{"id":6077,"date":"2021-01-31T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T02:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/?p=6077"},"modified":"2021-01-30T19:52:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T11:52:23","slug":"the-new-normal-will-2021-be-better-for-businesses-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/the-new-normal-will-2021-be-better-for-businesses-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Normal: Will 2021 Be Better For Businesses &#038; Workers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Are you worried about 2021 right\nnow? The answer could very much depend on who you are asking, and likely, where\nyou stay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Singapore, things are looking rosy when compared to 2020. While we are still seeing COVID-19 imported cases each day, community cases in our country are currently low. We are also one of the countries that have already started our nationwide vaccination program. At the cost of more than $1 billion, the government aims to have the entire population vaccinated by 3Q2021 (or at least those who choose to be vaccinated). People are starting to go out often, some possibly, begrudgingly, if they are asked to come to the office by their bosses \u2013 despite the recent reminder that <a href=\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/work-from-home-default-arrangement-in-phase-3-guidelines\/\">work-from-home (WFH) should remain as the default arrangement in Phase 3<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because of how secured we are in Singapore right now, it\u2019s easy to forget how bad the COVID-19 situation has become in other developed countries and our direct neighbors. Here\u2019s a quick summary of the statistics as reported on 28 January 2021 (Friday). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-table\"><tbody><tr><td>\n  &nbsp;\n  <\/td><td>\n  <strong>Number of cases on 28 January<\/strong>\n  <\/td><td>\n  <strong>Total number of cases <\/strong>\n  <\/td><td>\n  <strong>Total number of death<\/strong>\n  <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n  U.S.A\n  <\/td><td>\n  165,264\n  <\/td><td>\n  25.8 million\n  <\/td><td>\n  433,000\n  <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n  UK\n  <\/td><td>\n  28,680\n  <\/td><td>\n  3.74 million \n  <\/td><td>\n  103,000\n  <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n  India\n  <\/td><td>\n  18,855\n  <\/td><td>\n  10.7 million\n  <\/td><td>\n  154,000\n  <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n  Brazil\n  <\/td><td>\n  61,811\n  <\/td><td>\n  9.06 million\n  <\/td><td>\n  222,000\n  <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n  Indonesia\n  <\/td><td>\n  13,695\n  <\/td><td>\n  1.04 million\n  <\/td><td>\n  29,331\n  <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n  Philippines\n  <\/td><td>\n  1,168\n  <\/td><td>\n  520,000\n  <\/td><td>\n  10,552\n  <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n  Malaysia\n  <\/td><td>\n  4,094\n  <\/td><td>\n  198,000\n  <\/td><td>\n  717\n  <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<p>Worryingly, the number of cases from our direct neighbours (Indonesia and Malaysia) has been rising rapidly since the start of 2021. All over the world, countries are still frantically trying to slow the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"how-will-singapore-businesses-performed-in-2021\">How Will Singapore Businesses Performed In 2021?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While it\u2019s important to stay\npositive, it\u2019s also crucial for business owners to be realistic. A vaccine\ngives us hope, but it may not be a miracle pill. The world will likely take\nsome time to recover and we might be stuck in a recession longer than we wish.\nAdvance estimates from MTI show that the Singapore economy contracted by 5.8%\nin 2020. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.todayonline.com\/singapore\/3-10-spore-employers-intend-freeze-wages-2021-report\">3 in 10 Singapore companies intend\nto freeze wages in 2021<\/a> and this shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise. A recent poll by SBF also shared\nthat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstimes.com.sg\/government-economy\/three-in-10-firms-lack-confidence-in-sustaining-business-this-year-sbf-poll?fbclid=IwAR1XFCiWCgGuV3lT3pqTgBEfaadjHAC8ZFs21tNvs3CBQEObIfhUW3TT7uU\">3 in 10 firms lack the confidence to\nsustain their business over the next 12 months<\/a>.&nbsp; Whether\nyou are a business owner or an employee, such pessimism cannot be good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One way to transform\nour business before it\u2019s too late is to invest in our people. For example,\nschemes such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/skillsfuture-enterprise-credit-sfec-one-off-10000-grant-for-companies\/\">SkillsFuture\nEnterprise Credit (SFEC)<\/a> allow\ncompanies to enjoy a one-off $10,000 credit to cover up to 90% of out-of-pocket\nexpenses on qualifying costs for supportable initiatives. This is on top of the\nsupport levels of existing schemes, which can be quite substantial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For companies that are settling well into the WFH arrangement, we can also consider giving our employees a little support for their WFH environment. Since the home is now also considered an office, it\u2019s only fair to support their work environment. This can translate to better productivity and happier employees. For less than $100, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/buying-guide-gadgets-under-100-work-from-home\/\">equip employees with simple gadgets that can resolve many of their WFH issues<\/a>. Even after they return to the office, these gadgets\u00a0will continue to be useful and can be put to regular use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"stay-inspired\">Stay Inspired<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For business owners\nlooking to get inspired on how we can take our companies to new heights, it\u2019s\nalso important to stay in touch with ideas and news. At DollarsAndSense, we\nkeep abreast of what\u2019s happening by following local websites such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techinasia.com\/\">Tech in Asia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/vulcanpost.com\/\">Vulcan Post<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/e27.co\/\">e27<\/a>. Beyond Singapore,\nsome of our favorite business sites include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/\">Entrepreneur<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/\">Forbes<\/a>. Personally, I am also a fan of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/make-it\/\">CNBC Make It<\/a> so do check it out if you haven\u2019t already done so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of what your favorite business website could be (and <a href=\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/\">DollarsAndSense Business<\/a> could very be on that list as well!), the important thing is to read often and to get ourselves\u00a0inspired. During a period where we cannot network with other thought leaders in the space, the next best thing we can do is to stay connected with each other through content and ideas online. You can follow us on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/7444517\/admin\/\">DollarsAndSense LinkedIn page<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The business environment in 2021 will still remain challenging.\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[364],"tags":[730,474,731,732,243],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The New Normal: Will 2021 Be Better For Businesses &amp; Workers? | DollarsAndSense Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"2021 should be a better year compared to 2020 for Singapore businesses but this doesn\u2019t mean we are out of the woods yet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/the-new-normal-will-2021-be-better-for-businesses-workers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The New Normal: Will 2021 Be Better For Businesses &amp; Workers? 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