The COVID-19 landscape has shaped a world of distrust

CEOs call the current business landscape “extraordinary times of the COVID-19 pandemic” (Reliance India Chairman), where “(t)he pandemic has changed the way businesses operate” (Maybank Malaysia CEO), and that “(w)e are now fighting a battle against fear, this is a mental battle” (SMDC President), forcing many companies to respond “to a very fluid environment, requiring us to respond to the urgent.” (Walmart CEO). 

This uncertainty is unprecedented, the virus deadly, and the vaccine unproven—dismantling the fiber of trust that once held our society together—a trust is forged through constant personal interactions amongst each other.

Having face-to-face or in-person meetings kept to a minimum and social gatherings put to a halt have also lessened opportunities for strangers and acquaintances to form and strengthen new bonds—a necessary factor in business development and wealth creation. A visit to your favorite shops would entail one to deal with people donning masks and face shields—barring one to read facial expressions. 

With digital touchpoints as the primary means to communicate, reading non-verbal queues—a crucial factor for understanding the nuances of human interaction and for building understanding and trust—would be harder than with interacting with someone face to face, given that these nuances of emotions could be presented only in a very limited set of options of emojis, with emoticons that could be very happy, very sad or very angry—but nothing in between. And the proliferation of misinformation and the vaccine pervaded with conspiracies in news sources bring people to lose trust amongst each other, e.g. a slight cough from a neighbor may mean a possibility of being infected with the virus, encouraging unnecessary and harmful stigma; to add to this, responses in the seats of power also bring divisiveness in public opinion, fueling the pandemic flame. 

Business gains the most trusted institution ranking, according to The Edelman Trust Barometer

According to The Edelman Trust Barometer, we’re in the middle of an "infodemic," and people have lost trust in all news sources. Trust in social media is at an all-time low (35%), according to their annual report, while trust in owned media and traditional media are at 41% and 53%, respectively.

The silver lining here is: Business was "the most trusted institution among the four studied" (business, government, NGOs and media) with a 61% trust level globally.

This is mainly attributed to how many business leaders have responded and found it necessary to relook business and operating models for long-term sustainability—and thought ahead, notwithstanding politics and thinking of the most important things first—saving and securing human lives, prioritizing customers’ and employees’ health and safety and mitigating disruption to society.

Companies globally have their employees, customers, and society’s back 

Companies more and more are working closely with clients to assist them through this period to ensure the sustainability of their livelihoods and/or businesses.

For example, Maybank Malaysia having realized that the outbreak was causing significant disruption across the broad spectrum of society, in early February 2020, announced a financial relief package for individual, business and small and medium enterprise (SME) customers which included a moratorium on loan repayments of up to six months, and restructuring and refinancing of facilities on a case-to-case basis. Its insurance arm also offered hospitalization coverage to its life insurance and family policyholders that fall ill from the coronavirus, with further flexibility provisions in line with the financial relief package announced by the Malaysian central bank. 

Helping government deliver needed services to communities

We are seeing more and more partnerships by the private sector and the public sector to ensure a more potent response to the pandemic.

As in the case of Walmart, aside from providing a multi-tiered COVID-19 Emergency Leave Policy offering additional pay replacement for up to 26 weeks for those affected by the virus, and accelerated payment of the first-quarter bonus and a 25 million dollar support to frontliners, Walmart (US) hired more than 150,000 additional people, while mostly on temporary basis, to support higher demand in eCommerce operations and help government stand up testing sites for COVID-19 in some of their parking lots, within 12 hours of government request.

Using influence and technology to empower COVID-19 response and provide hope

Reliance India provided seamless connectivity in this time of distress to help India fight COVID-19 through the use of technology: enabling work-from-home, learn-from-home and health-at-home for Indians; enabling continuity of service for lower-end users of JioPhone; Government of India's Corona Helpline and RelianceFoundation's COVID India tool. 

To ensure the health and well-being of its employees and their families, it has set up several initiatives such as the nationwide emergency response infrastructure that is available 24x7 and has also created JioHealthHub app for free virtual video consultation with all of our doctors and developed resources for mental health, emotional well-being, yoga, wellness, nutrition and psychological guidance.

