Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: 53 per cent of businesses will maintain employees amid coronavirus crisis

More than half of over 1500 small and medium sized businesses surveyed in Georgia (53 per cent) say they will maintain their employees despite the coronavirus crisis, while 9 per cent of businesses forecast a decrease in their number of staff and 7 per cent expect an increase in employees, says the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

However, 31 per cent of companies cannot answer the question if they will increase, decrease or maintain the number of their employees.

The poll was done to find out the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and their employees. 1,553 businesses were involved in the survey. Most of them were medium and small sized businesses from different regions of Georgia.

Based on the survey, 43 per cent of companies decreased salaries of employees, while 32 per cent maintained the same salaries. However, 20 per cent of companies have their employees on unpaid leave completely or partially, while 5 per cent of them have had to fire employees.