With the price of food, fuel, energy, clothes, travel costs and
rent continuing to increase as inflation rises, we at Wylie &
Bisset are advising SMEs to rekindle the ingenuity that got them
through the lockdowns and adapt their Covid working from home plans
to help employers and employees cope with the cost-of-living
crisis.
As a partner in the firm's Business Advisory department, I was
very much aware at the start of the pandemic, that SMEs took
radical steps to change their business processes by adopting
Working from Home (WFH) practices. I now think they need to revisit
that 'trench warfare' mentality and adapt their working
methodologies to the cost-of-living crisis.
At Wylie & Bisset, we're actively encouraging staff to WFH
over the summer months to enable them to cut down on their travel
time and costs, as well as helping with childcare costs over the
summer holidays - which can represent a considerable saving - and
adopting hybrid working arrangements to give staff more flexibility
can help save businesses money over the medium term by potentially
reducing space requirements.
There are also environmental benefits to be had from WFH, with
less commuters travelling to workplaces by car, helping reduce air
pollution, particularly in city centres.
Acknowledging that many people are unable to work from home, and
that pay rises across the board will be unable to match inflation
at 11%, employers should consider alternative employee benefits, to
help see them through the cost-of-living crisis.
If a workplace has a communal kitchen, businesses could consider
offering employees free or discounted meals, and where neighbouring
employees commute to the workplace, employers could establish a car
club and consider aligning shifts so that they can car share and
save travel expenses.
SME business owners should also revisit their pricing structure
on a regular basis. It's often the case that owners need to raise
prices to cope with rising costs of materials, as many SMEs simply
cannot continue to absorb increases in operational costs without
passing on some of that cost to their clients and customers. Key to
that is open and effective communication.
Ultimately, it's all about SME owners rekindling the ingenuity
that helped get their businesses through the Covid lockdowns and
applying the same level of innovative thinking and enterprise to
help them deal with the cost of living challenge.
Keep up to date with all the business and community news from
Glasgow's IFSD by subscribing to our monthly
e-newsletter or connecting on LinkedIn
and twitter.#IFSD