Interview Transcript

Covid-19 has affected all business across the globe. When the pandemic struck, several business
organizations were not ready to for the pandemic and the effect had to be felt across. As much as
business tried to adapt to the situation as it were, businesses still found it difficult to operate
normally and most businesses made losses during the time as others were also forced to reduce
the work force since work reduced. One of the areas that were affected by the pandemic was
Downtown Vancouver in BC. The effect that the city faced was based on the closer of the
borders. In order to understand the effects of Covid-19 in the city, an interview was conducted
between me and the manager of Tim Hortons, Mr. Manpreet Singh. The interview was
conducted within the compound of Tim Hortons. The process lasted for about 15 minutes. The
below transcript shows the interview process.
Neha Mittal: How was your store before the Covid-19 pandemic?
Manpreet Singh: Before the pandemic could hit the world, the store was doing so fine. In fact,
the sales were fine and customers were attending the store regularly. The store was operating
well, the sales were great and profits were guaranteed.
Neha: What are some of the effects your store realized due to the pandemic?
Singh: Covid-19 pandemic came with several negative effects on the store. The first effect which
was the biggest is the reduction is sales which was connected to reduced number of customers
visiting the store. Due to the level of reduced sales, the company had to deal with some losses in
the beginning but later the company adapted well. “We made great losses in the first days of the
pandemic as we had not known how to handle the situation and we had not adapted.”
Neha: Did you continue operating even after the pandemic struck the country?
Singh: Yeah, we continued operating and our activities were being conducted as much as the
number of sales that could be made in a day reduced greatly. We had to devise adaption methods
to remain in the market despite the effects that were connected to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Neha: what are some of the safety measures you put in place to make sure that your customers
remained healthy?
Singh: Since there were customers who were still attending and visiting, we had to put safety
measures in place so that the health and safety of the customers became a priority. We had
several places where our customers washed their hands before being served. We made sure that
one could only be served while they had their masks on. Lastly, social distance had to be
marinated at all levels within the store. As much as we had these in place, we had hand sanitizer
that was applied to everybody at the entry point before they could access the store.
Neha: During the pandemic people stayed at home and preferred online shopping and ordering.
How did you manage to reach your clients during these times?
Singh: Before the pandemic struck, the store already had an online shop where customers were
placing orders and we were making delivers using different methods. Therefore, as much as
people were staying at home, we encouraged them to make purchases from our online store and
we were able to make the deliveries in time for different customers. Different methods were used
to deliver the goods to the clients with uber making the highest used method over the period.
“The first way to adapt was to fully roll out the online shop. It was a great step towards handling
our clients at home.”
Neha: Were the sales affected during the time the pandemic was still at its pick?
Singh: Yeah. The sales were seriously affected at the time when everybody was affected by the
pandemic. First, it was difficult for clients to visit the store and make purchases. Secondly, as
much as we tried as a company to roll out the online store to full use, several of our clients lost
their jobs due to the pandemic and we did not expect to make purchases as they used to do. The
reduction in purchases meant that the sales went down hence were greatly affected. “Most of our
customers did not visit the store regularly as they used to do.”
Neha: How did you handle the situation to avoid serious losses that could have led to closure of
the company?
Singh: Once we realized that the pandemic was affecting sales, we had to come up with ideas of
avoiding losses. The first method was rolling out online sales so that we could still reach our
clients even when they were staying indoors. The second method which was a big decision to
make was laying off some employees so that we could remain with those employees that we
could pay well. Therefore, almost half the employees were laid off during this time to reduce the
employee turnover.
Neha: How did the employees react to reduction in number?
Singh: It was a difficult decision to make. All the employees did not take it slightly as at first
they did not know who was to leave and who is not leaving. After the list was rolled out, several
employees complained that they needed the job but the method that was used was very open as
nobody was discriminated upon in the process. As much as it was difficult for them, they had to
leave as they were also seeing the situation. We tried to explain to them that once the situation
would become well again, they would be reinstated back to their positions. In the meantime, we
promised them a social fund which was rolled out to all the laid off staff. “There are workers
who almost demonstrated over the same but the situation was handled well by the management.”
Neha: Which method did you use to lay off the employees and how effective was it? Do you
have a plant of reinstating the employees that were laid off?
Singh: In order to make sure that the process was fair and non-discriminatory, we used the
performance criteria to lay-off the employees. The higher the performance level of an individual
the higher their chances of remaining during the process. Employees who had low performance
levels were laid off. After everything is back to normal, our employees will have to be reinstated
as was promised by the organization.
Neha: As the situation is currently, there is a high possibility that the pandemic will total ease.
Can you predict the performance of the firm in connection to sales?
Singh: With the pandemic easing and the country doing everything possible to make sure that
everything returns to normal, there is a high possibility that the level of purchases will increase
and thus the sales. Since everything is not fully back, we are expecting an increasing of about
60% from our current numbers in sales.
Neha: Is there anything that you feel we should talk about that I didn’t ask concerning the
operations of the company during the pandemic periods.?
Singh: It is true that the government is trying so hard to make sure that everything is back
normally. But we need everyone to move with speed. Those who have not been vaccinated
should go for the jab as this will help us go through. We are encouraging our clients to use the
online store as the services as still of high quality despite not interacting physically. “We need to
get back to full business so that those who depend on our store get their services well and this
depends on the government.”