The following blog is in response to the sudden shockwave that has decimated the small business and consultancy marketplace.  The early warning signs started to appear in the summer of 2019, clients were keeping programmes to themselves, ghosting, “don’t call us, we’ll call you”, the removal of formal contracts replaced with a zero hours arrangement.

Bear in mind that I have been running Canary Designs for 9 years, and been an ergonomist for 20 years, I have never known anything like it and the suddenness of the change in attitude towards small businesses must be unprecedented.  So, why has this happened?

I am going to start with empathy, I realise that we are on the verge of a global recession and that money is tight, that an organisation will naturally think about their own survival first and foremost.  The strategy to reduce costs by not using external resource is understandable and short-term savings can be made immediately.  So, in response, the small business without a steady cashflow must do the same and look at their outgoings and make some cuts to survive.

Income is a simple beast; you build a trusted partnership with a large organisation by providing services and a capability that they cannot provide themselves.  In the case of Canary Designs we have invested in state of the art digital human modelling and SCADA modelling software, we have invested in continuous CPD, invested in IASME accreditation, invested in digital / cloud collaborative IT systems and invested in future generations with our industrial placement scheme (note not internship, this is a paid placement).

So, what do you cut? All the costs identified in the bathtub figure are essential for running a business.  My only option is to downsize, move from a 1000 sqft office to something more modest, shelve my ambitious plans to develop an incubator for training future generations of ergonomists, a team dedicated to improving health, wellbeing and human performance at work.

In nature, balance is achieved with the maintenance of a diverse ecosystem made up of micro, small, medium and large entities.  The small business offers flexibility, ability to move quickly, a commitment that is unmatched (you are only as good as your last job), a drive, passion and wisdom that has been shaped by years and years of running a business across multiple industries for multiple stakeholders.  We are the bees of the ecosystem.

The punchline, so if you genuinely want to reduce costs and save money then look no further than a small business equipped to help you make wise investments.  From the perspective of an ergonomist, it is not how much you invest but when you invest in Human Factors / Ergonomics that creates the biggest return on investment both for your shareholders / customers and most importantly for your employees.

Find out more at https://canarydesigns.co.uk/