Most importantly, Reliance has publicized a hopeful motto, #CoronaHaaregaIndiaJeetega (Corona will lose; India will win!)—winning much appreciation from the people, the media, and the authorities at the central state and local levels.

All these proactive initiatives are instilling hope and trust back to a world that is broken by the global pandemic. It is this feeling of ‘we got your back’ that enabled the business sector earn its place as the most trusted institution in 2021. 

COVID-19 and the hybrid work environment

For Indian conglomerate, Reliance, it has offered basic JioFibre broadband service to new customers and doubled data limit for all its existing customers to support work from home in fight against coronavirus, as part of the #CoronaHaaregaIndiaJeetega initiative.

There’s high motivation in entrepreneurship in India, and this a great way to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses during this time of the pandemic.

In the Philippines, during a time where the relevance of malls are threatened by social distancing rules and lockdowns, mall operator SM had to rethink how services would be made available online.

“We had to take advantage of this crisis to evaluate and improve,” says Philippine-based shopping mall operator and developer, SM Engineering Design and Development Corp President. 

Because mobile phones and motorcycles are the two most important economic engines in emerging Asia, SM tapped into this knowledge to adapt its business model.

As a direct participant, shopping mall giant, SM has its own online shopping sites with its stores also in several commerce platforms to be able to access a much wider customer base for SM’s products.

As a service provider, SM uses the physical presence of its malls and stores as pick up locations for click and collect. It also provides logistics support such as warehousing and last mile delivery using the different logistics companies it owns within the group. It also provides the digital payment network through its banks and the e-wallet service through its joint venture with GrabPay in the Philippines.

Building trust is critical in the hybrid work environment

A Singapore Education Minister and co-chair of COVID-19 task force prognosticates that “it may take four to five years before we finally see the end of the pandemic and the start of a post-Covid normal.” 

This will allow us to safely view that the work environment would be taking on a hybrid form, where we remain to be following the practices we have institutionalized in the past while adapting safety measures to protect our working people from the virus. This kind of environment will dictate how we thrive in the pandemic landscape.

2021 bids the second year of the pandemic work environment which means another three (3) years will be spent negotiating and refining our thoughts on what a new post-Covid normal environment would look like—but to some pundits, nothing is really normal, because the world is always changing. 

The World Bank did however forecast a 4% expansion of the global economy, but this is dependent on a widespread COVID-19 vaccine rollout. 

Harvard Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Research Public Health professors say that “the key ingredient of any vaccine is trust” and even with widespread vaccination, “vaccines won’t end the pandemic” because “no vaccine is 100% effective” and its impact is “very idiosyncratic—we don’t know why the same vaccine in different people lasts for different periods of time. That’s one of the research questions you follow up on in post-vaccine surveillance.”

These idiosyncrasies in vaccines—easily roped in political divisive battles— as well as varied responses of sovereign nations make it difficult to win confidence on the vaccines across the board. 

Despite this, confidence in vaccines, however, has risen to 60 per cent, according to Pew Research Center (report released 3 December 2020)—and the basis of the confidence?

First doses of modern vaccines are already being administered in Los Angeles, and Pfizer vaccine distribution has started in the East Coast (US). Dubai is now offering Pfizer and Sinopharm vaccines, Indonesia has commenced vaccinations with just over nine million doses (total population at 270.6 million in 2019) for frontline workers, and Malaysia to provide vaccines free to its nationals, while Singapore is developing its own milder mRNA vaccine that doesn’t rely on dead Covid-19 material to provoke an immune response. Many of ASEAN nations are expecting rollout of vaccines mid-2021. Updates on Vaccine Roll-out in ASEAN here.

Respondents say, “It’s possible they would decide to get vaccinated once people start getting a vaccine and more information becomes available.”

This dynamic of negotiating truths of whether or not everyone is already cleared to meet and work outdoors and put their defenses down dictates the environment in which the ‘hybrid worker’ would have to work. 

Technology seems to prove as a clear beneficiary from the pandemic. HP implemented more flexible payment plans and set up a free remote helpdesk support service for a limited time, to help its small and medium-size enterprise users and consumers adapt to remote working. 

Also, mobiles and motorbikes would be the lifeblood of ASEAN and other key emerging economies. Japan’s Nomura Group sees significant upside for Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Cambodia along with Vietnam, benefitting from moved production from China to Southeast Asia.

