How Can Small Businesses Survive Brexit?

With Brexit and the General Election being the hot topics on most people's lips at the moment, we thought we'd share a few tips on how to survive Brexit as a small business, if emigrating isn't an option for you!  We don’t really want to focus on the details around the General Election – but here’s a good article from the BBC  just in case you do.

The principle to surviving any kind of business turmoil is flexibility. There’s no doubt about it, the UK has never faced greater uncertainty and many critics of Brexit feel that it’s impossible to predict what the likely scenarios are. But if, as a business, you aren’t able to respond to changing market conditions, then you’re putting yourself at risk of not making it through the post-Brexit world. 

Read on for our top tips to make sure your business is able to remain flexible and adapt during these changing times:

-     Do a Brexit Impact Assessment. You’ll need to think about how Brexit will impact how you sell your products, purchase your materials or your staff.  Understanding the risk to your business will help you adapt your business model, providing you with the ability to weather the Brexit-storm.

-     Be a good employer. If you employ EU nationals, make sure you are able to support them to remain in the UK if they are eligible.  Make sure your HR team is up to speed with the details of the EU Settlement Scheme.

-     Have a solid recruitment strategy. If you rely on agency staff, you may wish to think of a model that allows you to scale staff up and down as you need them, but offers you some stability from a workforce who’s loyalty to their recruiter may be tested if their life in the UK feels under threat.  Contract workers who sign up for a fixed period might be a better solution to a team who work on a day-by-day basis

-     Attract the best talent. If your business is going to survive, you will need an engaged, skilled and motivated workforce. Make sure you’ve looked at your company culture, the package and benefits you can offer and ensure you’re progressing the right people – this will help to get your business in to the best position possible and make sure you’re as recession-proof as possible.

-     Diversify and adapt. If part of your business is propping up another, then consider how long this is viable for. Work out strategies to make this area profitable or look at stopping this area so that you can focus on what you are successful at.

If you'd like to find out how Bucks Biz's flexible rental solutions could help you to be ready for anything Brexit throws at you, click the button below and we'll be in touch.