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Houston Business Barometer Week 1: Most Working from Home, Nearly Half Say Outlook has Worsened

Published Apr 09, 2020 by A.J. Mistretta

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The pressure facing local small businesses continues to mount as social distancing measures and stay home orders necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 approach mid-April. 

A total of 90 small business member companies of the Greater Houston Partnership responded to the first Houston Business Barometer survey conducted by the organization between April 3-6. An overwhelming majority of respondents (84.3%) said they have instituted work-from-home practices in their company while 22.5% have shut down whole or partial operations. 

Thirty-six percent of responding companies said they had enacted a hiring freeze and 56.7% indicated their revenues have declined since their last billing cycle. 

When asked about their firm’s short-term outlook during the week that ended April 6 compared with the previous week, 48.9% indicated it had gotten worse and another 44.4% said there was no change. 

Asked how the fallout from the pandemic has impacted their operations, 53.3% said their operations have been severely impacted while 28.9% said the impact has been moderate. 

Respondent firms’ top three concerns were revenue/sales (86.5%), employee well-being (59.6%) and profits (58.4%). 

The following breaks down how long firms believe they could remain afloat based on projected cash flow and without federal assistance:
   

Time Period                       Respondents
1-2 weeks                          0.0%
3-4 weeks                          6.7%
5-6 weeks                          6.7%
7-8 weeks                         12.2%
3-6 months                        26.7%
Longer than 6 months      40.0%
Don’t know                        7.8%

Visit the Partnership's COVID-19 Resource page for updates, guidance for employers and more information. And sign up for daily email alerts from the Partnership as the situation develops. 

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