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Trust in business during the coronavirus
These are anxious times for everybody. The entire country, indeed the entire globe, is united against the coronavirus and its impact upon so many aspects of normal daily life.
Of immediate concern are the health of people, their families and communities. However, people’s attention understandably and quickly turn to economic and employment issues – at a time when the world’s economy has been turned on its head, with an abrupt and forced cancellation of demand and economic activity, how long will my business or job be safe? What will be the contours of the business landscape when some semblance of normality returns?
It is difficult to see how society and the economy will simply revert back to normal in three, or six, or nine months’ time. This deeply profound and unsettling experience cannot be shaken off as if nothing has happened. Coronavirus will have deep impacts on people’s thoughts, attitudes and priorities, as well as business and public finances, for decades to come. The person who has summed it up best has been The Queen; in her address to the nation and Commonwealth a couple of weeks ago, she expressed the hope that “in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge.”