"There's implications for requiring staff to be vaccinated or encouraging them strongly to get vaccinated, reviewing internal processes of how they operate to keep staff and clients safe and to provide assurance to clients," Hull said.
"Some of that's longer term but obviously that's all immediate term for when we get down to level 2. People will want to know when they're doing business with you, even at level 2, that you're operating a safe as possible business."
Hull said New Zealand's strong economic recovery after the 2020 lockdown was very likely to do with the fact the country was Covid-free.
"From a risk perspective, we could have a bad outbreak so people start watching where they spend their dollars, they don't make commitments ... down to people just genuinely being really, really scared and so all of a sudden they're not eating out at restaurants and they're not carrying out the normal activities they would otherwise.
"I don't have a crystal ball but it's really, really hard to see us not reaching a point in time where New Zealand is going to have to understand Covid is just a reality," he said.
Hull had seen a lot of stress among business owners this lockdown trying to balance cashflow against their costs.
"Obviously it's great there is support from the Government in terms of the various subsidies that are available. But they are of a help, they don't fix the problems."
The wage subsidy was working and businesses across Whanganui were aware of its availability, Hull said.
Prue Anderson Accounting director Prue Anderson said businesses knew how to apply for the wage subsidy this time and far fewer needed "hand holding" to figure it out.
She said there was some stress among a few owners but the general feeling was that this lockdown would be shorter and they would be able to recover.
This time there is also the Covid-19 resurgence support payment, which gives businesses money to go towards operating costs.
To get that, a business must be able to show or forecast a 30 per cent drop in revenue over a week because of a rise in alert levels.
Businesses can get a $1500 payment as well as $400 per full-time employee, for up to 50 staff.
"It's an understanding from the Government that a lot of businesses don't just have their wages to worry about, they've got rent and other business overheads they need to cater for as well," Hull said.
For the wage subsidy, businesses need to show or predict a 40 per cent drop in revenue over two weeks compared to the same time period in the past six weeks.
The first two-week tranche of the wage subsidy finishes at 11.59pm today and a new two-week edition of the payment will be available from the end of this week.
Hull said he was noticing the Government's payments were coming "very, very quickly" and that was helpful and reassuring for businesses.
There was fine print in the applications that stated businesses needed to repay money if they did not meet the obligations for the payments.
Darren Hull's tips for business owners to get through the next few weeks:
- Apply for all government support you are eligible to.
- Consult staff about what you will pay them during this time
- There are options for provisional and GST payments. For example if you're struggling, it's really important you file returns and advise Inland Revenue if you can't make payment at this time. "That way hopefully they'll omit any penalties," Hull said. "If you just leave it and don't file your returns, that's not an advisable approach."
- Businesses should approach their landlords if they're renting, landlords are a business too. Hull said the general approach was "look this affects everybody, so how about we share the pain".
- Cashflow management is critical. Get in touch with banks about options around interest-only payments or reducing loan repayments in the interim.
- Communicate clearly with suppliers - if you have cashflow problems, everybody understands the situation. "What you shouldn't do is just not talk to people you owe money to," Hull said. If you're late on payments most suppliers will be understanding. The key thing is the communication so they know where you are at.
- Keep in touch with your business adviser and your chartered accountant about your position.
