Braemar Finance recently released the results of independent research that it commissioned to assess how practitioners were feeling about their prospects. Covering topics from the impact of Brexit and Covid-19 to levels of optimism within the profession, the research polled 200 managers and business owners from the optical industry in companies with up to 250 employees.
Vaccine concern
Covid-19’s continued impact has remained the major cause for concern across the optical sector and wider business despite promising signs from the UK’s targeted nationwide vaccine roll-out. Much has been made of the public anxieties around vaccination however, and Braemar’s research showed optical professionals were not immune to these concerns.
Of the 200 people polled, 61 (31%) of respondents said that they would not be comfortable taking a Covid-19 vaccine with a further 12 (6%) respondents adding that they had yet to make up their minds. Male respondents were more likely to express clear discomfort towards vaccination (33% of men) than women (28% of women), although 11 of the 12 undecided respondents were female.
As a proportion of respondents, those from the 16 to 24-year-old age group were most likely to respond negatively when asked whether they were personally comfortable with being vaccinated, with 40% of this group saying they were not. Vaccine anxiety was non-existent among the oldest age group however, with no one saying they would refuse the vaccine in the 45 to 54-year-old cohort, though the sample size was small at only four respondents.
Despite this level of personal anxiety around vaccination, 83% of the respondents to the survey indicated that they would pay to have their staff vaccinated ahead of the NHS call-up given the opportunity. Men and women were seemingly agreed on the positives of this position, with 83% of men and 84% of women indicating their approval. Across the regions of the UK, approval for this measure was also consistently at 80% or above, with only Scotland (73%) and East Anglia (69%) dropping below this level.
Shifting attitudes
While the pandemic has disrupted optical businesses for over a year, the impact of Brexit has not been forgotten by the profession. Asked whether they were concerned about the impact Brexit may have on their businesses, nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) said that they were. Concern was lowest in the West Midlands where 50% of respondents said they were not concerned about the impact Brexit would have, compared to Wales and East Anglia where 83% and 81% were worried about the impact of leaving the European Union, respectively.
Demonstrating a shift in attitudes towards Brexit, only 16% of respondents said they would vote in the same way they did in 2016 if they were given the opportunity to recast their votes. 41% of those polled said they would change their vote to leave, while another 42% said they would change their vote to remain. Nearly half (48%) of the 25 to 34 age group said they had voted remain but would now vote leave, while 53% of the 16-24 age group said they had voted leave but would now vote remain. In Greater London, 49% of respondents said they had voted leave but would now vote remain, while in Scotland 73% said they had voted remain but would now vote leave.
Economic outlook
The economic impacts of both Brexit and the ongoing pandemic do not seem to have dampened the spirits of practitioners. While 72% of those polled were worried about getting supplies and goods needed to continue trading without disruption due to Brexit, only 4% of practitioners were either somewhat negative (3%) or very negative (1%) about their business’ economic outlook. The vast majority of respondents were either very positive (36%) or somewhat positive (46%) about their current economic outlook. Regionally, this positivity was reasonably distributed. Only the North East (42%) and North West (27%) returned significant negative or neutral responses.
Braemar’s research also revealed a positive outlook towards recruitment, with the majority of respondents either very confident (32%) or somewhat confident (46%) that they would be able to recruit adequately skilled staff in the next few months. Men were more confident than women on this front, with 81% of male respondents returning positive answers compared to 76% of women. Confidence in recruitment was highest in the North East where 90% of respondents said they were either very or somewhat confident about their prospects. The regions lowest on confidence were Northern Ireland and Yorkshire and the Humber, where 34% and 38% respectively were either not very confident, not confident at all, or not planning to recruit in the next few months.
- For access to the full results of the survey, please contact Anton Nebbe at anton.nebbe @closebrothers.com.