It will be a moment of caring for the worker and customers—thinking of these initiatives to impact the whole—and extending a hand by those who are able, sending multiple relief initiatives for society. HP alone, a tech company in Singapore, already contributed more than US$1.7 million for Covid testing, essential equipment and relief. In Singapore, it donated over 3,000 personal computers (PCs) and printers to families, schools and communities in need. This sense of enhanced accountability by organizations—where organizations have stepped up in critical areas during the COVID-19 crisis—is one potent way to build trust.

According to McKinsey study (June 2020), “organizational responses are having a tangible impact on employees. Compared with respondents who are dissatisfied with their organizations’ responses, those who say their organizations have responded particularly well are four times more likely to be engaged and six times more likely to report a positive state of well-being."

Closing the digital divide has also accelerated during the lockdown. With countries lagging in tech such as the Philippines now being forced to upgrade in tech as public schooling lessons would now have to be delivered online. 

In many parts of the world, we are seeing new business models, new products, new ways of selling, new ways of personalizing and differentiating products.

Tony Robbins—in a conference now adapted to be fully delivered online—said that billion-dollar businesses have lost 70% of revenues during the pandemic, and even more so now, these businesses are required more than ever to share income to serve the most affected in society. 

Gentrified online conferences are quickly becoming an acceptable business model, and even annual board and stockholder meetings are now being held online, according to the CEO of Philippine-based Ayala Corporation.

Open work culture is now preserved by “having more frequent virtual catch-ups, virtual coffee talks and connect sessions. But as the situation goes on, we're going to have a hybrid approach with smaller groups getting together. We have to learn how to manage like this but yet keep our culture alive,” according to HP Singapore CEO. This is how trust could be built amongst people working together—allowing opportunities to connect online. Trust is built through accessible technologies that build connections amongst people.

Business executives see that the positive aspect of the hybrid environment is “the chance to spend time with family since people are working from home and travelling less. In addition, people can attend more seminars and big events virtually and access more job opportunities, now that most jobs have been proven to be compatible with remote working.”

For more advanced work demands, upskilling workforce, equipping employees in the manufacturing side with skills in robotics and data and increasing the digital literacy of staff in other departments including finance and HR would be evident in the past one to two years.

Companies could benefit in developing Industry 4.0 capabilities and automation solutions for manufacturing lines. For instance, HP has converted digital content into physical assets through capabilities like 3D printing. It has 3D-printed more than 158,000 pieces of essential medical equipment to meet healthcare needs in the region, and made many of the design files available for free online.

Social media influencers are key to online sales in many markets. For instance, German e-commerce grew 15% to over EUR 83 billion in 2020, alongside the growing popularity of social media platforms and the corresponding advertising formats as influencing sales. For German online buyers, twenty percent of German online shoppers have already visited an influencer's product post and bought the advertised product directly. A further 20 percent have bought the recommended article at least subsequently online or in a retail store. Purchases come from buyers who already follow the influencers and who trust or ‘added’ these influencers to their follow list. Trust in products is built through providing ample time to get familiar with your brand as endorsed by influencers they trust. This provides the needed transparency on the products they would eventually get to buy. 

In Southeast Asia and maybe for Asians in Great Britain, for instance, the YouTube personality, Uncle Roger, known for critiquing Jamie Oliver’s cooking fried rice has been followed by 3.22 million followers and is now endorsing brands like Singapore’s multibillion food product brand, Ayam Brand. And Mimiyuh, a well-loved personality in the Philippine social media, now endorses the multi-billion Lazada online shopping platform.

Implications for businesses in 2021

Be present, action-oriented, empathetic, and fully transparent: Implications of technology and the workforce

For those in the people business, McKinsey (June 2020) recommends “a combination of science, technology, data, and analytics to segment your employees like you would your customers and tailor interventions to support them in personalized and meaningful ways” because changes are hitting people in widely divergent ways—where some are struggling, while others are thriving.”

Boston Consulting Group found that videoconferencing, virtual white boards, and project management software tools as well as connectivity and familiar work set-up maintained or doubled workforce productivity during the pandemic environment.

Social hang-outs are also being made available through platforms like GitLab or Slack for informal connections and conversations.

