VIRTUALLY ALL NJ CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEMBER BUSINESSES EXPECT TO FEEL NEGATIVE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK; ABOUT A THIRD ANTICIPATING WORKFORCE DOWNTURN
Hand Sanitizers, Cancelled Meetings, Work-At-Home Provisions and Travel Bans Among the New Realities in the Workplace
Two-thirds of Poll Respondents Give Murphy Administration Thumbs-Up for its Response
An overwhelming number of NJ Chamber member companies expect their businesses to be negatively impacted by the coronavirus outbreak and a third of them anticipate job losses will result according to an NJ Chamber of Commerce snap survey conducted this past weekend.
The survey further revealed that:
- The most common action taken by respondents (more than two-thirds) is to institute hand sanitizers in the office and cancel meetings and conferences;
- Slightly more than 58 percent of respondents have instituted a complete or partial travel ban and almost half of these companies have made the travel ban indefinite;
- Two-thirds of respondents characterize the steps announced by the Murphy administration through Friday as appropriate.
“I think we can characterize the business community as concerned but not in a panic about the coronavirus outbreak,” said Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. “The steps businesses have taken are rational and measured. The challenge our members will face going forward is managing their businesses in an environment of almost unprecedented uncertainty.”
The state chamber survey was conducted from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon with 183 members responding.
NEGATIVE IMPACT
When asked how concerned they were about the coronavirus outbreak, 85 percent of respondents said they were worried from a personal health standpoint and 98 percent said they were worried from a business standpoint.
In a separate question, when respondents were asked to characterize the impact they anticipated from the coronavirus outbreak, 92.4 percent expected it to be either “somewhat” or “strongly” negative.
When asked how they expected the coronavirus outbreak to affect their workforce, slightly more than a third (34.3 percent) said a downturn was either “somewhat” or “highly” likely. A little more than half (53.5 percent) anticipated no change in their workforce.
ACTIONS TAKEN
The most common action taken by businesses in response to the coronavirus outbreak according to respondents:
- installation of hand sanitizers by two-thirds of respondents (67.7 percent);
- cancellation of meetings or conferences (62.3 percent);
- instituted work-at-home provisions (59.5 percent) – for some employees (37.7 percent) or all employees (21.8 percent);
- implemented a travel ban (58.4 percent) with almost half of these companies (47 percent) making the ban indefinite instead of for a defined period of time.
MURPHY ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS GET THUMBS UP
When respondents were asked to characterize the actions of the Murphy administration in handling the coronavirus outbreak through last week, two-thirds of respondents (65.5 percent) said they were appropriate while 21.2 percent called them “insufficient” and 13.2 percent thought they were excessive.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
The NJ Chamber of Commerce snap survey was conducted between 4 p.m. on Friday, March 13, 2020 and noon on Sunday, March 15, 2020. All executives of the Chamber’s member companies were invited to participate. The survey generated 183 responses.