Amid coronavirus outbreak, several countries have declared a state of emergency which resulted in closed restaurants, cafes, shops, hotels and the list goes on. In some cases, only the supermarkets and pharmacies could stay open. In Italy and France, people are not allowed to leave their homes unless they have a valid reason like buying food, medicines or visiting a doctor.

Coronavirus outbreak has an extremely negative effect on the global economy and especially in those countries and cities where all businesses have been asked to close. It is highly likely that thousands of small businesses will go bankrupt as few can afford to pay rent and salaries while generating no revenue at all. Budget airlines already canceled routes and offered unpaid leave to their employees on a rotating basis. GoAir already suspended international operations and started terminating employees. Unless the operating costs are cut to the bare minimum, many budget carries may not survive the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.  Hotels and restaurants are laying off staff too. Even after the end of the quarantine, it is unlikely that people will travel and plan vacations like before.

 Uncertainty and shrinking economy predictably lead to lower spending as most consumers buy food only and pay subscriptions for Netflix, online games and online eLearning courses.

Waiving travel bans will not automatically encourage businesspeople to travel as intensive as before. As many budget airlines are close to bankruptcy, it is likely that there will be fewer routes serviced and claiming much higher prices than before the coronavirus outbreak. Business travelers were previously spending lots of time and conferences and events having their schedules aligned as of the beginning of each calendar year. Not in 2020, though. Most conferences and events have been canceled, moved online or re-scheduled in the autumn of 2020, while some organizers prefer to move their events straight to 2021 and ‘’cancel 2020’’. By the way, many social media users lately posted ‘’’Let’s cancel 2020’’ as it is obvious that nothing will go as planned and the losses to the global economy are piling by the minute.

If hundreds of thousands of businesses of all sizes are not likely to survive the coronavirus outbreak, what about layoffs?

Los Angeles Times published the results of a survey as per which 18% of U.S. workers have lost jobs or hours since coronavirus outbreak. As the survey has been conducted prior to coronavirus quarantine in California, it is likely that the percentage will increase rapidly in the next weeks.

In Europe, the situation is not significantly different. Initially, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and France declared a state of emergency and country-wide quarantine. In a matter of days, most European countries followed the example declaring emergency measures of varying magnitude. So far, UK has advised elderly people over 70 years to self-isolate while advising the rest to limit social contacts and work from home if possible. Certain restaurants and hotel chains in the UK have already announced the planned closure of restaurants and hotels to protect their employees and guests.

Australian workers have not been spared and also expect massive job cuts. Virgin Australia announced that it would cancel all international flights grounding some 50 aircrafts.

‘’ A company statement made clear that its workforce will bear the brunt of the crisis, foreshadowing workers being compelled to take leave without pay and to use their entitlements to survive over the two-and-a-half-month period. In a thinly veiled threat of mass layoffs, Virgin stated that these measures would be necessary to avoid redundancies.’’ Source: wsws.org

Even though all emergency measures are much needed to protect the citizens, job cuts are inevitable.

Which industry sectors and professions are most negatively impacted by the coronavirus outbreak?

Events Planning & Management

Most conferences and events have been canceled not only cutting the revenue stream of the organizers but also, in many cases, they needed to issue refunds as tickets have been sold in advance. As it is unclear if in the autumn people will regain the confidence to travel and participate in big events, it is likely that Events Planning & Management companies will generate no revenue in 2020. Speaking of events, these also include wedding planning, graduation celebrations and the like which are likely to take place in a close family circle. 70-80% job cuts are likely.

HoReCa

Hotels, cafes and restaurants have been closed in all countries that declared a state of emergency and country-wide quarantine. Most employees have been sent on unpaid leave. However, unlike events planning and airlines, HoReCa is likely to cut fewer jobs and recover quicker once the quarantine is over.

Airlines

Virgin Australia, Qantas, Austrian Airlines, Wizzair, Ryanair and more have canceled routes, grounded aircrafts and sent employees home. Some of them can take paid leave, the rest being compelled to take leave without pay. Job cuts are already in progress and it is likely that at least 30% of the jobs will be cut.

Tourism

Even after travel bans are waived, people are unlikely to travel and spend on vacations as much as before. Massive job cuts are expected to increase uncertainty. Luxury vacations and international travel will go down the list of most consumers resulting in 40% - 60% cuts in the travel industry worldwide. Some countries deemed as high risk during the coronavirus outbreak like China, Italy, South Korea are likely to be more impacted than the rest as it will take time for tourists to regain confidence and plan vacations there. Most probably the tourism industry will start to recover slowly in 2021.

The good news is that there are companies hiring at scale as the demand for their products has increased. Retail chains having a strong presence online, online video games and eLearning courses, collaboration tools like Zoom, WeChat, Kakao, etc. report strong growth.

Some companies are creating part-time and work from home jobs to compensate for the jobs lost amid coronavirus outbreak or as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) or diversity hiring programs. Domino’s Pizza plans to create 10 000 jobs in India alone and Amazon is hiring 100 000 due to overwhelming demand.

Most businesses are willing to create part-time, contract and work from home jobs to help those people who have lost their jobs or compelled to take unpaid leave amid coronavirus outbreak. Already, there is a visible shift towards creating contract jobs, part-time jobs or freelance gigs as it is beneficial for both parties. Even though there are CSR (corporate social responsibility) and diversity hiring budgets, most companies are going through rapid transformation in an attempt to remain in business. Hence, CSR and diversity hiring initiatives take a different shape. As businesses can’t afford to create full-time jobs, CSR budgets are utilized to create contract and work from home jobs that provide some income and help families make the ends meet.

As a member of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition of the European Commission, Trasformify HR Suite is well aware of the fact that businesses need information about the transferrable skills of people who have lost their jobs or compelled to take unpaid leave in order to create contract jobs and work from home jobs for them. As many tourist agents and airline crew members will be unemployed at the same time it is hardly possible to find a job in the same industry. Instead some of their skills, the so-called ‘’transferrable skills’’ can help them secure a job in a different industry. For example, flight attendants are trained in dealing with difficult customers onboard, calming people with phobias or providing first aid to sick patients. These skills can help them secure jobs as customer success managers, call center agents and the like in any industry.

How to Create Part-time and Work from Home Jobs?

Transformify HR Suite is used by recruiters and hiring managers from 150+ countries and we’ve committed to helping them obtain information about the transferrable skills of people left without income amid coronavirus outbreak. A new category ‘’ coronavirus area’’ has been added so job seekers can identify themselves as people who have lost a job or urgently need a source of side income.

Recruiters are advised to look at their transferrable skills ignoring the industry and the last job title as most of the people who urgently need a source of income have worked in the industries that are cutting jobs at scale.  

Communication is key to spreading the message that part-time contract jobs and work from home jobs are created for people in need. Transformify HR Blog will regularly publish advise for recruiters and Diversity & Inclusion Managers as well as company updates.

Last but not least, Transformify Freelance Platform and Contingent Workforce Management Software provide all the functionality needed to create part-time, work from home and freelance jobs and transfer payments worldwide. Needless to say, billing & invoicing are fully automated.

Being a social enterprise, Transformify has cut the payment transfer fees applicable to contract jobs, freelance jobs, work from home jobs and remote jobs from 10% to 1.5%.

Please note that we are not in a position to waive bank or payment provider fees that may apply.

Are you ready to create jobs for social good and help those left without income amid coronavirus outbreak?

Contact Transformify Sales Team: sales@transformify.org

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