Tag: COVID-19

Manufacturers and distributors are operating in intensely pressured times. Stats SA reported that manufacturing output contracted for the ninth consecutive month in February of 2020 with the full extent of the damage caused by COVID-19 and the nationwide lockdown still unknown.

The outbreak of global pandemics such as COVID-19 comes with a huge price tag. The South African Reserve Bank estimates the current nationwide lockdown will cost the economy about three weeks’ worth of GDP, or 5.8% of R5.3-trillion, which amounts to a staggering R300-billion. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down and amidst the uncertainty, many of us look ahead and feel a little panicky: What’s going to happen to our savings and to the retirement we were looking forward to?

Optimism, the idea of hopefulness, or confidence about the future success of something, is a feeling that may be understandably absent from South Africans’ lives at the moment, especially amidst negative news headlines and a lack of certainty about the future.

The scale of the national COVID-19 lockdown is unprecedented in living memory. The repercussions – personal, professional, national and international – will reverberate for years to come. As entrepreneurs, we need to be making the right decisions for right now to ensure that our businesses and our people’s livelihoods do not become another casualty of the virus. 

The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has promulgated the regulations applicable during the lockdown Alert Level 3.

The world has changed. While some aspects of life will return to its former state before COVID-19, much will not be the same again. Brands and agencies alike need to think differently and design communications strategies that now factor in the use of digital, purpose-led campaigns, and in-home consumption vs out-of-home consumption, in essence the rebirth of creativity in a post-pandemic world.

To date, the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) has paid over R15,7-billion to 2,288,295 in its COVID-19 relief payments. Many employers, however, are still having their applications rejected. Small, seemingly insignificant discrepancies in submissions are seen as mistakes and will lead to the submission being rejected.

As South Africa prepares to move from level 4 lockdown so more and more companies will be allowed to re-open. As part of this, there are a broad range of legal requirements that organisations now need to comply with. As of the 29th April 2020, government published a set of regulations specifically related to how companies should be managing COVID-19.

COVID-19 creates a moment of truth for corporate culture. Cultural change is essential in this era of pandemics and business transformation. It is the invisible glue that holds the organisational organism together. It is also a large amorphous cloud, which gets its shape from beliefs, norms, values and behaviour.