Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

Digital technology proved invaluable for much of society and the economy to adapt and cope with the effects of the pandemic. However, the pace of digital transformation has exposed much of the inequalities in accessing and benefiting from the digital economy. For example, during the pandemic, most SMEs adopted basic digital technologies, however, many lack the resources and infrastructure (compared to larger firms) to employ complex digital strategies that could increase growth and productivity. An uneven distribution of digital productivity advantages may accelerate a “K-shaped recovery”, which risks leaving people and places behind. Consider:

• Increase access to digital technology e.g. improve access to broadband and digital devices to provide the technical means for productivity to develop/advance. Where connectivity is “slow, expensive or non-existent”, local governments can address the digital divide and increase access by creating or investing in publicly or privately run local networks, e.g. libraries/public buildings. For example, Toronto city council, Canada:
  • launched the ConnectTo 2021 programme which increases access to affordable, high-speed internet across the city, targeted at underserved communities in the city and;
  • in partnership with a private sector partner will establish a municipal broadband network; expand access to free public Wi-Fi and design a ‘Digital Equity Policy’ to tackle the growing digital divide and support the most vulnerable and marginalized communities in the city.
• Create means by which people can increase their digital skills – training, skills development workshops etc. in collaboration with local partners (local schools, colleges, businesses, voluntary organisations). Creating an eco-system of support to tackle digital inequalities can drive inclusive productivity growth and benefit the whole community
• Implement new strategies for inclusive productivity that consider the advantages of digital technology on the local economy, productivity and community wellbeing. New strategies should be informed by evidence, taking multiple dimensions into consideration e.g. education, business innovation, housing, and infrastructure

Underrepresented groups such as women- and minority- owned MSMEs have shown a higher degree of vulnerability during the pandemic. Women- and minority- owned businesses tend to be micro in size (10 employees or less), more financially fragile, and face barriers when accessing professional and financial support services, according to the OECD and McKinsey. Past experiences of barriers to support mean that these groups are less likely to seek support or are unaware of the support that may be available to them. During a recent webinar, it was reported that these types of businesses could add £70 billion to the UK economy, if fully supported. We explore ways in which national and local government can better engage with MSMEs to develop policies and support mechanisms that will adequately address their recovery and renewal needs. The OECD and the UK’s Business in the Community recommend:

• Understand the barriers faced by these business owners by directly engaging with them, for example:
  • Establish and facilitate discussions (e.g. consultation) with MSME owners, organisations that represent them, and others such as banks, insurance companies, and professional services providers
• Design inclusive schemes that acknowledge and remove barriers, increase accessibility, and provide adequate support to women- and minority-owned businesses. Examples include:
  • Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy Fund (CAD 15 million) and the Black Entrepreneurship Program (CAD 221 million)
  • Ireland’s Women in Business 2020 Action Plan
  • Malaysia’s Short-term National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) which includes a USD 12.5 million micro financing program and an initiative aimed to raise funds to help finance microenterprises. Both initiatives are targeted at women entrepreneurs
• Deploy targeted advertising and collaborate with business associations, to raise awareness of new and existing aid schemes
• Reduce the bureaucracy of existing aid measures, by decreasing ex ante eligibility checks and deploying easily accessible digital portals. For example:
  • Switzerland's “bridging credit” scheme which can be applied for through a simple one-page form, increasing to accessibility of financial aid and the speed at which companies can receive assistance
• Create contract/tender opportunities that are targeted at women- and minority- owned MSMEs (see examples from Florida and Indiana)

A recent event organised by Geneva Cities Hub (GHC) and UN-Habitat examined the measures that cities across the world took to tackle economic and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The session discussed lessons learned and how these might inform and accelerate the development of strategies which effectively prepare for and mitigate the effects of future crisis in cities. One core response lesson identified was that “cities which have best managed the crisis are those who have been flexible in the allocation of resources and capacities to support their citizens”. A further key takeaway was the potential for tools developed by international organisations to support and drive city recovery and renewal. The tools discussed include:

1. The Urban Economic Resilience Performance Diagnostic and Planning Tool which can support cities to:

• Identify the “strengths and weaknesses of institutional and operating” mechanisms with a focus on economic recovery, renewal, and resilience building
• Analyse the “structure and functioning” of cities and effectively measure economic performance. This tool can specifically help cities to understand how these factors impact vulnerability to shocks and stressors, and broader local resilience
• Inform the design and implementation of comprehensive Recovery Strategies and Renewal Initiatives that restore and enhance preparedness, and tackle systemic socio-economic conditions to reduce vulnerabilities

1. The Municipal Financial Self-Assessment Tool which aims to support cities to:

• Analyse city financial health and identify strategies that will improve the “mobilization of local resources, financial management, public spending, assets management (public), investment programming and access to external funding”
• Evaluate local budgets, finance management practices, city savings capacity, investment history and future opportunities, and review financial forecasts
• Benchmark according to a set of comparable key indicators and ratios
• Define strategies for a ‘Municipal Finance Improvement Plan’ aiming for “greater accountability, visibility and efficiency in the use of public funds”
• The local government of Kisela Voda, Macedonia, detailed how this tool supported them to mobilize local resources such as increasing land development fees and selling municipal assets

1. The City Resilience Profiling Tool, designed to:

• Assess and understand unique urban systems by engaging local governments, the private sector and civil society stakeholders to build city resilience
• Support the establishment of strategies that consider five core and interdependent components: “spatial attributes; organisational attributes; physical attributes; functional attributes; and time”

Cities’ have been in the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, by providing emergency services, containing the spread of disease, mitigating the resulting social and economic impact, and coordinating efforts for recovery. In addition, cities have delivered financial aid to companies and families in need, and reduced or suspended municipal taxes (see European Committee of the Regions). Naturally, this has impacted their public finances and there have been various calls to change how cities are funded, in order to increase fiscal resilience. The current funding model for most cities, around the world, is primarily based in transfers from national governments. Own revenues, such as taxes, comprise the second most important source of revenue to cities, followed by external financing. The UN proposes reversing the current model, by decreasing the dependency on national transfers and increasing revenues from own revenues and external financing. The UN recommends the following:

• Provide funding to cities to support economic recovery, for example:
  • National governments could provide emergency funding to cities earmarked for service provision, infrastructure, and special relief programs for populations
• Improve the accessibility of finance and credit for local governments, by allowing them direct access to grant/loan applications and enabling them to develop public private partnerships
• “Strengthen multilateral financing and cooperation” to allow cities to fund recovery and renewal programs. For example:
  • International organizations, development banks, and national governments could establish dedicated global funds to finance urban responses to COVID-19, to help cities and their local economic and financial recoveries
  • The European Union Solidarity Fund will cover 100% of costs incurred by Portuguese cities, associated with the fight against COVID-19
• Channel financial support to productive sectors most at need. City authorities could facilitate coordinated action across urban areas to provide “loan programmes, grants, tax incentives, and temporary rent deferrals” to businesses in need
• Introduce incentives for “sustainable production and consumption through new policies, subsidies and knowledge transfers”. E.g. grants for new clean energy strategies such as green roofs
• “Address dysfunctional and exploitative development practices such as land speculation and unserviceable sprawl”, by, for example, implementing and enforcing clear regulations and introducing taxes to increase own revenues

Agriculture is fundamental to sustaining livelihoods, by providing employment, income, and being key in the response to climate change – and food security and nutrition are challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Recovery and renewal present an opportunity to reform agricultural production in line with the SDGs. One of the challenges for such reforms is funding them, given that post-COVID-19 economies will have high levels of fiscal debt. Consider the strategies proposed by United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to fund the recovery and renewal actions needed for a new and more sustainable agricultural sector:

Funding and finance for response and recovery

• Focus response and recovery on food security across the most vulnerable regions, by supporting consumers and producers to acquire essential goods
• Take a regional approach to fund programs among several communities, cities, or counties, instead of focusing only on the local jurisdiction
• Implement focused tax discounts for the most vulnerable producers and consumers
• Promote payments for environmental services (PES) as a mechanism to transfer resources to producers who commit to protecting the environment, or provide an environmental conservation service
• Involve firms in specific social projects, e.g. through "parafiscal" taxes - those taxes based on employees, imports, or exports, and are used to fund part of specific programs, reducing budget pressures without risking the quality of the intervention

