When times are hard, it’s essential to have money in the bank to prevent liquidity problems. The case of Covid-19 won’t have changed your mind. If anything, the need to save money will be stronger because the pandemic has shown the fragility of businesses around the world.

Cutting back means not spending money, or trying to reign in the urge to splash out wherever necessary. And, although this appears to be a practical option, it’s a tactic that doesn’t always work.

Sometimes, you’ve got to speculate to accumulate because risks are unavoidable. Below are four scenarios when you want to spend money and why.

Buying Equipment Accessories

You understand the need to obtain the best equipment around. After all, any downtime will cost you a pretty penny in the long-term. However, most businesses decide to cut their losses by purchasing used or second-hand add-ons. The reason – they aren’t as important as the main piece of machinery. Unfortunately, this logic will stop you from making money. Whether it’s a 20 GPM fuel pump or cloud computing software, you must invest in accessories that ensure your equipment is working efficiently without any glitches. Otherwise, the money you spend on new gear will waste away on maintenance and fuel expenses.

Employee Health and Safety

Workers are more than the people who come into the office and make your vision a reality. They are investments, and you should treat them accordingly. That means attempting to get them to see the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle. After all, sick pay is only going to take a considerable chunk out of your budget. You can’t make them do anything, yet you can encourage them to exercise by providing free gym memberships. If you want happy employees, then you should make employee health a priority.

Aside from that, you could assure them the safety of work, especially if the premises is manufacturing or storage based. Apart from the security provided, both in terms of personnel and data, you could see that there are safety programmes in place for your employees. For example, you ought to cover workplace safety in the orientation so that hazards and potential dangers can be identified and avoided before it is too late. It would encompass the material necessary to provide aid until the arrival of medical professionals in the area. Also, having a look at First Aid at Work Requalification training course details could be useful in teaching workers how to deal with medical emergencies. Maintaining such courses can be instrumental in you ensuring good health of your workers and avoiding the troubles of corporate liability.

High Employee Turnover Rate

Workers are no longer loyal to the point where they will stay with an employer because they feel guilty. The average millennial changes jobs every two years, which will result in a high turnover rate on your side. You can accept this as the new normal and continue as usual, or you can throw money at the problem to retain quality members of your workforce. Again, equipment is an issue as 93% of millennials say that up-to-date technology is the most important factor in the workplace. Purchasing fast and powerful computers, or portable devices, then could result in higher levels of productivity and output.

Poor HQ Exterior

Marketing is the leveler that will help you to fight back against the big budgets of multi-million and billion-dollar companies. Using SEO and inbound advertising tactics isn’t unusual, regardless of the size of the enterprise. However, what is rare is for SMEs to spend money on the exterior of their premises. Giant businesses do this all the time. Why? It’s because they understand that an HQ is a symbol of the brand. Office space that doesn’t look attractive is going to make passers-by think (potential customers) that the products and services are the same.

It may seem like a needless cost on the face of it, but your investment will yield a high ROI in the future.