Facebook poll finds nearly one-third of small businesses shut down during pandemic

And by April 2020, 31% of these small businesses and 52% of personal businesses had stopped operating in the past three months. About 43% of hotels, cafes and restaurants have also closed in recent months, as have 41% of wellness, grooming, fitness and other professional services.

Most companies (62%) of the survey indicated that they had closed their doors to comply with local government and ministry of health orders to slow the spread of the new coronavirus that causes COVID- 19, which sickened at least 1.49 million Americans, and killed 89,000 and count.

But while two-thirds of these companies were optimistic that they would reopen in the future once these patterns of social distancing were removed, one-third said they would likely remain closed forever. Over a third (34%) said it was because they couldn’t pay their bills or their rent. Another 27% cited “personal reasons”.

“Small businesses are at the heart of our communities and they are in trouble,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Director of Operations for Facebook. wrote in an article on Monday

. “The report on the state of small business on Facebook and the roundtable on small business is a snapshot to reflect on the struggle they are in.”

This corresponds to the last Coronavirus impact survey for small businesses from MetLife
MEET,
-3.08%
and the American Chamber of Commerce. United States (which took place in April), which also found that almost one in three (29%) had temporarily closed their business in the past two weeks, and more than one in five (22% ) feared to be two years old. months or less to close permanently. And the CEO of OpenTable recently warned that one in four restaurants will not reopen after the coronavirus pandemic.

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This financial and health crisis on two fronts particularly affected workers in small businesses, most of whom did not have paid holidays or reserved savings to help them overcome the crisis. Three in four (75%) said they did not have access to paid sick leave, while 70% did not have paid leave, full stop. These figures are even worse for those working in the food and hospitality industry: 94% said they did not take time off, 93% said they did not take sick leave and only 18% said declared to have health insurance. Overall, only 19% of employees reported having personal savings and only one in four reported being able to use the family income of a spouse or partner until he recovers.

That’s if they can go back to work: only 45% of owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses, and only 32% of personal businesses, said they would re-hire the same workers once they reopened.

About half of business owners and managers also reported being exhausted when trying to take care of their business and their home at the same time. About 62% of respondents reported spending between one and four hours a day on household chores and child care, although female owner-managers are more likely to say that household responsibilities were affected by their ability to focus on I work “a lot” or “a lot” (33%) compared to men (25%).

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The biggest challenges for reopening and open permanence cited by these companies include cash flow and lack of demand, while many owners and managers also mentioned that access to child care is vital as they currently have struggling to balance operations. of their businesses and their homes.

“We need financial support, as well as better public health advice on what is safe,” said an anonymous respondent. “We need nurseries and schools to open. We need government evidence and traceability. “

Another asked for access to customers. Staying at home does not always mean buying from home. Not all businesses can be digital, ”wrote this person. “I’m not suggesting opening doors to non-core businesses, but until those doors open, we need financial support.”