After the pandemic

Six questions businesses must be ready to answer

The pandemic will end. Or, at the very least, the pandemic as we know it will end. Life will begin to return to some semblance of normality. In Britain, if the vaccine rollout continues at its current pace, this could happen more quickly than many believe. 

For businesses, life after the pandemic will be easier to negotiate, but maybe not all that much. In this article, we peer into our crystal ball at the debates ahead of us and the questions businesses must therefore be ready to answer. 

Are you building back better? 

At the end of the Great War, Lloyd George promised a “land fit for heroes”. “Build back better”, a slogan echoing on both sides of the Atlantic, promises much the same. If nations are building back better, there will be an expectation that businesses do too. After all, a nation cannot if businesses won’t. Businesses should therefore expect pressure to show that they are, as the government promises, “levelling up” opportunity across the land. And, as the poorest have suffered the most, expect inequality to rise up the agenda. With FTSE 100 CEOs earning 117 times more than their average employee (and in America, 278 times more), levelling up Britain might start best at home. 

Are you protecting workers? 

We bashed pots and pans and sang their praises, but as the economy goes digital, it is the “frontline workers” who will suffer the most. “Go digital or go bust,” says the World Economic Forum. But doing so has a human cost, and it is precisely those heroes we heralded who will pay it. As companies go digital, they must bring their workforce with them, and invest in the next generation of jobs. Lloyd George promised a land fit for heroes but failed to deliver one. He would be the last prime minister his party, the Liberals, ever produced. 

Are you closing the gap? 

Black and minority ethnic communities have disproportionately suffered the consequences of Covid. In May of last year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that mothers are 47 percent more likely to have permanently lost their jobs or quit the workforce, setting back advances that took decades. BAME communities have been hit harder by recent job losses than any other group. At the same time, McKinsey estimates that 27 percent of companies put their diversity and inclusion programmes on pause. Bad timing. The issue is gnawing at the public’s conscience. And in the debates that follow, it won’t be what companies say that matters, but instead what they do. The public will be hungry for proof that things are changing. As Nike’s recent travails remind us, reputations suffer when there is a gap between what you say and do.

What if Covid is just the warm up act? 

Covid has killed 2.4 million people, and will kill many more. The economic cost was $28 trillion in 2020 alone, according to the International Monetary Fund. But what if Covid is just the warm up for the main act? We’re “way off track” on the fight against climate change, says the UN. There is more carbon in the atmosphere than there has ever been before. 2020 was the hottest year on record, said NASA. We weren’t ready for Covid, but we can hardly claim we aren’t aware of climate change. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Mark Carney believes that the transition to net zero is the “greatest commercial opportunity of our age.” While Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos seek space in the stars big enough for us (and their egos), Bill Gates has written an excellent book on how businesses can play their part. Britain is aiming for net zero emissions by 2050. Any company still behind that target has difficult questions to answer. And the watching world seizes on nothing more readily than signs of hypocrisy. Let the gap between Larry Fink’s high ideals and Blackrock’s record remind us all of that. 

Are you ready for the next great risk? 

It’s not only Covid and it’s not only climate change. We live in an age of risk. The next crisis could be another financial crash. It could be another, different pandemic. It could be antimicrobial resistance. It could be a cyberterrorist attack. The banking industry has never recovered from the reputational damage of the 2008 crisis: a crisis it was not prepared for. In the aftermath of Covid, the insurance industry might be facing its own 2008 moment. This is a time for entire industries to work together, and with the government, to prepare for the risks we face. If they fail to, they will not be forgiven. 

Will you save the high street? 

As businesses rush online, the high streets at the heart of our towns and cities are left barren. With the collapse of Debenhams and Arcadia alone, some 15 million square feet of retail space is now vacant and much of it will remain so. It takes a brave company to commit to the high street today, though some have. In doing so, they earn the right to turn the argument towards the government. Tax cuts for businesses are never popular, but business rates are patently unfair: paid by traditional retailers, but not by their online foes. Levelling up cuts all ways. 

Not activists, or stakeholder-ists, but businesses

The above is not an argument that businesses must become political activists. Nor is it to plant our flag with the “stakeholder capitalists”, who have rarely lived up to their grand claims, and who too often seek power without enough accountability. 

It is, however, an argument that businesses must be prepared to make the case that they have a role to play, and that it is one that no-one is better suited to play than themselves. Businesses are engaged in a contract with society. They create new things and new value. They grow national economies, and spread wealth across nations and the world. They create new jobs and provide new livelihoods. And, in return, they make profit and their owners enjoy limited liability. 

Tony Benn said that there are some arguments that every generation has to keep on making. While he was on the other side of this one, it is true here too. Businesses have a role to play in rebuilding after Covid, but they must prove that they do. That means making an argument. And then, more importantly still, it means ensuring that their deeds live up to their words. Rhetoric rarely survives long without reality behind it. 

At The Draft, we’re writers and experts in rhetoric: the art of argument and persuasion. We help businesses and public figures make their case more persuasively. If you could use our help, get in touch. And if you enjoyed this, sign up to our monthly newsletter on public language:

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