BRITISH COLUMBIA – The BC Chamber of Commerce published findings from a survey it conducted on the health of BC businesses as the province enters phase three of the Provincial Government’s Restart Plan.
The survey found that about two-thirds (65 percent) of businesses are using some form of government support and businesses are expecting a substantial negative impact on their business, should these programs expire too quickly. Only about three-in-ten businesses (28 percent) on government support expect to return to normal once the programs end. Of the remainder, 32 percent expect to reduce employee hours, 27 percent expect to lay-off or terminate employees, and 24 percent anticipate taking on debt. One-in-ten will have to close either temporarily or permanently.
The findings are the results of a survey of 1,401 member-businesses of the BC Chamber of Commerce, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Business Council of British Columbia, and other partners, with the Mustel Group’s assistance.
The survey found that among the two-thirds of businesses that are receiving some form of government support, the uptake and accessibility of programs is uneven. The most useful program has been the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (53 percent) and, of businesses that qualify, the Canada Emergency Business Account has received strong uptake. The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA), Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP), and Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) have either not been useful or accessible to businesses with only 7, 2, and 1 percent respectively, ranking these programs as useful.
The pandemic has spurred lasting changes affecting where and how businesses operate, especially those in core employment centres and cities. The survey found that of businesses working in an office setting, 43 percent are currently working in an office, 42 percent are working remotely and the remaining 15 percent are working in some other way. The report found that key barriers to getting employees back to the office or workplace are social distancing requirements (38 percent), employees’ reluctance to return to the workplace due to safety concerns at the workplace (35 percent) and getting to and from work (22 percent).
Businesses also expressed little confidence in the government’s recovery plan with 16 percent reporting confident and 47 percent indicating they are not confident in the government’s recovery plan.