Investments that allow building trust using virtual social connectivities

Investments in physical infrastructure, support (such as daycare), and digital technologies will of course be essential. But to benefit fully from the changes, organizations need to focus on helping leaders, managers, and employees to promote physical and mental well-being and—most importantly—virtual social connections. 

Implications for business development: Develop platforms for entrepreneurship

Many workers who have been laid off because of the pandemic were brought to monetize their hobbies while others have been empowered to become entrepreneurs using online shops. 

For Lazada Philippines, the billion-dollar shopping app, it spearheaded campaigns that allow for individual online sellers to be able to sell legally in its platform, empowering them through an autonomous cooperative, including free marketing campaigns and artificial intelligence powering the seller app that enables one seller to sell his or her products, gain a following of customers, and eventually be promoted to become a stand alone corporate seller once that seller achieves USD 63,000 in annual sales. 

This kind of approach allowed for the company to maintain and grow business during the pandemic.

Implications for policy and investors

In Brazil, a study (April 2020) among 245 publicly-listed Brazilian companies showed that half of them could endure for three months without steady cash inflow, while the other half could survive longer. 

But small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—which amount to no less than 99 percent of all Brazilian firms, employ 52 percent of the formal workforce and generate 25 percent of the Brazilian GDP—can only withstand a downturn of business for about 27 days on average.

While initial public offerings may occur to shore up liquidity and the energy sector is believed to heat up following the pandemic, other companies would have trouble strengthening cash positions, without more favorable policies such allowing for access to credit and tax holidays. 

Brazilian assets are becoming cheaper by the day, with the Brazilian real devaluating 35 percent against the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year. Data from consultancy PwC shows that “45 percent of transactions with foreign capital in Brazil until February came from the United States, France, or Canada.”

Policy has to be made to support critical companies for nation-building. Pundits are keen on the impact of the more recent policies to address the Covid-19 pandemic economic environment, e.g. reports where government considers giving cash to small companies—which would be exempt from repaying loans from public banks as long as they pay their taxes in 2021 without delays or the creation of ‘crises cartels’ that is, temporary mergers between companies, regardless of the momentary monopoly they may form.

For an economy whose charm is powered by travel, the Brazil tourism and travel sectors expect a 40 percent drop in demand in 2021, as tourists will have less money to travel, and business trips will increasingly be replaced by online meetings. Another influential factor is the new practices that may be required to mitigate contagion in the future, such as leaving more space between passengers.

Policy makers will really have to up its policy game and understand the drivers of the economy that they oversee for them to create agile and relevant policies that support the players (old and emergent) who will actually be responsible to drive up employment and wealth creation.

Implications for logistics and delivery

For emerging Asia, affordable, if not, free, as well as fast and accessible WiFi connections and easy credit for mobile phones and motorbikes could fuel a hybrid economy—as people stay and work from homes more.

For Indonesia, infrastructure development will remain a concern, even as the pandemic shifts some of the priorities. 

According to McKinsey (September 2020), pressure could rise for better logistics to support home deliveries and improved digital infrastructure in general. Connectivity—physical or virtual—will be especially important for the country’s more remote islands. The pandemic has also brought into clearer focus the need for improved sanitation and access to clean water, as well as other improvements in conditions, such as a reduction in overcrowded living spaces and multiple access points to homes. 

My recommendation is for us to prepare ourselves and our organizations to be agile, be more open to accept and adapt to change and endeavor to connect and drive trustworthy relationships across the board by thinking through and trying solutions together swiftly and in an informed manner—allowing for us to collectively negotiate and agree as well as provide ample space for forgiveness for us to bounce back from mistakes when they do arise in the process of our solving new problems that arise during these unprecedented times of the pandemic challenge.

If the problem at all is larger than us, collectively we can thrive so long as we move forward together, setting aside the weight of divisiveness. There are opportunities to be won for everyone during this time of great change, provided that we all trust that as time before dictates, this too shall pass.

To surpass this challenging pandemic hybrid landscape, we, leaders, really have to think ahead, notwithstanding politics, prioritizing the most important things first—saving and securing human lives, prioritizing customers’ and employees’ health and safety and mitigating disruption to society.

2021, indeed, is the Year of (Re)Building Trust.