The COVID-19 epidemic starting late in 2019 has already had a significant impact on both the daily lives of each of us and the business environment. ACT is an integral part of the business environment of the countries where the company operates. The ACT Kazakhstan team decided to assess the current impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on business, to find out which decisions the leaders of Kazakhstani companies make to prevent the virus spread, what is the effect of current instability on the companies’ financial activities, as well as to check the general mood in the companies. 

On 16-17 March 2020, we made a telephone survey involving 100 representatives of the TOP-management of Kazakhstani companies. Kazakhstani companies rated the overall level of internal unrest/fear in companies due to the spread of coronavirus in the world at 4.03 points on a 10-point scale (“0” – “No disturbance,” “10” – “Very high level of unrest/fear”). Only 4% of Kazakhstani companies assessed the level of unrest/fear in the company as “very high.”

According to the survey, 84% of organizations have taken some measures to prevent the virus spread. Such measures included the propaganda of wearing medical masks, their centralized procurement and distribution among the employees (74%), purchasing disinfectants for hand washing (60%) and disinfection (63%), as well as strengthening the office and workplace disinfection (59%). It is worth noting that 55% of companies actively discuss and disseminate information about preventive personal hygiene measures during the pandemic. 58% of companies noted significant (25%) or partial (33%) changes in daily work processes due to the coronavirus situation in the country.

A complete list of changes in the processes that Kazakhstani enterprises have already encountered is as follows:

• External meetings with clients/partners are mainly conducted remotely – 38%
• We have partially switched to remote operation/part of the employees started working remotely – 28%
• The whole company is working remotely – 21%
• There is a decline in customers/orders – 9%
• We are facing difficulties in goods supply due to the closed border – 7%
• The company has switched to part-time work (till lunch-time) – 3%
• The staff is wearing masks – 2%
• All mass events are suspended – 2%
• The workload per employee has increased – 2%

In addition to changes in work processes, 59% of company representatives noted that the coronavirus situation in the country has started influencing the corporate finances (the financial situation has slightly worsened in 30% of cases and significantly worsened in 29% of cases). SMEs were mostly affected financially. 35% of organizations maintain a stable financial standing.46% of the companies noted they are revising the expenditure side of the budget due to the current situation.

The survey was conducted on 16-17 March 2020 among small, medium, and large businesses of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Sample size: 100 companies. Methodology: a telephone survey. The use of survey materials is permitted with the obligatory mention of the survey’s author.