MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT 

Dear AMSRO members,

Following on from the devastating bushfires over summer, we are now experiencing the impact of COVID-19, with over 100 cases now confirmed in Australia and the World Health Organisation declaring a global pandemic.

First and foremost, in light of COVID-19, we encourage all of our members to keep up to date on the guidelines issued by government authorities.  As the situation is changing daily, we have provided links to relevant sites at the end of this email. AMSRO is committed to supporting our members in their efforts to navigate the challenges we are all facing and believe it is crucial to monitor the advice provided by the official agencies.     

Apart from the human impact on our communities, COVID-19 is challenging all business across Australia and the globe, and given our focus and interaction with people, the data and insights industry is particularly exposed. Not only are we dealing with our employees, but for many AMSRO companies, direct contact with people through a variety of data collection approaches is a big part of our day to day operations. 

Beyond recommended hygiene practices, there are a number of steps that we may need to consider within our businesses to help with resilience against the inevitable business impacts.

The following list is not comprehensive but includes several considerations for scenario planning for all of our businesses:

• Impact on teams. Protecting employees through the provision of appropriate hygiene support and where possible remote working support are obvious approaches. Clear communication with employees is also important. Revisiting travel plans is also recommended.   

If you require advice about staffing matters, please be sure to take advantage of AMSRO's free legal workplace relations hotline service.  Contact Andrew Maher, Partner, CIE Legal on 0403 399 237.

• Impact on clients. As our clients are also directly impacted, there is a high likelihood we will see disruptions to project work. Clear communications with clients around the measures being implemented to address the issue may help. Additionally, the examination of client contracts in terms of our obligations in relation to disruptions will be important.
• Impact on research participants. A large number of our members have regular direct contact with the community through recruitment and fieldwork. A key concern is that we will face increasing challenges in encouraging participation in certain types of research. While we anticipate some methodological shifts to be a priority for some, we encourage you to take appropriate steps to reassure the community where possible using the information below. 
• Impact on technology capability and data security capacity. The increases in remote working and VPN usage may impact on data security, so it is advisable to work with IT teams to ensure the robustness of processes and systems.
• Impact on our supply chains. AMSRO members are involved in all stages of the data and insights process and it will be important to communicate across our supply chains to ensure all appropriate measures are being implemented.
• Impact on leadership. It goes without saying that as business leaders, protecting ourselves is important to ensure we can lead our businesses through these difficult times. Making sure we are practising what we preach has never been more important.

Further to this, the Australian Government yesterday announced a $17.6 billion economic plan helping small and medium-sized businesses to stay in business as the world deals with the challenges posed by the spread of the coronavirus.  See the media release issued here. 

I have spoken with several members over the past few days who are implementing a number of sensible initiatives to protect their teams and businesses in this period of uncertainty. I believe there is significant value in sharing ideas and approaches across our member base. To assist with this, AMSRO has established a private LinkedIn group and encourage members to share and discuss our approaches to ensure our businesses and industry remain resilient. 

Please see here to access the new LinkedIn Group.

Finally, the AMSRO Executive is reviewing the implications for our Association. This includes investigating scenarios around The Leaders Forum, scheduled for May. I look forward to speaking further with more members as we move forward in these uncertain times. Happy to be contacted directly via phone or email below.