Almost Half of Russians Suffered Financial Losses Due to Coronavirus Pandemic: Poll
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Almost half of the 1,000 surveyed Russian citizens suffered financial losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a joint survey of the ONF Business Platform and the Online Doctor service.
The study was conducted throughout the country from November 12 to 20.
"The poll showed that 49% of the surveyed Russians were financially affected by the pandemic, 41.2% of respondents had income unchanged, and 2.4% improved their financial situation. Another 7.3% lost their jobs," the survey said, TASS reported.
According to the study, more than half (57%) of respondents said that their employer "left everything unchanged." At the same time, 23.9% of respondents had their payroll reduced, and 10.1% of citizens had wage delays, but by agreement with employees. In only 8.9% of respondents, the employer began to lay off employees.
"The ways to get out of the current crisis are very similar. For example, 53.7% of respondents said that their company has reduced costs and is waiting for the end of the pandemic. In 37.8% cases, management has begun to optimize processes in the company. And only 8.6% of respondents saw their employers launch new products," the survey said.
In addition, 71.1% of respondents believe that 10% of existing businesses will not survive the second wave of coronavirus. But 70.3% are sure that their enterprise has fully adapted to the new realities and will be able to work for a long time in the current operating mode. The pandemic has also pushed many to make changes in their lives. Thus, 46.2% are thinking about retraining, and 9% of them have already started this process. Another 28.4% thought about a new business, of which 3.9% have already taken their first steps in this direction.
"We all understand that today entrepreneurs are in a difficult situation. The most important condition for the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the speedy restructuring of all processes and the search for new business models. Our survey shows that entrepreneurs are gradually starting to do this, but, unfortunately, there are still not many of them. It seems to me that representatives of SMEs should rather think about optimizing processes within their business," co-founder and head of the ONF Business Platform Mikhail Paley said.