37% of companies surveyed have fully or partially interrupted their operations after declaring the state of emergency due to COVID-19 pandemic and 20% have reduced their activity, according to the PwC Romania HR Barometer conducted by PwC Romania at the end of March.
In this context, 27% say they will definitely apply for technical unemployment.
The survey included a series of questions regarding the total or partial interruption of the activity, its reduction, the decrease of the turnover and the ability to pay wages. According to the answers:
- 19% have stopped the activity altogether
- 18% partially interrupted the activity
- 19% haven’t interrupted their activity, estimate a decrease by 25% of the turnover and have the ability to pay salaries
- 10% haven’t interrupted the activity, anticipate the reduction of the turnover by 25% and don’t have the ability to pay salaries
- 20% reduced their activity, and business will be reduced by more than 25%
- 14% don’t expect a decrease in turnover.
In this context, work from home is an opportunity for companies that can implement it due to the specific nature of the activity. According to the study, 19% of companies implemented mandatory work from home for all employees.
Companies whose activity specificity doesn’t allow them to work from home and whose businesses are affected take into account technical unemployment provisions, as follows:
- 27% say they will definitely apply for technical unemployment
- 18% still don’t know if they will apply because the technical unemployment provisions are unclear
- 18% still don’t know if they will apply because they haven’t analyzed them
- 5% indicate that they won’t apply them because the current provisions don’t correspond to their activity specificity.
According to the survey, almost 30% of those surveyed anticipate that they will have the ability to pay wages in the next three months, while 42% didn’t estimate yet.