Survey shows: Every third hardship application is rejected
One year of lockdowns and restrictive measures: A survey of small and medium-sized companies by the offer portal gryps.ch shows: Every third hardship application was rejected - another third is still pending.
After a year of lockdowns and restrictions, SMEs are still particularly affected by the impact. The offer portal Gryps.ch, a procurement platform for SMEs, has asked: What support services have SMEs applied for? What is the financial situation? What developments do they expect in 2021? 150 SMEs took part in the survey. It was conducted between March 4 and 11, 2021.
Hardship request? Rejected!
One of the survey's findings in particular is worth noting: Many SMEs fall through the cracks in the hardship program. One in three SMEs has applied for support from the hardship program. Of these, one third have already received a rejection for a hardship application, and another third are waiting for the decision. This comes too late for many SMEs whose existence is threatened. According to the survey, 45% of the SMEs have experienced a drop in sales of more than 25% in the Corona year, and support from the federal government and cantons flows too slowly, if at all. The personal statements of the participants show a clear dissatisfaction: 85% consider the processing to be too time-consuming or too slow. Many SMEs still feel that they receive too little support from the federal government and the cantons.
Many redundancies
Other results of the survey also show the sometimes difficult situation of SMEs: For example, half of the respondents had imposed a hiring freeze in the last 12 months. In 60 percent of cases, this is still in place. One in five SMEs has also already had to lay off employees - that's more than you would just one year ago had to fear. Many SMEs are also directly affected by Corona infections: around one third of the companies surveyed have recorded Corona cases among their employees.
Consequences for the SME landscape
However: SMEs trust the home office and rate the efficiency of their employees as equivalent or even higher, as the survey finds. However, this does not hide the fact that the forecasts for many SMEs are gloomy: Further sales losses and bankruptcies are to be expected. Others, however, expect an upswing after the crisis.
The Swiss SME landscape is far from having recovered, concludes the Gryps.ch survey. The effects of the large declines in sales and the long hiring freezes on the labor market would be felt in the coming years.
Source: Gryps.ch
