By Jane Muhia
The COVID-19 global pandemic has completely stirred world plans, national plans, business plans and even personal plans and the impact of it will be felt for a long time in the future. The magnitude depends on how long physical distancing, work from home, curfews, lockdowns and limited movements directives need to be in place. The pandemic has disrupted global supply chains and brought to a standstill thriving economies, paused busy cities and busy lives.
On one side, businesses in what are deemed as essential services, such as food supplies, medical supplies are likely seeing positive benefits from the crisis, with increased demand for their products. Similarly, as everyone is forced to stay home in compliance with physical distancing directives, communication companies and the technology giants are likely the greatest beneficiaries of the current situation. Companies that never thought they could conduct operations remotely have been forced to rethink their approaches and adjust accordingly. The disruption of supply chains has also forced countries to look inward to produce products that they would usually import. For instance, Kenya has turned to its’ textile industry to produce essential medical protective gear that would normally be imported.
However, the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic are hard hitting for businesses falling outside essential services. Even in the essential sectors, it is not business as usual as they have to adjust to comply with health guidelines to curb the spread of the virus. Significant reduction of profits is inescapable for most businesses, leaving a majority of jobs hanging on a very thin thread. Working from home is not practical for all businesses especially since the changes were abrupt and there wasn’t really time to strategize. In some cases, it just is necessary for people to meet physically, be at a physical location or move about to get the job done. Similarly, some businesses are dependent on continuance of operations in other sectors and therefore, if those sectors are not able to operate remotely it means that their operations cannot proceed, case in point, legal firms. Since the Judiciary and other critical government agencies such as land registries are not fully digitalized, law firms are not able to continue normal operations even if they have the structures to internally work remotely.
It is in times like this when a business’s priorities are really tested. The triple bottom-line approach to business is especially relevant in current times; people, planet and profits. How far are companies willing to go for their employees? It might come to a complete closure of operations and the question then becomes how do you handle the employees. Are businesses willing to reach to their reserves, postpone plans or take any other measures to ensure that they can provide financial support to their employees, who might not be working at all? What part are businesses willing to play to ensure that in this very uncertain time they support the nation in making it to the other side of the pandemic? The reality is that very hard decisions have to be made and while it might be easier to invoke the force majeure clauses in employment contracts, lives are at stake, and we are all required to do better than that in the spirit of responsible business approaches that are people centred.
In Kenya, according to the 2019 census, the rate of unemployment especially amongst the youth is already too high, with 39% of the youth population being unemployed. We are likely to see a sharp increase in these numbers unless we take collective measures to prevent or minimize, job loss.
We therefore urge businesses to be considerate of their employees and go that extra mile. The crisis is hard on them too, they are anxious about how they and their dependants will survive in the near future and it is imperative that they are treated humanely. Employers must comply with the law in taking any measures that might lead to job loss, but we must strive to go beyond the bare minimums and layoffs should only be a last resort.
We are in the middle of a storm, but it shall pass and you will need your employees to rebuild. Your responses at this time as a business speak a lot about what you stand for…Times like this require us to remember that when all is said and done, we are all human operating in a world occupied by humans, whose very existence is under threat, and we must do what we must because of humanity.
“May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears” …Nelson Mandela
Jane Muhia is ICJ Kenya’s Programme Officer – Economic Governance: Democratic Governance and Rule of Law Programme