Funding and financing to renew

• New types of funding should be used to achieve the sustainable transformation that agriculture needs e.g. Defra’s ‘Sustainable Farming Incentive 2021 (UK) or the Agricultural Sustainability Framework (Australia)
• Invest in climate change mitigation measures in agriculture. For examples, see the following papers: ‘Technical options for climate change mitigation in agriculture’ (European Union); or ‘Strategies for mitigating climate change in agriculture’ (USA)
• Start financial inclusion programs for vulnerable agricultural producers. Such programs can be conditional on producers adopting sustainable cropping practices
• Define new approaches to social responsibility, in which firms commit to work with local government and NGOs in risk reduction programmes

The ‘Building Urban Economic Resilience during and after COVID-19’[1] produced by UN-HABITAT and partners outlines the different economic recovery initiatives adopted by cities across the world. Urban areas, as “engines of growth” have been severely impacted by COVID-19 and are predicted to take a leading role in recovery. This project is focused on “strengthening the capacities of local governments globally, to design, implement, and monitor sustainable, resilient and inclusive COVID-19 economic responses, recovery, and rebuilding plans”. The document presents city case studies from the African Region, Arab Region, Asia and the Pacific Region, Europe Region, and the Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Over the next two issues of TMB, we will present city recovery initiatives from each of these regions. This case study focuses on the Europe Region and the African Region:

Europe Region[2]

Barcelona, Spain, is a city which frequently experiences “flash floods and coastal flooding, as well as heat waves and forest fires”. Prior to COVID-19, Barcelona was grappling with rapidly “growing social inequalities powered by low rental housing affordability and growing energy poverty”. Barcelona City Council have identified seven strategic economic recovery goals, including[3]:

• “New models to make Barcelona a more resilient city;
• Maintain and strengthen the city’s business network;
• Protect jobs and foster employment;
• Promote local consumption as a priority;
• Protect and relaunch the city’s international reputation;
• Open up Barcelona to talent, to investment and to visitors;
• Define transformational solutions with a metropolitan vision”

The measures through which the City Council aim to achieve the above goal include:

• Provide subsidies and funding to increase business liquidity and mitigate the damage caused to the “production network” by the pandemic (e.g. cash flow challenges)
• Establish training and advice services to enhance local skills, targeted at high-risk or vulnerable groups within the economy
• Employ strategic communication and marketing programmes to promote and regenerate tourism in the city
• Design economic development tools which will enable “synergies between the city’s socio-economic and business networks”
• Review and amend regulations and administrative processes to generate flexibility in the city’s economic reactivation

Tirana, Albania, experienced two major earthquakes in 2019 which had devastating impacts on over 2,000 homes. The city was not equipped with an emergency preparedness plan prior to the pandemic or the 2019 earthquakes, which led to the municipality relying solely on central government support and guidance during both events. The municipality is focusing on the following recovery priorities:

• Design and develop a “Crisis and Resilience Management Plan to include pandemic and earthquake response”
• Implement “Orbital Forest”, a green recovery strategy which aims to plant a “wall of 2 million trees” around the city of Tirana
• Take advantage of the opportunities resented by COVID-19 to renew and reconstruct the Kombinati neighbourhood which was most severely impacted by the 2019 earthquakes and transform it to be a “smart city neighbourhood”

African Region[4]

Arua, Uganda, is challenged by “heavy run-off water which regularly destroys crops and homes, significantly reducing agricultural production levels and housing quality”. Local government COVID-19 recovery initiatives include:

• Focus on the agricultural sector through “community sensitization” on urban farming and increasing the capacities of farmers to build and adopt new modern farming methods. This includes local government lobbying for financial and technical funding support for farmers for longer-term recovery
• Provide business development support and connect small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to targeted funding
• Provide business continuity support by “automating ICT infrastructure” and helping businesses to build their technical capacities

Harare, Zimbabwe, is faced with “rapid urbanisations, deindustrialisation and increasing numbers of people working in the informal sector, leading to urban poverty, barriers to service delivery and lagging education, health, water and sanitation, and housing systems”. The local government recovery priorities include:

• Boost recovery through the informal sector, by building “safer and more modern market spaces”
• Improve public sanitation and work to support and increase accessibility of services, particularly for women who have experienced increased gender-based violence during lockdown. The local government have partnered with UNDP, the national government and Oxfam on this initiative
• In partnership with Oxfam, the Harare city government are working to engage organised groups (e.g. women’s savings groups) to target women and employ them to support city recovery initiatives

References:

[1] https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2021/03/global-compendium-of-practices-covid-19.pdf

[2] Including selected countries in Central Asia, Western Asia, and north America

[3] https://www.barcelona.cat/reactivacioeconomica/en/action-plan

[4] Ibid 1.

The Mobilising Volunteers Effectively (MoVE) project, led by Universities of Sheffield, Hull and Leeds, aims to understand the ways in which communities have mobilised in response to COVID. The project has released a number of reports which set out the findings from the first phase of the project. The ‘Resilience of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) across Yorkshire and the Humber’ (May 2021) report highlights the challenges created for VCS organisations due to a “rise in demand, diminished donations and restricted opportunities to trade and raise funds”. The emergence of multi-agency partnership working (e.g. between local governments, VCS organisations, mutual aid/ informal community groups and businesses) has supported local response capabilities throughout the pandemic, highlighting a need for a more strategic approach to strengthen the partnerships, relationships and capabilities of communities to collectively prepare for future shocks and build resilience. The findings are informed by 407 VCS organisations responses to a ‘Resilience Survey’. Consider the key recommendations set out in this report:

• Ensure volunteers and those involved in VCS organisations are included in community mental health and wellbeing support in the aftermath of the pandemic
• Support small local VCS organisations, who may lack sufficient infrastructure to secure grant funding, with guidance on grant application. This could also be supported by simplifying the grant application process
• The provision of practical support (e.g. fundraising support) and increasing volunteer recruitment, retention and training support, e.g. through partnerships, for example:
  • Sandwell council partner with local VCS organisations to provide free e-learning to volunteers covering topics such as “child protection, fire safety, information sharing” and more
  • A community-run Red Cross Cardiac First Response volunteer group in Ireland, partner with the local fire brigade and other local authority organisations to provide emergency response training to volunteers and support activities to raise vital funds for ambulances and medical equipment
• Targeted financial support through government subsidy for VCS organisations who are providing services for “children and younger people” as they were found to be “least financially viable over time”. The report recommends that the “art, culture and heritage and community development” VCS organisations should then be prioritised and targeted for financial support

TMB Issue 8 describes how recovery and renewal requires broader strategic partnership working nationally, regionally and locally. The relationships that have been developed through the pandemic can underpin recovery and renewal initiatives, enabling national and local action through multi-departmental and cross-organisational working. Key to these partnerships is recognising that partners have power and place-based relationships that will be crucial to the success of recovery and renewal activities.

Featuring a recent blog written by Abbie Winton, Alliance Manchester Business School

A recent TMB (Issue 33) discussed the gendered economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and presented the recommendations set out in the report produce by the Women and Equalities Committee entitled ‘Unequal impact? Coronavirus and the gendered economic impact’. This previous lesson explored how recovery strategies can address impacts, mitigate the reinforcement of inequalities and how renewal initiatives can transform the position of women in the labour market.

The ability to rapidly transition between jobs can support an individual or household to recover from an economic shock, such as the shock delivered by the pandemic. Occupational segregation refers to the unequal distribution of people across and within certain occupations, based on characteristics such as gender or ethnic background[1]. The pandemic has had disproportionate impacts on women’s experience of work, particularly BAME women, as they are more likely to work in low-paying and informal segregated roles, making them more vulnerable to the economic impacts of the pandemic. Therefore, gender, racial and ethnic inequalities are at risk of being reinforced, exacerbated or created[2].

This week we spotlight a recent think piece written by Abbie Winton, Alliance Manchester Business School[3], which focuses on gender and food retailing. Recognising how gender segregation is embedded in food retail roles, Abbie looks at how this can change e.g. through improving transport links to enable women to access jobs that are currently located in “hard-to-reach” areas:

Gender and food retailing[4]

Supermarket shopping of old has, perhaps, changed forever with demand for online food retailing soaring during the pandemic, growing 25.5% in 2020 compared to the 8.5% previously anticipated[5]. For most food retailers, trading online has long lacked appeal due to the low margins which it offers[6]. However, the pandemic restrictions prompted retailers to expand their dotcom (online) offering almost overnight to both meet demand and stay competitive during a time when customers were restricted in their ability to do their shopping in-store.

