Businesses suffer from Covid-19 related productivity loss: Study

BUSINESSES have also suffered from Coronavirus (Covid-19) related productivity loss, apart from actual financial loss, a survey has revealed.
According to the survey conducted by PNG Business Council, productivity loss was about K5 million.
“Aside from the financial loss, businesses have also suffer from Covid-19-related productivity loss,” PNG Business Council executive director Douveri Henao said.
“Seven out of 10 (70 per cent) respondents say that lost productivity has cost their business less than K500,000.
“What that basically means is, half a million kina is not recoupable, it’s gone.
“On the other hand, 12 per cent estimate their loss to be between the range of K1 million and K5 million,” he said. A hundred and fifty (150) business leaders were interviewed, representing 20,000 employees.
“Fifty-nine (59) per cent of those CEOs (chief executive officers) were from privately-owned businesses; 15 per cent of them were family entrepreneurial businesses, subsidiary and multi-national group of companies was another 15 per cent, nine per cent from public companies, and another two per cent were from state-owned enterprises. So approximately 90 per cent of the numbers we received were from the private sector,” Henao said.
Meanwhile, businesses that participated in the survey were concerned about its workforce and how they could be protected.
“Fifty-five (55) per cent of the respondents said they have critical (essential) employees who have been infected by Covid-19.
“For 37 per cent of the respondents, less than 10 per cent got sick, between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of their critical employees have been infected.
“Sixty-three (63) per cent of those who had critical employees infected by Covid-19 suffered major business losses, such as revenue loss, temporary closure of operations, scaled down operations and productivity loss.”