THREE out of four people believe protecting jobs and well-being should be the top priority for businesses as the economy emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, a major new survey commissioned by Co-operative Development Scotland has found.
It comes as the CDS is launching a new campaign to showcase the role inclusive business models can play in supporting the Scottish Government with its aim to create a fairer, stronger and more democratic economy.
When asked what should be the top priority for businesses going forward, three out of four people said protecting jobs, 74 per cent, followed by staff well-being, 67%, and creating innovative solutions to problems, 53%.
The survey had over 1,230 respondents. CDS is the arm of Scotland’s enterprise agencies that supports company growth through employee ownership and co-operative business models.
READ MORE: Warning 25,000 jobs will go as ‘doomsday’ arrives for pub trade
The research also found that half of Scots agree the pandemic has provided an opportunity to make Scotland’s economy stronger and fairer, with under 35-year-olds more likely to agree, 59%, while 64% said that the pandemic has already made their business more socially responsible.
Clare Alexander, head of CDS, said the crisis has prompted action by across sectors. “While discussions on the social aspects of the economy have become more vocal in recent years, Covid-19 has undoubtedly fuelled its relevance and urgency,” she said. “The world has been shaken, many of our norms have been questioned and as this survey shows, there is a desire not to return to life as before.”
The Crunchy Carrot, a community-run shop in Dunbar, East Lothian, went from supplying 60 vegetable boxes per week before the pandemic to 350 during the early stages of lockdown thanks to well-established local supply chains.
Business leaders have prioritised well-being, communities have responded to help and support each other and new and innovative ways of being economically viable have come to the fore, she said.
“There has also been a focus on a collective, rather than individual, call to action.”
The Scottish Government has also announced a drive looking for ideas to help inform the work of its Advisory Board on Social Renewal, tasked with building on positive policy and practice shifts seen during Covid-19.
Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills, said: “Covid-19 has had a massive impact on the global economy and Scotland, like all countries, has been deeply affected. This forces us not just to respond in the immediate term, but also to make choices about the sort of economy we want to have and to focus our efforts on building back fairer and stronger.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here