To meet the excess demand all of the major retailers took on additional workers, and today new roles are being created in large numbers in distribution and logistics against a backdrop of slowly dwindling numbers of workers serving on the shop floor. However, also characterising these changes are the historical patterns of gender segregation that persist within the sector, despite men moving into retail roles in recent years. Therefore, we need to be asking not just what the food retail sector is likely to look like post-pandemic, but who is likely to remain working in it.

Segregation of food retail work

The move online and growing use of self-checkouts in-store have in part helped facilitate a reduction in the need for checkout staff. These jobs have long been disproportionately filled by women who needed the ‘flexibility’ to manage work alongside caring responsibilities[7].

In contrast, there has already been an expansion of new roles in warehousing, logistics and fulfilment which have traditionally been filled by men and demand hours less likely to suit the needs of the household. For example, an analysis of recent ONS (2021) data shows that 67% of employees working on supermarket shop floors are women, a large proportion of whom are over the age of 45. This figure increases to 70% if you look at checkout and cashier roles specifically.

Female employees from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (as defined by the ONS) are five times more likely than white male employees to be working in checkout roles. In contrast to this, the gendering of employees working in the wholesale of food production (including the supply of these goods to supermarkets) is vastly male-dominated (men continue to hold 78% of these roles). These figures show the embeddedness of gender, and racial, segregation in these roles.

Considerations for the future

Although there have been some reductions in the occupational segmentation of retail roles in recent years, changing demands mean the future of work in food retail is likely to reflect the pre-existing patterns of segregation within the sector.

To avoid exacerbating these inequalities, measures are needed to ensure women and minority groups are equipped to enter into new roles in logistics and distribution. To avoid exacerbating these gender inequalities, measures are needed to ensure women are equipped to enter into logistics and distribution; for example, employee-led flexible working arrangements. To approve accessibility to these roles, policy changes will be required, in order to prevent women and minority groups being disproportionately impacted by job loss and remove current barriers (e.g. the burden of caring responsibilities) that prevent women and minority groups from transitioning into new roles.

Research has also shown that women are more likely to rely on public transport to get to work[8] and thus tend to take jobs that are closer to home and schools. However, distribution centres tend to be located in harder-to-reach areas, making these jobs less accessible to women. Therefore, provisions would have to be made to improve transportation routes to these areas both in terms of accessibility and safety.

Secondly, the ‘pick rates’ (the rate of items ‘picked’ by an employee/hours of work[9]) which dictate dotcom work can often be challenging for disabled and older workers to sustain. Reasonable adjustments will be required where necessary to accommodate these groups. Thirdly, employee-led flexible working arrangements and parental leave could allow for an easier transition into this type of work. Therefore, policymakers and businesses should ensure that the jobs which remain do not reinforce the existing inequalities which are endemic to service work and which have been further exacerbated by the current crisis.

This blog is a short extract from an article within ‘On Digital Inequalities’, produced by Policy@Manchester[10].

Wider points for gender-equal recovery and renewal

We conclude this case study by considering the wider points for gender equality in economic recovery. Three key policy areas have been identified in a recent statement from the London School of Economics and Political Science, the International Monetary Fund, EU Central Bank, the World Trade Organisation, the United Nations and the EU Commission, to ensure that “economic recovery prioritises women and girls, underpins an inclusive future, and ensures the world is prepared to withstand the next crisis”[11]. Consider:

• How recovery stimulus, employment, and social protection programmes will “get directly into the hands of women”
• How to develop more effective public policy, e.g. approaches to close the gender data gaps as a priority and new mechanisms to “improve monitoring, evaluation and data systems”
• How to reduce the “burden of unpaid care work and support better childcare to strengthen women’s labour force participation”[12]

[1] https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100244561

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7205621/

[3] https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/abbie.winton.html

[4] https://www.alliancembs.manchester.ac.uk/original-thinking-applied/original-thinkers/gender-and-food-retailing/

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/05/uk-online-grocery-sales-lockdown-internet-coronavirus

[6] https://www.ft.com/content/b985249c-1ca1-41a8-96b5-0adcc889d57d

[7] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a3299

[8] https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/TRANSPORT-2019-1.pdf

[9] https://www.hcrlaw.com/blog/warehouse-pick-rates-and-disability/

[10] https://www.policy.manchester.ac.uk/publications/on-digital-inequalities/

[11] https://www.lse.ac.uk/News/News-Assets/PDFs/2021/Statement-on-Gender-Equality-2021.pdf

[12] Ibid.

Support for SME recovery is critical in the aftermath of COVID-19, as SMEs constitute the backbone of economies across the world and “account for two-thirds of employment globally” (UNCTAD, 2021). COVID-19 has exacerbated existing problems and created new ones for SMEs. The OECD report finds that SMEs are disproportionately represented in sectors of the economy that have been most severely impacted by COVID-19 (e.g. retail, accommodation and food services). “Constrained cash flows and weaker supply chains” contribute to SMEs tending to be more financially fragile and more susceptible to supply chain disruptions. Many more examples of the challenges faced by SMEs can be found both in this OECD report and others (e.g. a recent McKinsey report). The OECD report presents 15 lessons on effective policy design, including:

• Prompt delivery of SME and entrepreneurship policy support. This can be supported by strengthening digital delivery systems at both the national and local levels
• Develop start-up policies to drive innovative start-ups for recovery
• “Ensure support mechanisms are inclusive and accessible for vulnerable segments of the SME population” (e.g., minority and women entrepreneurs)
• Focus on the digitalisation of SMEs and start-ups, e.g. incentivise/provide targeted financial support/grants (local governments can sign-post local entrepreneurs and SMEs to support services e.g. Business in the Community/FSB UK)
• Establish measures to consult with entrepreneurs and owners of SMEs, to understand their needs, their priorities, and co-produce recovery and renewal plans with them

Before the pandemic, the Philippines saw a prolonged period of economic growth and job expansion, with employment increasing, and large numbers of people moving from precarious jobs to more secure employment. COVID-19 reversed these gains, as it did in many other countries that experienced positive labour market growth and expansion. The Asian Development Blog offers five global best practices to address lower employment rates which are predicted to persist even after economies begins to grow again (known as "hysteresis in employment after an acute shock"). Consider the early global policy lessons that have supported people to make labour market transitions:

• Evidence shows that wage subsidies have been the most successful mechanism for protecting employment
• Hiring subsidies should replace wage subsidies, to support the reallocation of displaced workers into secure employment
• Skills funding schemes (e.g. Kickstart UK) are helping to upskill the workforce (e.g. Skillnet Ireland provides local or sectoral networks of at least 30 employers with annual matching grants to fund their short-term training of workers)
• Establish apprenticeship councils to guide and peer review changes to "industry-led apprenticeship programs". The changes suggested include:
  • Introducing "progressive salary scales"
  • Extend apprenticeship programmes from "6 months to 2-4 years"
  • Expand apprenticeship programmes into new industries and "service occupations such as legal, finance and communications"
• Provide unemployment insurance to give income stability and help people transition to new employment. For example:
  • Malaysia has a "national pooled insurance fund" which employers and employees make monthly contributions. The government funds "financing gap" which workers qualify for if they are made involuntarily unemployed
  • In Chile, employers and employees contribute monthly to "an account in the name of the employee". This is supplemented by the Solidarity Unemployment Fund, which supports employees if they diminish their personal savings accounts. The Chilean scheme doesn't "create contingent fiscal liabilities".

