupted.
[2] Fear
An HR leader at a law firm reports that out of a floor of 300 people, only six are coming into the office regularly. This is reflected by others, who are finding that people are terrified to come into work. Specifically, they are worried about catching the virus on public transport, which is a threat to the ability of some businesses to function. An hotelier said “I understand people are afraid, and some have real reasons to stay at home, but if we can’t reopen… we won’t have a business.”
Consultant Alaric Mostyn points out that this fear is largely grounded in a lack of faith in how well the pandemic is being managed by the government. Whereas those in France or Germany may feel their governments’ have done a good enough job, the majority of people in the UK think the government has overall done a bad job (YouGov), with specific criticism for:
their minimisation of deaths,
ability to track and test,
and provision of PPE.
“Re-growing the economy requires confidence—so the priority of the Government must be to rebuild trust in how the next year or two will be handled.”
[3] Tax
While furlough has been seen as a godsend by many (and the main thing the government has got credit for), the government’s impact overall is… complicated. One said ‘the government is capricious’, another said they were a ‘ 🤬 liability’ citing the track and trace failure and quarantine muddle as examples.
A CEO says that the biggest threat to their business now is the vast accumulation of government debt: when you add up the unpaid PAYE, VAT, corporation tax, plus the apprentice levy on work that isn’t being done… it’s terrifying. Meanwhile everyone is nervously watching holiday pay being accrued while on furlough and wondering how it will get paid without the operations to support it.
💩⛈
Overall, leaders talk of being caught in a pincer between trying to keep their teams afloat and the vicissitudes of Government.
As strategist Simon Craven notes, during the war, the government was partially cross-party, and focused on preservation. Now we have Covid-19… plus Brexit… plus a government committed to transforming things. This makes it especially hard for business to know where it will go next.
For some, the stress is oppressive. “Some days I’d like to be on furlough in my garden letting someone else worry about it all.” says one.
For Chris Mitchell though, there are upsides: “We’ve gone back eight years and it’s like being a start up again. There’s an adrenaline rush to all the ducking and diving. You have to fight for everything: it definitely feels real.”
The survey
This week I’m launching a snapshot survey to get some data on the stress levels leaders are feeling. Please fill it in and share: it’s just five questions.
My guess is that we’re going to hear from some people ready to scream with the frustration of doing everything they can to keep their business afloat while always, always, feeling like the bad guy and wondering: what the heck happens next?
I’ll tell you next week.
In the meantime, maybe consider giving your business leader a socially-distanced hug?
- Christine x
