COVID-19 Strengthens the Bond Between Small Businesses and Employees

The pandemic has also highlighted the strength of the relationship between small businesses and their employees.

Small business owners indicate that their employees have been the most supportive group in recent weeks – 73% say their employees have been supportive in recent weeks. This exceeds perceived support from suppliers, financial institutions, donors, larger businesses and both local and federal government.

In turn, most small business owners (63%) agree that they have a responsibility to their employees and their families during these trying times. 51% indicate that they think employee focused programs – such as government paid sick leave for employees – would be a helpful policy intervention on behalf of small businesses.

METHODOLOGY

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll from March 23-24, 2020 among 310 U.S. small business owners ages 18 and older. Small business owners are defined as owners/co-owners or franchisee/franchise owners of a company in the U.S. with fewer than 100 employees. Results align with the population of small businesses on company size. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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