Working from home became the new normal for various sectors during the pandemic. However, this “pandemic-style” of working from home may not translate smoothly to post-pandemic working. A recent McKinsey survey of 100 executives across various industries and locations found that 90% of organisations intend to adopt a hybrid model of working (a combination of remote and on-site working). However, many organisations have only just begun to consider how this new approach will be integrated into organisational practice, resulting in employees feeling uncertain and anxious. Consider:

• Be transparent and open from the start with employees. If still in the planning stage, communicate the uncertainty of plans for remodelling current working practices
• Be clear on the current expectations of employees considering that their personal circumstances may have changed during the pandemic, and they may not be able to make a swift return to the office (e.g. consider a phased-in approach)
• Support and encourage “small moments of engagement”, which can include coaching, mentoring and co-working
• Reimagine the leadership process in your organisation. Train managers on “remote leadership” and re-evaluate current performance metrics so these represent how employees might succeed when working from home
• Develop new codes of practice (e.g. for online meetings) so that employees don’t always feel they must be available and don’t have to go from one meeting to the next, relentlessly
• Establish new ways of monitoring and evaluating employee attendance and productivity, so that employees don’t feel they need to be constantly logged into their computers to prove they are working. Focus on the work output, and assess if employees have the tools and skills to succeed, before assessing how many hours they spent logged in
• Pilot a hybrid approach that suits your organisational context and is tailored to the needs of specific teams and roles (e.g. evaluate what roles require on-site working)
• Develop new ways of monitoring employee wellbeing

Tauranga, in New Zealand, centred their 2018 city plans around four themes:

• "Improving the ability to move around the city
• Resilience and safety
• Increasing environmental standards
• Land supply (for housing and employment) and urban form"

These themes have been carried forward and underpin the council's 2021 recovery from COVID-19 plan. Tauranga's economic recovery projects and activities focus on:

• Fostering innovation, through training and courses in partnership with the University of Waikato which aims to harness and drive new opportunities for employment in Tauranga and the Western Bay
• Working with those driving the "Groundswell Festival of Innovation" to highlight local innovation and the "YiA Innovation Awards" to encourage young people towards innovative problem solving and critical thinking
• Seeking "shovel ready" infrastructure projects to generate jobs through projects which will benefit the Tauranga community socially, economically and environmentally
• Targeted investment in projects which will support small and medium-sized enterprises to recover, specifically those in the construction industry

New Zealand has developed a trade recovery strategy to protect jobs, increase employment and drive economic recovery. The strategy is shaped by three key priorities:

'Retooling support for exporters':

• Provide intensive support to exporters through tailored mechanisms to build capabilities and "connect with overseas markets and global partners"
• Strengthen online tools and services for exporters, e.g. "make trade barrier portals more user-friendly for exporters facing challenges offshore"
• Expand tools and services to SMEs through 'NZTE's Regional Business Partner network'

Refreshing key trade relationships:

• Provide current "free trade agreements with greater 'in-market' and 'to-market' support for exporters" - ensuring better support to an increased number of markets
• Intensify the existing trade diversification strategy and leverage New Zealand's reputation as a trusted trade partner
• Further the progress made on free trade agreements, through new negotiations e.g. with the UK
• Expand on the 'Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership'

Reinvigorating international trade architecture:

• Support the World Trade Organisation and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to protect the multilateral rules-based system, develop consensus on policies to support recovery, and "push back against protectionism"
• Similarly, "pursue new 'plurilateral' negotiations, e.g. The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement and the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability"

Global distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is essential to ensure that all lives are protected. As a result of vaccine shortfall, people in many parts of the world may need to wait up to three years to get the vaccine, during which time COVID-19 will continue to mutate and spread. In addition to protecting human life, global distribution of vaccines is required to protect the economy, which could be "deprived of up to 9.2 trillion dollars" if not (International Chamber of Commerce). Low and middle income countries are reliant on the work of COVAX to provide global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. However, mobilising the necessary support from donors is a challenge. "Greater public-private sector collaboration is required to ensure rapid and fair distribution". Many private sector companies are looking for ways to support the global vaccination effort but are unsure as to how exactly they can do this. The World Bank advises to consider:

• Aggregate funding to mobilize donors, e.g. introduce a pool fund or matching commitments, which can establish a coordinated approach from public and private donors and increase the number of and size of donations from diverse co-funders
• Establish "concessional financing" to support local businesses to develop and improve their service delivery and supply chains to better meet the needs of local vaccine programmes (e.g. small and medium sized businesses in disadvantaged sectors and locations)
• Introduce "results-based finance to improve accountability and outcomes per dollar spent on the vaccination support, as traditional grant funding is tied to inputs, not achievement of outcomes"

TMB Issue 33 discussed examples of how Australia and Rwanda are working to recover tourism through the promotion of domestic tourism. In Ireland, the next phases of their "Business Continuity Scheme" include targeted recovery strategies for Tourism Transport businesses, local tourism and hospitality businesses, and attracting international tourism. Consider:

• Partner with national/local tourism agencies (e.g. Failte Ireland/Tourism Ireland) to collaborate on the development and administration of tourism recovery schemes
• Provide funding and grants to tourism transport operators such as car rental companies, chauffeur, limousine, local taxi firms and escorted tour providers, to support their future operations and business continuity
• Set up a "Travel Trade Event" to bring international tourism partners, local governments and local tourism businesses together. Irish tourism businesses met virtually to sell "the best of Ireland" to 216 top international tourism buyers from across the world
• Seek funding to develop and build permanent outdoor infrastructure to increase dining capacity locally, to support local hospitality business as they re-open

The pandemic has accelerated the change to shopping habits, triggered economic downturn and changed how people live their lives (e.g. working from home). Evidence provided by "what works centre for local economic growth" prompts thinking as to what types of investment and interventions are likely to be most beneficial when designing recovery plans. The report considers that:

• "Supply side" investments (e.g. shop front renovations) should be supported by investments and policies that target increasing consumer demand
• Education and training to improve the skills profile of local communities can positively impact residents average wages, which will increase spending power and demand for local goods and services
• There is little evidence to support thinking that large department stores/supermarkets ("anchor stores") are of more value that other shops, meaning that balanced and equal support should be provided to protect business continuity of all shops
• Increased levels of working from home is unlikely to instigate large population shifts away from towns and cities and "proposals that are based on the assumption that housing supply and population density will change significantly should provide robust evidence to underpin those assumptions"
• Recovery and renewal proposals/plans which state that "physical or cultural regeneration initiatives will also delver economic growth" should also provide robust evidence as little evidence has shown that investment in new community assets/improved housing quality will deliver local growth

Ethnic minority-owned businesses play a vital role in the UK economy, the FSB reported that 'ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) contributed 25 billion pounds to the UK economy in 2018'. The entrepreneurial characteristics of diverse communities will be crucial for economic recovery. The impacts of the pandemic on EMBs is significant, as they account for a large number of businesses within the sectors closed during national lockdowns (retail, health and social care and hospitality). Consider:

• Invite ethnic minority business owners to discuss how best local government can support and facilitate entrepreneurship and growth post-COVID
• Targeted support programmes for ethnic minority-owned organisations and businesses that provide advice and support for applying for financial assistance, IT and tech support so that they are equipped with the skills and tools needed to recover and renew
• Create an 'inclusive matrix of support, including grants, wage subsidy and micro-loans for small ethnic minority-owned organisations, start-ups and new businesses'. Those businesses that may not have qualified for government financial support schemes introduced during the pandemic
• Go beyond the restricted lens of the 'Business Rate System' and broaden the understanding of how local economies function. This can be done by including 'all sectors, including homeworkers, night time economy, responses to local transport needs and the retail sector, to provide a comprehensive picture of local businesses and economic activity'. Use this to introduce support systems that promote sector diversity, good practice in sustainability, growth and cooperation in economic recovery

The tourism sector has been severely impacted by the measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. While measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are likely to continue (e.g. overseas travel restrictions) as restrictions ease, there may be opportunities to pivot and drive additional demand for domestic tourism. Consider:

• Create domestic tourism profiles (e.g. Tourism Research Australia) that describe who visitors are, what they want to do, and where potential opportunities lie for different destinations to target and attract new domestic visitors:
  • When creating profiles, partner with tourism agencies that have expert knowledge on the needs and priorities of different demographics
  • Make the information publicly available, so that local governments and tourism businesses can work together to plan recovery and domestic tourism marketing strategies
• Appoint a local Culture and Tourism liaison, partner with local tourist operators and businesses, and initiate targeted programmes to attract domestic tourists to local areas
• Seek funding and resources to support the re-generation or renewal of local tourism and culture businesses (e.g. heritage sites), e.g. based on knowledge gained from domestic tourism profiles, identify what businesses can do and provide guidance and financial support for them to pivot their offering to maximise their trading potential
• Partner with transport providers (e.g. train operators) and offer discounted fares to encourage domestic travel over the summer months (in line with national COVID-19 guidelines)
• Engage with large corporations and companies to explore the potential of conference style events that bring teams together, in response to the shift towards remote working
• Create promotions, packages and experiences to attract and grow holidays linked to conference-style events, or people who are looking to work remotely in a holiday location (e.g. mid-week offers)

