Keeping Cost In Check And Employees On The Payroll Amid Covid-19

To enable their employees to sail through the tough times brought about by COVID-19, companies across the globe have come up with a slew of measures to keep costs in check and employees on the payroll

- Bhavna Sarin

The beginning of 2020 has been anything but what it was expected to be. With the universe being thrown a curveball, that goes by the name coronavirus, the world of work has witnessed disruption across all domains and functions. Triggered by COVID-19, resulting in a threat to both life and business, companies are finding furlough as the first way out to maintain business stability. However, in deciding who gets to stay and who is asked to leave, the question remains - is there a way out of furlough?

The hospitality sector, airlines, retailers, and daily wage earners, among others around the world, face tumbling sales driven by COVID-19 social distancing efforts. Specific to industry, retail workers make up a substantial portion of the US labor force, February numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics put seasonally adjusted retail employees at 15.7 million, or about 9.8 percent of all civilians employed.

Does that mean that 9.8 percent of all employed civilians in the US, in addition to employees from other at-risk sectors, stay exposed to losing their job?