Episode 003: Minding your business during the Covid-19 emergency
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About this episode of The Employment Law Podcast
In this episode we look at what supports are available to help your business survive the current Covid-19 pandemic. We also take a quick look at getting ready to get back to business.
What you'll learn
You will learn that there are quite a lot of supports available for your business in Ireland. We give you a quick overview, so that you can consider them in more detail at a later date. The laons and grants available can be confusing at first, so listening to them a number of times can help to make sense of them.
The Employment Law Podcast Episode 003 Transcript
Hello and welcome to this episode of the employment law podcast brought to you by Employment Rights Advice.ie
I’m your host Tommy Myles from Employment Rights Advice.ie
Our aim is to help you keep up with the changing demands employment legislation places on an employer in Ireland.
Getting it wrong can be very expensive.
It can affect your reputation as well as your finances.
We’re here to help you get it right.
Employment law is constantly changing.
We will keep you up to date in easy to consume episodes. Subscribe to our podcast and join us.
In this series we will be reviewing the current Covid-19 measures. We look at the law and the finances. How to avoid falling foul of current employment law in Ireland and what financial supports are available.
We’ll also examine what to do about staying positive.
Hello and welcome to this episode of the employment law podcast brought to you by Employment Rights Advice.ie
I’m your host Tommy Myles from Employment Rights Advice.ie
Our aim is to help you keep up with the changing demands employment legislation places on an employer in Ireland.
Getting it wrong can be very expensive.
It can affect your reputation as well as your finances.
We’re here to help you get it right.
Employment law is constantly changing.
We will keep you up to date in easy to consume episodes. Subscribe to our podcast and join us.
Download each episode and listen to it whenever you like.
In this episode we look at protecting your business during the current Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic and preparing for the future post lockdown. We answer these important questions: What are the key areas to examine in my business? What figures should I be interested in? What can I do to reduce the economic pressure on my business? How can I care for my staff? What supports are available? How can I plan for the future? What steps can I take now to assist the take off of my business when the time is right? How can I make my business runway ready and cleared for take off?
“Money makes the world go round” is certainly true in business, if not quite accurate in terms of the laws of physics. So let’s start there. Examine your accounts, bank statements, income and expenditure to find out what it costs monthly/weekly to run the business. Talk to your accountant or bookkeeper if you wish. What items of expenditure can you reduce? How long can you keep going without an income? This will depend on what resources you have and what expenditure you must maintain, even when closed, for example, rent, rates, (we’ll look at rates later in the article) other monthly commitments. It is vital to have this information to hand so that you can make an informed decision about the health of the business, going forward.
Consider your employees.
Will you need to employ as many in the future? What will the demand be like for your service post Covid-19 lockdown? Some companies can take advantage of an economic slow down others cannot. Can you run the business with less staff? Some businesses are labour intensive, some are not.
Make a list your employees under the following headings, wages, length of continuous service, importance to your business.
Consider lay off, short time and other measures
We have already dealt with these measures in a previous article see the show notes.(Listen to Episode 002) These are measures which you may be able to take in order to avoid redundancy and permanent closure.
Consider redundancy
Look at the various roles being carried out by your employees. Can the work be carried out by fewer staff? Especially where there is a fall in demand. Remember, it is the role which is being made redundant. You cannot choose to make a person redundant, just because you want to. You must make a fair analysis of how best to organise your labour force in order to carry out the work in the most efficient manner. Where the role no longer exists and you believe that to be permanent, then you will have to serve the proper notice of termination and issue redundancy payment if eligible.
Look at your income stream. Has it dried up completely? Will there be a surge in demand, when the economy opens for business or is it seasonal? Plot out a projected income for the first six/twelve months post lockdown. This will help you to allocate resources to best meet the demand, or lack of it.
What can I do now to ease the financial drain?
Talk to your bank manager.
Can you obtain/extend an overdraft? Can they provide access to short term cash, should you need it? What other measures do they suggest? Keep in mind the information obtained in the previous exercise. Can you afford an overdraft/ loan? Will there be a sufficient growth in demand for your services to justify borrowing.
Talk to the Revenue Commissioners
They have stated on their website revenue.ie that they understand the pressures on employers and businesses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
They encourage you to make best estimate returns if your normal bookkeeping supports are not available due to Covid-19 restrictions.