The UN reported that Moroccan women accounted for just 21% of the country’s labour force, with 54% of those working concentrated in the informal sector (World Bank estimates 2019). The impacts of the pandemic on these trends are illustrated in a recent UK report by the Women and Equalities Committee. The report highlights that women were ‘a third more likely to be employed in sectors that were “shut down” during the first national lockdown, and thus disproportionately at risk of job loss’. The recommendations set out in this report and a UN Policy Brief prompt thinking as to how recovery strategies can address impacts, mitigate the reinforcement of inequalities and how renewal initiatives can transform the position of women in the labour market. Consider:

• Review schemes that were introduced to protect jobs and income to identify inequalities that may have been exacerbated. Integrate knowledge gained from this review into future crisis planning (e.g. integrate an ‘Equality Impact Assessment’ that will draw on evidence of existing inequalities to inform employment support schemes that may be required during future crises)
• Ensure women are equally represented in the planning and decision-making processes for recovery strategies and renewal initiatives
• Identify how the pandemic has had gendered effects on predominantly female run businesses (e.g. closures of businesses such as hairdressers), and if targeted support may be required as part of recovery planning. Repeat this for other communities/groups to identify whether they have been disproportionately impacted by the effects of COVID-19 and containment measures
• Conduct a gender analysis on recovery strategies and renewal initiatives to ensure that national and local investment plans will not create unequal outcomes for men and women, and reproduce inequalities (e.g. underrepresentation of women in sectors such as ‘science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)’, which have been targeted for investment globally)
• As part of local and national economic regeneration programmes, ‘fund training schemes specifically aimed at women’ and other minority groups to increase ‘representation and career progression in the Digital, AI and the Green Economy sectors’
• Review policy and legislation around flexible working to ensure they reflect the positive lessons learned on remote and flexible working during the pandemic
• Actively support legislation to expand redundancy protection to protect pregnant women and new mothers
• Recognise that women are not a homogenous groups - review equalities data to ensure that large data sets consider how other factors (e.g. race, class, religion and others) combine to shape the experiences of women in the labour market

Many local/town centre businesses will be micro- and small-medium enterprises (MSMEs) that have been severely impacted by the pandemic and lack internal resources to support recovery. In Pakistan, MSMEs contribute 40% to GDP and are critical to the economy, as they are in many other countries. In developing support strategies for local businesses and MSMEs, it is important to recognise that the pandemic has changed working practices and locations, and how we shop and entertain ourselves. Small businesses may not have the resources to access the type of data that can inform them on these potential changes to consumer habits, which in turn could impact trade levels as restrictions ease and these businesses re-open. Local governments can support them by facilitating access to this information. Consider:

• Build capacity of local government staff to undertake local economic assessments and develop small town regeneration and renewal plans (e.g. train staff to conduct economic impact assessments to identify businesses that may struggle post-lockdown and strategies that will support local economy recovery)
• Engage with local businesses, MSMEs and organisations that represent them (e.g.FSB UK) to draw on their perspectives and expertise when developing recovery and renewal plans
• Identify what has gone well in previous phases of re-opening, what could be improved and the support needs of these businesses (e.g. management of queues/health and safety measures to mitigate and contain the virus)
• Provide support grants to MSMEs for business regeneration or local marketing strategies to promote local businesses
• Conduct local and regional consumer habit surveys, in partnership with neighbouring local authorities, to identify the expectations of local consumers, and their potentially changed habits
• Communicate findings rapidly to local businesses so that they are informed and can prepare/pivot their businesses appropriately
• Develop an evidence-based local economic strategy that recognises changed consumer habits and demands, in partnership with local businesses
• Provide guidance to local businesses on how to adapt and where new business opportunities may lie (renewal)
• Signpost local businesses, particularly MSMEs, to training for digital skills and to advice on finance/investment in new technologies
• Develop a mechanism whereby local government can share lessons and knowledge between each other easily to learn from each other (e.g. collaborative 'light touch' impact assessments as described in Briefing A)

People with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed or not in education or training, which makes them more vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic, including increased risk of poverty. Recovery strategies to address the economic impacts of the pandemic should be disability-inclusive. Consider:

• Review/amend social protection systems to better protect people with disabilities during COVID-19:
  • Raise poverty thresholds to take disability-related additional costs into account
  • Revise the definition of disability in assessment procedures, to ensure they are functioning-based rather than impairment-based
  • Train volunteer community members to support the rapid identification of people with disabilities for social protection or other assistance: these community volunteers are sometimes called 'key informants' (KIs), are knowledgeable about the topic, the local area and the people who live there
• Ensure application procedures for social protection programmes and support services are accessible in the light of COVID-19 social distancing regimes:
  • Include disabled people's organisations when reviewing the accessibility of application processes and when disseminating information about support programmes
  • Adapt application and enrolment procedures to support the inclusion of people with disabilities
  • Provide disability training to programme staff and volunteers, e.g. disability awareness
  • Ensure programme information and application materials are available in a variety of accessible formats, e.g. Braille/videos/simplified text
  • Establish COVID-safe community-based registration services to bring services closer to people, and offer person/home-based assessment procedures for those with mobility limitations
• Ensure methods to deliver social protection services and welfare payments are accessible:
  • Allow welfare payments to be paid electronically or enable people with mobility difficulties to nominate a trusted individual to collect their
  • Ensure service points are physically accessible and within the person's local community
• Ensure employment schemes are adequate and accessible for people with disabilities during COVID-19:
  • Set up employment schemes to actively employ persons with disabilities, integrating such schemes into broader employment recovery schemes, e.g. green recovery
  • Make infrastructure accessible, e.g. buildings and workplaces
  • Introduce unemployment insurance to cover the informal sector, as people with disabilities, in particular women with disabilities, are more likely to be employed in the informal sector where there is an absence of job security, unemployment insurance and paid sick leave

The live music and entertainment industry has been heavily affected by the pandemic, with the majority of live events cancelled in 2020. A targeted contact tracing programme could enable the return of live entertainments events and keep the public safe, by identifying and containing a spread of the virus quickly. The contribution of the live entertainment industry to the economy is vast, and critical for GDP, generating employment and attracting tourism. Consider:

• Contact tracing as a targeted initiative to enable the return of live entertainment
• Scope costs of such an initiative and assess affordability:
  • Consider regional collaboration to lower costs
  • Seek funding or grant support, e.g. Arts Councils
• Establish and train a dedicated events contact tracing team to:
  • Provide contact tracing services
  • Develop educational materials for events companies, their employees, and customers
  • Provide on-site environmental health consulting to assist events businesses and venues in being COVID-safe
  • Support businesses in scheduling appointments at testing facilities
• Design an incentive and enforcement scheme to encourage commitment to a contact tracing programme and the implementation of COVID-19 safety measures
• Introduce an audit and certification programme to approve live events (see TMB Issue 28 for guidance on certification programmes)

The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women's experience of work. Women are more likely to work in low-paying and informal jobs, and also constitute a significant proportion of healthcare professionals and essential workers at the frontlines. Women working in these areas, e.g. cleaners, carers, catering staff and early learning and childcare workers, and frontline workers, have had to cope with the immense pressures of providing essential services during the pandemic while also caring for children and relatives. Employers should recognise and address the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on women's experience of work, including groups of women who have been badly affected by job disruption, such as BAME women, single parents and young women. Changes to workplaces are also a direct consequence of the pandemic, meaning that some women may be at higher risk of violence or abuse. Employers play a vital role in helping women who experience abuse to access support, and should recognise that sexual harassment doesn't just occur face-to-face, but also through online platforms. Close the Gap offer guidance on an intersectional approach to workforce planning, to support local government to develop gender-sensitive employment practices. They advise to consider:

