The past year has been difficult, unprecedented and full of loss, learning and unpredictable circumstances. However, with the vaccine rollout in the UK proving a success, this has brought hope to many people and businesses alike.
Here, we discuss how this has caused UK business optimism (otherwise referred to as business confidence) to grow, and how you can take advantage of the tides turning.
What is business confidence?
Business confidence can be defined as you might imagine – it is how confident people are about their companies’ prospects. This confidence is measured by surveying companies about their thoughts and feelings on the upcoming 6 to 12 months.
Questions are usually based around consumer demand, price rises or drops, employment and the strengths and weaknesses of the companies’ imports and exports. Due to this, error can occur due to sample sizes and anomalies as well as those sectors of industry that aren’t surveyed.
Therefore, business confidence can be seen as an average, which can help to provide useful signs about the economy. This is useful, as it can often provide information about the economy before government statistics are released.
How has COVID-19 affected business confidence?
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, back in May 2020, one report found that UK business confidence was at an all-time low. This meant that many executives were planning to cut their spending and stayed away from taking any risks.
As we now know, this became a reality. Most customer-facing industries have been completely shut down for the majority of the year, and many people have lost their jobs, despite the Government’s attempts to support furloughed employees.
However, the growing success of the UK vaccine rollout offers cause for new hope. Despite many things which have arguably been poorly-executed this year by the Government, the vaccine rollout has to be its biggest success.
It must be said, though, that this is in part down to the fact it has mainly been organised by the NHS, and the hardworking doctors, nurses, volunteers and backroom workers and executives who have persevered throughout the pandemic.
Because of the success of the vaccine and the January lockdown measures, this has sent UK business confidence to a six-year high as of February 2021.
How can I capitalise on this?
Ultimately, business confidence drives growth, and so high business confidence can be a good indicator that it is time for your company to expand or invest in new infrastructure.
It could also be a good time for you, as an independent entrepreneur, to open up a start-up. Getting a start-up space can allow you to start growing your workforce – a process which, in turn, will increase the output of your goods and services.
If you find the right start-up space now, you are more likely to be up and running by the time employees are allowed to start working in person again rather than from home. This will help you hit the ground running when the time comes for workers to return to the traditional office life.
Therefore, if the vaccine rollout continues to be a success, then it should stand that business optimism can only increase. With that light at the end of the tunnel, take a leap of faith.
