Features - Page 162

During the early onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it may have seemed easy for business leaders to become embroiled in panic and inertia in the wake of such tremendous uncertainty. Of course, maintaining a cool head during any testing time is one of the cornerstones of effective leadership, but for one managing director, establishing a new structure early on and adapting quickly to new circumstances proved equally important.

London based online market research agency FlyResearch has been issuing weekly polls to its research panel of over 3000 people throughout the coronavirus lockdown in the UK, in order to project how the outbreak and the implementing of social distancing has been impacting the daily life of UK citizens. This week, managing partner Greg Ward discusses the findings from the twentieth wave of the Covid-19 tracker survey with the Leaders Council, published on August 12 and sourced from data collected on August 7.

Health secretary Matt Hancock has defended his cabinet colleague Gavin Williamson, with the education secretary under pressure to quit following widespread criticism of the way A-Level and GCSE exam results were handled this year.

Healthcare product manufacturer Direct Healthcare Solutions is one of many firms across Britain and indeed the wider world that has felt the impact of Covid-19 on its day-to-day operations. Speaking on the Leaders Council podcast, managing director James Puttick explains the importance of strong and collaborative leadership through times of crisis, while health secretary Matt Hancock has made the move of dispensing with Public Health England in favour of a new agency, amid fierce criticism of PHE’s response to the outbreak.

Water companies have been in calls for households to stop using sprinklers and hosepipes as dry weather throughout the spring and August coupled with the UK lockdown has seen UK water usage soar.

New working procedures brought about by necessity because of the Covid-19 pandemic have yielded significant changes in the security industry. The lockdown has seen supply chains run down, the temporary closure of offices has seen demand for property management security services decrease, and the challenging landscape has seen Cumbernauld security firm Portal Security have little alternative but to turn to the government’s furlough scheme. However, while there have been adverse impacts, the firm’s managing director Michael Goldie has noted a significant upturn in demand in the construction industry.

The Peepul Centre social enterprise based in Belgrave, Leicester, has been forced to close most of its facilities due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation locally, prompting uncertainties over its financial future.

The Covid-19 pandemic has proved a significant challenge for many sectors of British industry and the legal sector is one that has not remained unaffected. Indeed, the Ministry of Justice classified lawyers, particularly in the realm of wills and probate, as key workers who should continue to operate through the pandemic.

The Covid-19 lockdown period has brought about much discussion about the future of the conventional office space. With many UK employees having spent months working remotely, there is the possibility of firms jettisoning the costs of office spaces and deploying their workforce to carry out tasks from home in the longer term. However, Roy Dykes, owner of London-based high pressure water jetting equipment and training courses specialist firm, Jetmasters, argues that there should always be a place for the office in the workplace of the future.

While many manufacturers have seen output decline during the Covid-19 pandemic, LEEC Ltd has experienced the opposite. A Nottingham-based specialist in both facility design and the design, manufacture, installation and preventative maintenance of bespoke equipment for laboratory, pathology, forensic, anatomy and research fields, LEEC is a niche manufacturer with a global presence.

As the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic forces continued restrictions on international travel, British holidaymakers are abandoning the prospect of heading abroad and are opting instead for a UK staycation, with Britain enjoying some of its hottest temperatures of the year in August.

Following the 2016 US election, an Aberdeen newspaper ran the headline: “Aberdeenshire business owner wins presidential election”. Now, some four years later, the North East of Scotland has provided another take on Donald Trump’s appointment to the world’s highest office.

It is odd for Bryce Dallas Howard to compare herself to a guinea pig at the best of times. Yet Covid-19 ought to have taught us that nothing is unexpected, as the Hollywood star notes: “We are the guinea pigs who are going to take the leap.”

Maria Balshaw’s appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs was controversial for more than her choice of music. The head of the Tate art galleries used the innocuous platform to defend the gallery’s decision to cut some 200 jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.