• Participate in an employer accreditation programme, e.g. Equally Safe at Work
• Collect new intersectional, gender-disaggregated data on the impact of COVID-19 on employees, e.g. access to childcare, well-being, the experience of employees at work during COVID-19:
  • Conduct a gendered analysis to identify varying experiences of women and men during COVID-19
  • Use this data and analysis to inform any return to work plans/policies and to promote staff well-being
• Conduct an equality impact assessment prior to the implementation of new workplace policies
• Engage with women working in lower paid roles to ensure their experiences are used to inform plans for recovery
• Offer support to women who are working at home, including:
  • Conduct risk assessments to determine support needs for working from home
  • Assess working arrangements and their sustainability
  • Offer flexible working to staff with caring responsibilities
  • Regularly check in with employees to see how they are managing
• Available support for female employees who are more likely to be affected by COVID-19, including those who are disabled, pregnant, returning from maternity leave, BAME
• Raise awareness of Violence against Women (VAW) policies in view of the rise in domestic violence during lockdowns:
  • Communicate zero tolerance of VAW
  • Signpost to local specialist services, e.g. Women's Aid
  • Raise awareness of reporting processes for VAW

Many individuals and families have experienced negative economic impacts from COVID-19 as a result of business closures, job losses and reduced working hours. Globally, governments have introduced financial stimuli through small business loans and furlough schemes, in an effort to mitigate the consequences of financial losses caused by the pandemic. As many stimulus packages are scheduled to end in the coming months, business owners are concerned that they will be unable to continue to pay staff, and employees are concerned that they may be made redundant. Consider:

• The need to quickly increase the capacity of local financial support and advice systems:
  • Partner with and commission community advice services, e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
  • Build capacity and train volunteers to increase the range of specialist and generalist welfare and debt advice that is available
  • Seek support from local businesses that can provide financial and other advice
• Increase community and business awareness of how to access support services:
  • Run information campaigns targeted at groups that need support
  • Bring together sources of good advice from trusted partners into a single location/source to make information easy to find
  • Sign post and onward refer members of the community to services
• Integrate debt and financial advice and budgeting support with forms of direct financial support

Regional imbalances have created varying levels of economic impact on local economies. Areas that relied heavily on tourism and sport/music events prior to the pandemic are suffering disproportionate levels of unemployment and loss of trade. Consider a targeted local economic recovery strategy to boost tourism post-pandemic in local economies that have been hit hardest:

• Develop new tourism packages and make them appropriate for post-pandemic tourism, e.g. taking into consideration the potential need for social distancing, for vaccination passports to travel, and for meeting expectations of COVID-safe measures that tourists will have
• Recognise the opportunity to renew approaches to local tourism by adopting a community-centred tourism framework:
  • Redefine and reorientate tourism based on the rights and interests of local communities and local people
  • Involve local businesses, tourism boards and the community in developing targeted strategies to rejuvenate local tourism, that are beneficial to the whole community and geographical area
  • Create partnerships with local businesses and the local tourism board to develop a collaborative marketing plan to attract tourism
• Support local businesses in gaining core health and safety certifications by offering advice on how to gain certification and who to go to for auditing and certification awards
• Work with community voluntary groups to gain certifications such as 'Blue Flag Beach/Tidy Towns' to promote environmental and quality standards that will assist in marketing your local area to potential tourists
• Prepare a targeted marketing strategy to promote local areas when tourism returns, which communicates how the health and safety of visitors is central
• Collaborate with national tourism organisations (e.g. Visit Britain) and large holiday companies to promote domestic tourism
• Provide advice and temporary financial support (e.g. moratoriums on council tax) for local businesses directly involved in tourism (e.g. guest houses, to support their short-term financial viability)

Research shows that young people experience more long-lasting labour market impacts due to economic crises than adults, including being the first to lose jobs, working fewer hours, taking more time to secure quality income, and wage scarring where earning losses recover slowly. The International Labour Organisation reported that 17% of young people employed before the pandemic had stopped working entirely, and 42% reported reduced incomes. Additionally, it is widely reported that it is becoming increasingly difficult to source workers with the right skills in sectors where job opportunities exist. Consider developing youth employment initiatives, aimed at promoting domestic employment, skills development, capacity building and enabling equal access opportunities for vulnerable youth:

• Assess your own organisation’s operations and capacity to understand where youth employment opportunities may be protected or enhanced:
  • Recognise the contribution of people who joined your organisation as young people in entry-level roles and try to ensure that restructures do not remove roles that provide a talent pipeline into your organisation.
  • Monitor for age in any furlough and redundancy plans to ensure young people in your existing workforce are not disproportionately affected
• Map labour market information of unemployed young people such as knowledge, skills and abilities, with potential sectors of employment, including consideration for the supply and demand aspects of the labour market
  • Establish a working plan with employment services centres to support registration, profiling, referral, temporary work placements and on-the-job training
• Collaborate with local government and private and public organisations to establish sectors in which temporary employment opportunities for young people could be created e.g. public works and infrastructure maintenance (Nepal)
• Align vocational education and training aimed at up-skilling young people with employment initiatives such as apprenticeships and work experience programmes
• Provide youth-targeted wage subsidy programmes to help young people enter, re-enter or remain in the labour market by reducing costs of recruitment, retention and training
• Continue to provide careers advice in schools, colleges and universities to help young people navigate their employment options during COVID. Ensure careers advisors understand the current labour market and options open to young people so that they can provide timely advice

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues on, people around the world have been utilising black markets to purchase negative COVID-19 test results to enable them to travel. False negative COVID test certificates have been sold for around $300 USD. Systems which email test results can be easily bypassed by downloading and doctoring documents e.g. changing the date of the test, name and test result. Consider how to manage and mitigate proliferation of false negative test results:

• In Hawaii, only results from approved testing partners will be accepted, and they must be transmitted digitally, rather than using emails
• Utilising apps that centralize health and lab data and test/vaccination results e.g. CommonPass, trialled by United Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways

The SDGs, represent the world's agreed economic, social, and environmental targets for 2030, and can act as a common scorecard to ensure there are objective standards for assessing progress. Localising the ambition of the SDGs to develop local economic development strategies can help integrate social and environmental standards within local economic agendas, reduce disparities between regions, generate local business opportunities and jobs, and aim to include all marginalized communities. Consider how the SDG framework can support inclusive and diversified economic growth:

• Integrate SDG targets into on-going budget reviews process, thereby improving resource allocation and performance evaluation
• Examine the link between ongoing public policies, the SDG targets and budget expenditures
• Analyse the official indicators related to budget-planning instruments
• Partner with the private sector to launch impact investment initiatives that address the SDGs, recovery and renewal from COVID-19 and sustainable economic renewal

Organisations must ensure they, their employees, and people who visit their workplace are complying with COVID-19 safety measures e.g. wear a mask, sanitize and maintain social distancing. As time goes on and people become fatigued with regulations, standards may slip. It is the organisation's responsibility to ensure due diligence in identifying risks and mitigating them. This may require increased surveillance of working practices and trained Compliance Officers who specialise in encouraging compliance. Consider that Compliance Officers can:

• Ensure that COVID-19 safe practices in the workplace are updated, communicated, trained, and monitored effectively
• Constantly seek good practices from elsewhere and systematise these to enhance protection of people at work
• Balance legal requirements with response actions to ensure safety comes first
• Be a single, expert point of contact to address issues related to COVID-19 in an organisation
• Constantly evaluate workplace compliance with the regulations and report on breaches

A key model (followed by many countries) to help protect jobs, workers and the economy has emphasised job retention through wage subsidies, layoff restrictions, and short-term compensation schemes. In Greece, initial data suggests that job retention was an effective means of reducing large-scale unemployment - and that additional work is needed to create new jobs. This suggest that strategies to protect jobs should also consider proactive policies to enhance employment possibilities for unemployed and otherwise vulnerable workers to avoid long-term chronic unemployment. Consider:

• Investing in training designed for a 'post-COVID-19' labour market e.g. focusing on upskilling in technical and internet-based skills
• Investing in infrastructure in organisations to support new types of jobs and ensure funds are allocated to ensure employees have adequate resources for the job (e.g. hardware and adequate internet access)
• Allocate funding to improve technical systems for effective job search and job matching, alongside relevant skills training for the new job
• Utilise learning from the pandemic about technology adoption and innovation, the digital divide, and the impact this can have on access to employment and ability to undertake work at home or online