They have suspended debt recovery and have adopted an understanding approach to taxpayer difficulties caused by the covid-19 crisis.
I’ll post a link to the Revenue Commissioners article in the show notes. I’ll mention how to get the show notes later in the programme.
Now may be a good time to consider your succession planning due to the impact on business valuations.
What supports are available?
A number of supports are available to help your business and your employees during this difficult Corona virus pandemic.
Check with your Local Enterprise Office about
advisory support and Covid-19 Business supports, including a restart grant for small businesses of up to €10,000, one to one mentoring and online workshops and a business continuity voucher
I’ll leave a link in the show notes.
Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)
If you have had to close your business due to the. impact of the Covid-19 crisis, then under this scheme you can continue to pay your workers. You may already be availing of this scheme. Payments started on 26th March
Rates waived for the businesses most immediately impacted by the current crisis. These include, hospitality, childcare, retail and leisure sectors, where they have been forced to close.
There are a number of cash flow supports also available for businesses.
We will examine these in greater detail in our next episode, they include
Pandemic Stabilisation and Recovery Fund
This is a €2 billion fund for medium to large companies. It is available at commercial terms.
Working Capital Loan Scheme
This scheme is available to viable micro, small, and medium sized business and Small MidCap enterprises. Loans from €25,000 to €1.5 million are available.
Future Growth Loan Scheme
These are longer term loans from €100,000 to €3,000,000 at a maximum interest rate of 4.5%. More details in our next episode. Or check out the link in our show notes.
Other supports include
Credit Guarantee Scheme
Microenterprise loans
Business Continuity voucher
Trading Online Voucher Scheme
Business Financial Planning Grant
Finance in Focus Grant
Online Retail Scheme
Restart Fund for micro and small businesses
There are also supports for specific industries.
Manufacturing and international services
Food and drink industries
Childcare providers
Construction industry
Charity, social enterprise and voluntary organisations to mention just a few.
Talk to your Landlord about delaying payment of the Rent . It is worth asking.
Getting ready now for future take off
In our next episode we will be delving in to the business supports in greater detail. The theme of our next episode is Getting ready now for future take off
Important things to do to prepare for take off after Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. The runway. Business survival plan.
I hope that the information contained in today's show has made you think, either “ It’s good to know that I have applied for all of the supports available to me ” or “ I didn’t know that support was available to me, I’ll apply for it straight away.”
Check out our show notes for links to useful articles and PDFs
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Here comes the Legal disclaimer
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This podcast is made available for information only. It does not constitute legal advice. Please do not rely on it when making any decision. If you want to discuss any matter please contact us directly and we’d be happy to help.
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Congratulations you have made it all the way to the end. I’d love to know what you are doing while you listen to the episode. Let me know if there is a particular HR or employment law topic which you would like us to cover.
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Visit our website at Employment Rights Advice.ie and hit the contact us button.
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I haven’t forgotten the show notes. You will find them at employmentrightsadvice.ie/003
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Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.
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In our next episode we look at “Getting ready now for future take off” Thanks for listening and stay safe.
Resources
Link to Revenue Commissioners article https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/communications/covid19/filing-and-paying.aspx
Link to Local Enterprise Office ( This link is to the Monaghan Office, but there are similar services available in your local office) https://us8.campaign-archive.com/?u=6a2b920c596a31ca62fb8bb94&id=0e6c8ff705
- Supports for businesses impacted by COVID-19 guide (pdf) prepared by Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation
- COVID-19 Business Response Plan published by Enterprise Ireland
- Checklist of preparatory actions for businesses in responding to COVID-19 and other relevant information and links on COVID-19.
- Updates from the Government on how it is dealing with the virus
- Workplace Protection and Improvement Guide published by National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) outlining preventative measures businesses can take to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
- COVID-19 Guidance for supply chain workers published by the Department of Health
- List of essential retail outlets on gov.ie
- The NSAI has published a COVID-19 Retail Protection and Improvement Guide to help retailers manage business continuity during the COVID-19 emergency.
- COVID-19 Small and Medium Enterprises FAQ published by the Central Bank of Ireland
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