Behind Dick's Sporting Goods furloughing of 40000 employees

Dick’s Sporting Goods plans to furlough 40,000 employees amid the coronavirus pandemic. Government-instituted measures to curve the spread of COVID-19 virus led to the closure of stores, gyms, and the cancellation of sports events and physical activities.

The retail giant is one of the many businesses hit by the coronavirus outbreak. In its regulatory filing, the company announced that the furloughed employees will receive payment through April 11.

The employees will still get company healthy benefits if enrolled in the program.

“It’s with a heavy heart and after considerable deliberation and concern for our teammates and for our company, that we now must furlough a significant number of our teammates, beginning April 12th,” the statement said.

Based on the regulatory filing, the company believes that it is “increasingly evident” the reopening of their 800 stores will not happen “anytime soon" due to the pandemic.

According to Dick’s Sporting Goods, their staff stores, distribution centers, and corporate offices will be run by small teams that will follow social distancing practices. They will also work at “reduced wages to help us through this crisis.”

“It is our goal that when this crisis subsides, we will welcome back our teammates, open our doors and get back to the business we love of serving athletes and our communities,” the filing said.

While the company's stock increased on Wednesday, it was insufficient to keep everyone from being furloughed.

Many employees across the U.S. have been laid off or furloughed due to stay-at-home orders and temporary closure of nonessential businesses. Other companies that announced plans to furlough employees are Nissan, Tesla, Honda, the Kennedy Center, and Disney.

Non-essential businesses in Washington, or those that do not respond to life-sustaining needs, are ordered to stop their operations. The closure of all non-life-sustaining businesses was also ordered in Pennsylvania.

Only groceries, gas stations medical facilities, pharmacies, restaurants with delivery service, public utilities, as well as freight hauling, manufacturing, farming, media companies like PA Media Group can remain open and operate.

Worldwide, more than five million businesses would be affected by COVID-19, according to a special briefing issued by global data analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet.

Meanwhile, more than 10 million people filed for unemployment claims during the last two full weeks of March.

Small businesses

Small businesses are also badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak. A First Insight study revealed that coronavirus has been affecting consumer shopping behavior, purchase decisions, and retail sales.

With this, the U.S. government is urging business owners to apply for small business loan.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that business owners can apply for SBA disaster loans via its web portal. Completed loan applications may be sent to disasterloans@sba.gov, faxed to 202-481-1505 or sent via postal mail to the U.S. Small Business Administration Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Rd., Fort Worth, Texas 76155.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Treasury asked Congress for $250 billion more for small business loan. Small business loans are a significant part of the economic sitmulus package, which was passed last month to aid Americans who are suffering from the coronavirus outbreak.