As remote working becomes increasingly more common during the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of countries have begun to offer Remote Working Visas where people can work as 'digital nomads' i.e. live in one country but work remotely in another. For countries offering Remote Work Visas, this has contributed to boosting economies at a time when other industries (such as tourism) are suffering. For companies employing digital nomads it offers the opportunity to pay competitive salaries to those who may be able to reduce their living costs by not working in the same country as their employer. Similar programmes may be considered at a local level, whereby employees can decide to live and work remotely in one city, and be paid by a company in another. Consider the benefits for companies, including:

• Offering flexible working to help reduce resignations from staff who are reconsidering their work life in the aftermath of COVID-19 and explore job opportunities overseas
• The reduced cost of staff e.g. the London Weighting allowance means employers pay anything between 1-20% more to employees living and working In London compared to other UK regions

Consider the benefits for local economies, including:

• Building local economies by attracting new residents e.g. one study found that 60% of people has seen people reconsider their living situation, with many setting their sights on an escape to the coast
• Rebuilding economies that were reliant on other industries e.g. tourism as people consider relocating to areas such as the coast - an area hard-hit by a diminishing tourist industry due to COVID-19

Alongside the health and environmental risks, COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of current economic models. Circular economies are those that produce significantly reduced waste with the aim of producing zero through sharing, reusing and recycling products and byproducts - and the circular economy is becoming increasingly relevant during COVID-19. Consider:

• Developing more 'pay for service' models that do not require people to own goods in times of financial uncertainty e.g. using launderettes rather than having the burden of owning a washing machine provides alternatives to manage consumption, either by reducing expenditure, or opting for the basic alternative. These can be designed to support social distancing and COVID-19 measures
• Redefining and classifying what is considered essential if resources are limited or strained in order to prioritise needs. The circular economy may require redefining and rethinking the importance of certain roles, tasks, products and services e.g. the shift in perceptions of those in retail or waste management have been classified as essential workers
• Focus on local supply chains. Local supply chains can be more environmentally friendly and can also be more secure. De-globalization is a clear post COVID-19 trend. World trade is expected to contract between 13% and 32% in 2020, which indicates reliance on international supply chains may be seen as riskier than sourcing products and components locally
• Incentivize businesses, big and small, to become part of the circular economy e.g. encouraging businesses to take more responsibility for providing reusable facemasks to their staff, or supporting projects which aim to clean up and protect ecosystems from plastic waste such as disposable gloves and masks

Middle managers and leaders are central points of contact for people returning to work and their roles are particularly important as the pandemic continues but people return to work. However, it is vital that managers have the tools to support their own well-being as well as their team's, and that they have adequate support from senior leadership. Since COVID, middle managers are being asked to make hundreds of daily decisions in a time of uncertainty. They have the responsibility of sharing and promoting decisions and strategies that may be ambiguous or that they even disagree with. Consider:

• Conversations between middle and senior leaders that helps to remove as many unknowns as possible through clear guidelines. Ensure managers know what they are (and are not) responsible for in terms of decision-making and providing wider support
• Whether there is sufficient wellbeing support for all staff to relieve middle managers of additional roles. Ensure managers are clear on available support networks in the organization and what they offer e.g. occupational health
• Provide training on holding 'confident conversations' about difficult topics e.g. mental health, risk assessments, managing people with different needs, and providing more emotional support

Train managers in available information such as the NHS’s: Making health and wellbeing vital in conversations guidance and wellbeing coaching questions - for managers. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) offers: How to help your team thrive at work

Many smaller retailers have less digital capabilities, and it is these skills which can help smaller business survive the pandemic. The loss of smaller retailers will inhibit the economic recovery at the local and national level. Consider how to encourage partnerships between larger and smaller companies to help accelerate digital transformation for small business owners:

• Offer digital solutions to support infrastructure development of small business to establish brands via mobile apps and digital menu applications for consumers. Additionally, develop simple online supply platforms for small and medium-sized business e.g. Menu in Brazil and MiMercado in Mexico
• Encourage financial inclusion through affordable financial products and services. Consideration may be given to the development of local fintech services and partnerships that extend credit to small retailers to help save businesses and make them more competitive
• Encourage collaborative platforms to share knowledge between well-established, experienced companies and vulnerable business e.g. Movimento Nós in Brazil an initiative created by eight of the main food and beverage companies in the country (Coca-Cola, Heineken, Nestlé etc.) to help 300,000 small businesses employing one million people, to get through COVID-19 and guarantee their reopening when possible. This will support the recovery of smaller supply chains and encourage customers and suppliers, which in turn will continue to have a positive impact on global supply chain recovery

In the USA, Black Communities are amongst some of the hardest finically hit communities as a result of the economic fallout from COVID-19. Recovery to date has shown to neglect women, Latino and Black Americans. Similar patterns are seen globally, with marginalised and already vulnerable groups being hit the hardest economically. Like many countries, this is a result of pervasive existing inequalities in access to income, assets, health, education, formal employment, equal opportunity, social protection, internet and public services. Consider:

• Explicitly acknowledging the heightened economic vulnerabilities of specific socioeconomic groups - and address these with targeted measures
• How to encourage broad public participation and collective action in government planning and response to effectively address existing inequalities and the needs of vulnerable populations as well as minimise elite capture and urban bias
• How policies should account for constraints faced by specific marginalized groups in terms of economic recovery such as job precarity, lack of education, low wages
• That economic recovery programmes that do not address these inequalities run the risk of reinforcing and deepening inequalities into the future which can burden economies and health systems
• Assessing funding proposals for their impact on different societal groups

Dr Marianne Sensier and Professor Fiona Devine, The University of Manchester, analyse economic resilience in UK regions and recommend additional policy measures to address the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19.

To read this briefing in full follow the source link below to TMB Issue 23 (p.2-6).

COVID-19 is having an adverse impact on the economy amid the ongoing global climate crisis. Balancing long-term economic recovery and renewal with environmental agendas may be one way to ensure economic growth while mitigating issues such as climate change. One means of achieving this is through renewed commitment from local and national government to invest in, and develop job creation for a low carbon economy. Consider how to encourage low carbon projects including upskilling and training local people in:

• Clean electricity generation and provision of low-carbon heat for homes and businesses e.g. the manufacturing wind turbines, deploying solar PV, installing heat pumps and maintaining energy-system infrastructure
• Installing energy efficiency products ranging from insulation, lighting and control systems
• Providing low-carbon services such e.g. financial, legal and IT, and producing alternative fuels such as bioenergy and hydrogen
• Encouraging low-emission vehicles and the associated infrastructure e.g. electric vehicles, manufacturing batteries, installing electric vehicle charge-points

Many cities have imposed COVID-19 restrictions on the use of public spaces such as social distancing, mask wearing, and number of people allowed to be in a single group to limit the transmission of the virus. Successful implementation of such measures may require additional support from COVID marshals who can provide reassurance to the public and organisations, and help improve compliance with regulations. Organisations that have experience of crowd and people management may have the skills to support the implementation of COVID related restrictions. Consider how trusted events security organisations may be trained to provide COVID marshalling support where needed. This may include:

• Working with supermarkets to protect staff and minimise panic buying; including queue management
• Working in civil contingency roles with local authorities to support town centre patrols in the daytime and night-time economy
• Working with local authorities and law enforcement to help report low level antisocial behaviour and social distance breaches
• Crowd and people management at COVID-19 testing centres

To inform investment decisions for the future, the Fiji Government worked with the World Bank to develop the country's first ever Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) to quantify and better understand the threat posed by natural hazards and climate change and to help design climate adaptation and risk management plans. The CVA paved the way for responding to short-term needs while boosting long-term sustainability and resilience. This applies directly to the COVID-19 crisis as the CVA provides a means to assess current, and candidate interventions that could be successful for sustainable economic recovery from COVID-19. Consider how a CVA could be used to:

• Co-opt government programs related to resilience into stimulus measures e.g. national development plans, infrastructure masterplans, or resilience plans already identify interventions that can be cross-checked against a sustainability checklist to determine relevant COVID-19 interventions that address both short and long term needs
• Determine locale-specific priorities for economic stimuli that account for local risks and needs. This may include accelerating interventions that are already expected to be delivered, expanding interventions already underway, or prioritizing interventions that are cross-sectoral e.g. improving agricultural productivity, the reliability of infrastructure, or by reducing energy
• Identify additional economic stimulus, generated from various resilience-building interventions, that could be used to mitigate the economic shocks imposed by the pandemic

