Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Home News One-third of small businesses not operating during pandemic

One-third of small businesses not operating during pandemic

Facebook and Small Business Roundtable surveyed 86K business owners, employees

Published May 18, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Small business leaders and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg meet virtually to discuss the report. Photo courtesy Small Business Roundtable
Meetings started going all virtual. Small business leaders and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg meet virtually to discuss the report. Photo courtesy Small Business Roundtable

Nearly one-third of small and medium-sized businesses aren’t operating because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to results released Monday from a national survey conducted by Facebook Inc. and the Small Business Roundtable (SBR). Approximately 86,000 people who own, manage or work for a small or medium-sized business were surveyed. 

“Small businesses are the heartbeat of our communities — and they’re in real trouble,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and SBR Co-Executive Directors John Stanford and Rhett Buttle said in the report. “Since the first shelter-in-place orders, it has been clear that many businesses were going to take a big hit, but now we can hear from the people behind the businesses just how big a hit they are taking.” The SBR is a coalition of small business and entrepreneurship organizations that focuses on improving entrepreneurship in the U.S.

Of those surveyed, approximately 9,000 are operators of “personal” businesses — people who reported they were self-employed or that they “produce goods sold for personal income,” but did not otherwise self-identify as an owner or manager of a business. More than 50% of those respondents have shuttered their business as a result of the pandemic.

Access to capital and customer behavior are the biggest challenges small and medium-sized businesses are facing, according to the report. “I was trying to grow a business. With the pandemic that has not happened,” an unnamed survey respondent wrote. “I was able to make a few sales. All regular avenues of sales were closed and access to new accounts were closed as well. I need the country to reopen to succeed.”

To adapt, small and medium-sized business owners are increasing online interaction with customers to tackle the lack of demand during the next few months. More than one-third of respondents said they’re conducting all of their sales online and have expanded digital commerce.

But because many small and medium-sized businesses are now being run from home, nearly half of survey respondents said that they’re struggling to run a business and care for their households simultaneously. More women owner-managers reported that household responsibilities were affecting their ability to focus on work than men, according to the report. 

Employees of small and medium-sized businesses face major challenges, too. Of the employee survey respondents, nearly 75% don’t have access to paid sick leave or paid time off. And for hotel, cafe and restaurant employees, those statistics reached nearly 94%. Not even half of small and medium-sized business owners and managers reported that they would rehire the same workers when their businesses reopen.

“We need to stabilize our business for the long term in order to bring employees back from layoffs,” an unnamed survey respondent wrote in their survey response.

“Still, [small and medium-sized business] owners and managers remain optimistic and resilient,” the report says. More than half of the respondents reported that they’re optimistic about the future of their businesses.

“The survey shows the people who operate, manage and work for [small and medium-sized businesses] are resilient; among them, there is hope and optimism about the future of their businesses,” Sandberg, Stanford and Buttle said. “They’re finding new ways to reach their customers online, they’re making adjustments to how and when they do business, and they’re working hard to meet their family obligations at the same time.”

 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Related Stories

Virginia Business logo

Loudoun County announces $1M small-business relief fund

Applications open April 29 for $7,500 and $10,000 grants.

Virginia Business logo

UPDATED: Nearly 110K Virginia businesses received PPP funds

SBA releases data identifying only 16K Va. recipients of forgivable relief loans

Virginia Business logo

Richmond extends deadline for small business, nonprofit relief program

Application deadline now Oct. 19

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Magical moments

Cox expands Myers’ role to East Coast

Morrissey’s Petersburg casino bill fails in Senate Finance

Danville pharma startup announces $6.1M expansion

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Magical moments

Cox expands Myers’ role to East Coast

Morrissey’s Petersburg casino bill fails in Senate Finance

Danville pharma startup announces $6.1M expansion

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk