IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, YOU DISCOVER THE TRUE CALIBRE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES. WE'VE JUST FOUND OUT. IT'S BEEN HUMBLING.

What an incredible team.

Like many contracting companies we have to find comfortably into six figures, every month, for our fixed costs, irrespective of what comes in. Our income normally covers that, of course. 

But we’ve stopped work, to keep our people safe. So from this point, like many companies, our income will start to dry up. Outstanding invoices will hopefully be paid, but beyond that, there’ll be nothing coming in.

We can reduce some of those costs, but only some of them; unless we’re prepared to put people at risk, which we’re not, we can do nothing about the income.

Six figures going out, nothing coming in.

Sobering. 

Few contracting companies will survive that indefinitely. 

It’s a worldwide pandemic and no living person has been through anything similar. There’s no course you can go on to learn how to manage this. There are no case histories to look back on. No one has written guidance notes.

A few days ago, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that ‘some people will say they don’t accept this reality and think they should be shielded from it’. But it’s a global crisis, he said, and we’re all coping with the same thing.  It’s a reality for everyone, and everyone has to adjust to it. No one is held harmless from reality.

The Governor was explaining that whilst the State of New York will do everything possible to protect people, not everything is possible, and the expectations of citizens should be managed accordingly.

And he’s right. That applies to us, too. And most companies.

I'm determined that we’ll come out of the other side of this, with the same great colleagues. 

But even when the health crisis eases, the crisis in business will remain.  Clients take weeks or months to pay us, so once work restarts, we’ll have to fund it until we get paid. There’s no guarantee that all our clients will survive, or that if they do, they'll continue to carry out signage projects.  

Our revenues may not recover to the same level, or they may be significantly increased. No one can say.

At the very least, some clients will, hopefully, survive, and want to do business quickly, and we’ll be ready for that.  

When that time comes, we’ll have to put diesel in the vans, and pay for materials and overnight accommodation, so the fixed costs will rise again.  We’ll have 2-3 months or so of fixed costs before money starts coming in again.  

We don’t know how long it’s going to be before that happens, so we have to be very, very careful.

We’ve shared all that with our employees. And we’ve said that for the foreseeable future, there’ll be no redundancies.  

Like management teams all over the UK, we’re doing our best.

The Government has said that if we furlough employees, instead of making them redundant, we can claim back 80% of the salary up to ￡2,500, so we’ll do that. 

And until March 31, we’ll top up the Government’s contribution, so people get 100% of their pay, even though most people have had no work to do for the past week.

It’s not currently clear how or when the company will get this money from the Government, but we’ll pay people on time, regardless. 

So it could be a lot worse, but it isn’t good. We’ve had to explain to all our employees that things are going to be tough. 

They have families, mortgages and commitments. 

They should get a three month deferment on their mortgage payments but that’s a hassle to discuss with the mortgage company, and a worry, and they’ll still have to find the money, at some point, even if much further down the line. Some of them doubtless have loans where the lender may be less flexible. The situation for renters is not as clear cut.  

Hard decisions. Hard conversations.

But here’s the thing that gave me hope.

Our employees totally get this; all of it.  

Actually, I expected them to get it. I have high expectations of our employees and they tend to meet them. 

What I didn’t expect was the incredible outpouring of loyalty that followed.   

I should have done; I should have known that they would react in this way.  

I’ve had personal messages from employees saying that they understand, that they appreciate what we’re doing, that they trust us to do the best for them (which, believe me, we will).

I’ve had messages from a lot of employees offering to pitch in, and do what they can, even if they are furloughed. Sadly, we can’t accept those offers, for all sorts of reasons, if people are furloughed, but the offers were genuinely made.

Our colleagues may be on furlough; their mindset isn't.

I’ve had some particularly poignant messages from colleagues who’ve had troubles in their lives, in the last few years, and who feel that we stood by them, then. We remember that, they said, and now is time for us to stand by the company.  

These messages came out of the blue. But when a crisis strikes you discover the true calibre of your team. We've just found out.

I know, from conversations colleagues have had across the company, that many employees feel this way. 

This has been a tough few weeks, for everyone, and when I started getting these messages, I’ll admit … well, it registered, let's say that. It made me feel humble.

And I have a message, too. I’ve managed to convey this to some of them personally, but not all of them, so I’m happy to do so here, publicly.

I have a very long memory for people who display that kind of loyalty. I do not forget the sort of messages received by my fellow Director Kate Parmentier and myself.

The troubles that lie ahead of us won’t be over quickly. The economic impact may last for a very long time. Or not. Who knows?

But I do know this. I will not forget that when trouble struck, so many of our employees reacted in this way.

I feel that we are in their debt. 

And here’s my message to them: I like to repay debts.

You can check out my other articles here. 

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