Assessing projected job losses and economic vulnerability as a result of COVID-19 can be supported by using digital tools informed by official national statistics. Tools such as the Kentucky COVID-19 Economic Impact Dashboard can provide information on (un)employment by tracking industries that have experienced the greatest job losses nationally. Dashboards like these point users to a single, accessible, authoritative source for information. This helps organisations to maintain situational awareness and communicate critical information. For the economy, consider using digital tools like dashboards to:

• Evaluate the needs of local economies more closely and to develop policy responses tailored to the unique needs of each locality
• Evidence the need to support and fund aspects of economic recovery that are monitored by the dashboard
• Share data with other relevant stakeholders that also see the impacts of economic vulnerability e.g. health and education sectors
• Use the data for strategic planning and staffing purposes to anticipate and meet demand for services in different regions of the state
• Provide the public and businesses with data on economic vulnerability, alongside signposting them to other relevant information e.g. transmission rates in their area, COVID-19 testing facilities

In the UK, it is expected that youth unemployment will rise by over 640,000 in 2020 taking the total to over 1 million. Under 25s may face years of reduced pay and limited job prospects long-term. Consider strategies to tackle youth unemployment:

• Encourage organizations to develop partnerships with UK employers, government, education institutions, and civil society to create quality work placements for young people
• Promote the benefits of employer networks e.g. lower recruitment costs and improved staff retention to facilitate more work placements
• Consider measures such as the ‘EU measure against youth unemployment’. The Commission wants EU countries to increase their support for the young through their recovery and suggest member states should invest at least €22 billion for youth employment. Initiatives also include:
  • Youth Employment Support which includes The Youth Guarantee which aims to ensure people under the age of 25 get a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.
  • Extending the Youth Guarantee which covers people aged 15 - 29 (previously the upper limit was 25) and:
    • Reaches out to vulnerable groups, such as minorities and young people with disabilities
    • Provides tailored counselling, guidance and mentoring
    • Reflects the needs of companies, providing the skills required and short preparatory courses

COVID-19 has made companies have a major re-think about how and where their staff work. Germany's Siemens as decided to let its employees work from wherever they want for two or three days a week, where they feel most productive. These changes are based on outcome focused work, rather than time spent in an office.

Engaging with art and culture can contribute to well-being, serenity and intellectual stimulation, and can help build resilience in the community. Consider:

• How to digitize as many cultural assets as possible to maintain public engagement with arts/culture
• That some organisations may have been negatively impacted financially and could benefit from operating online
• Providing national and local lists of available online arts and culture content
• Promotion of smaller independent venues, artists and collections

Consider:

• How digitization can facilitate capacity for longer-term economic recovery. For example, in Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa, increased migration from cash to digital transactions has resulted in more account-to-account transfers and e-commerce sales which boosts economic activity and maintains social distancing
• The role of digital-payment platforms in increasing financial inclusion outside of traditional banking systems e.g. in Togo through cash transfers that disburse social welfare payments through mobiles
• Collaboration with banks and non-bank payments players to restructure transaction fees and limits to encourage digital payments
• Promoting easier access to digital-payment tools e.g. the Ghanaian government eased account-opening regulations

During lockdown more consumers have been turning to online shopping. Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, received over 16,000 reports about online fraud during the lockdown totalling over £16m. Consumers report buying mobile phones (19%), vehicles (22%), and electronics (10%) on sites such as eBay (18%), Facebook (18%), and Gumtree (10%) only for the items to never arrive. Considering reinforcing to citizens:

• The prevalence of online fraud
• Actions to make online shopping safer e.g.
  • choose a trusted retailers or build confidence in the retailer by researching other consumers’ experiences
  • create accounts that have strong passwords that are not identical to email accounts
  • be aware of scam email messages offering deals and don’t click on links that you are unsure about
  • use a credit card to pay as it offers more payment protection
• What they should do if they think they have become a victim of online shopping fraud e.g.
  • note the website’s address, close the browser, report to a consumer fraud advice service
  • monitor bank transactions if payment details have been submitted to the site
  • contact your bank about any unrecognised transactions, however small

During response, individuals and organisations have shown a huge outpouring of support through donations of their time and resources. Now, with people going back to work and assuming their pre-COVID activities, people and organisations may have less time to volunteer to the effort, or there may be less suitable volunteer opportunities available. Instead, people may want to show their solidarity in other ways, including by making financial donations. Consider establishing a relief fund, and publicizing its cause, to give an organised mechanism for people and businesses to show their solidarity. An organised mechanism should give people confidence that their donations will be governed appropriately.

In many countries the voluntary sector is struggling financially as a result of loss of income and increased demand for services. The sector is a critical part of society and provides important services, so funding is being made available. Competition for that funding is high and the process to secure funding is not always straightforward; with application forms and procedures to follow. To support the voluntary sector to secure funding, consider supporting the writing of funding applications. Consider how to:

• Find out from voluntary organisations what they need to be able to make successful bids for funding
• Produce regular newsletters that summarise funding opportunities so voluntary organisations know what funding is available
• Provide help to voluntary organisations to interpret the calls for funding and identify suitability
• Provide information on how to write a successful application (e.g. online resources, training courses)
• Find volunteers who have grant writing skills and embed them in voluntary organisations (e.g. volunteers from the organisation itself, university students, furloughed staff from other organisations)
• Provide samples of good proposals to show the benchmark, support project managers on how to successfully deliver funded projects (e.g. project governance, staffing, delivery, evaluation)

The "Monaco Safe" initiative aims to certify shops, hotels, restaurants, museums and all places open to the public to ensure that they provide the best conditions for customers/visitors and follow the health protocols outlined in https://teleservice.gouv.mc/monaco-safe/. Businesses that are awarded the certification are allowed to use the official "Monaco Safe" logo in their communications and receive visibility on State networks including tourist information authorities, the Monaco Economic Board, and others. Consider if certification could:

• be given to those places that comply with health regulations to combat the spread of COVID-19
• be awarded following certification processes that examine the implementation of health protocols
• be obtained by completing an online procedure
• acknowledge the efforts of the business to provide the best condition
• be voluntary and free of charge and quick

Throughout the response to the pandemic, many private sector companies have offered donations, skills, knowledge and resources to support local and national efforts to tackle effects of the virus. Businesses have a considerable role to play in recovery and renewal as they continue to support their local communities, supply chains, staff, and wider stakeholders. Advice from the World Health Organization suggests to consider asking the private sector to:

• Protect against COVID-19 by:
  • Informing stakeholders on protecting staff and communities at work, protecting jobs and livelihoods, tackling mis-information
  • Protecting businesses through: business continuity plans, supply chain continuity, maintaining essential infrastructures and services, protecting jobs, acting responsibly towards suppliers
• Participate in the COVID-19 response by:
  • Producing essential supplies, repurposing production capabilities towards making essential supplies, providing in-kind contributions, making available supplies and services
  • Providing financial support to coordinated charity drives, supporting NGO and community needs

More information on each 'ask' is available in the WHO guide along with links to other resources and information.

During COVID-19 many training facilities that equip staff with specialist skills have been unable to work effectively so accreditation has not been possible. Furthermore, medical fitness for work certificates may have expired and not been renewed due to the pressures on the healthcare system. Across many sectors (e.g. emergency services, construction, healthcare), these effects could have consequences for the availability of staff who have the required skills/training and are permitted to work; a problem accentuated by the departure of skilled staff during the crisis. Consider:

• How your workforce's skills profile has changed as a result of the effects of COVID-19 e.g.:
  • training centres stopping training new recruits, meaning there is a lack of new staff in the recruitment pipeline
  • expiration of staff's specialist qualifications/registration, meaning they are not permitted/qualified to deliver usual activities
  • granting of medical eligibility to work during the crisis, and impacts on staff ability to work
  • staff being made unemployed or retiring during the crisis
  • staff who have contracted COVID-19 and who are unable to return to normal duties
• Putting temporary waivers in place to enable workers to continue despite their skills expiring
• How staff whose qualifications have expired during COVID-19 can be re-accredited
• How to ensure staff are medically fit to work
• How to address and overcome the immediate impacts of a shortage of accredited staff
• How to mitigate the multi-year impacts on your sector from COVID-19's disruption to skills, training and staff loss

Reference: Fire Department, Germany