Survey of 100 Northamptonshire 'back offices' spells out how Covid has hit workforces

A survey has laid out how how the pandemic has impacted the back office workers of Northamptonshire's businesses.

Over 100 company owners in the county weighed in on the independent survey asking what is worrying workforces and how priorities have changed in the last year.

The responses detail how three quarters of businesses say their financial security will be the most important issue when the pandemic ends - and a quarter are considering mental health troubles for the first time.

In fact, out of the 106 businesses - nearly all made up of office based workers - a quarter said mental health would be the big issue post-pandemic - after no respondants at all listed it as an issue in a previous survey in August.

The 'Northamptonshire Business Finance Survey Winter 2020' was commissioned by New England Financial Solutions to explore openings for service providers.

“This very important research is telling us that Northamptonshire business leaders are more than ever aware of the need to care for their staff’s physical and mental health," said managing director Cameron Waldron.

Other responses suggested the biggest challenges Northamptonshire's businesses are facing right now is long-term planning - or simply concerns for the success of the company.

When asked what would they introduce to support their staff if they could, half of the business owners said they were concerned for their staff's physical health, and a third for their mental health.

Mr Waldron said: “While it is no surprise that more business leaders than ever believe normal operations won’t return until at least the summer of 2021, we now know that over 50 per cent of those asked want to look at new ways of working due to the impact of COVID-19.

“The Northamptonshire Business Finance Survey is an increasingly important piece of research that gives us a real, honest and transparent views from business leaders in the county.

“With the continued challenges of COVID-19 and the latest national lockdown we can see that businesses continue to adapt, but are prepared to look at working in new ways with new people and new businesses to ensure they and their staff continue to deliver.”