Theresa May will trigger Article 50 on March 29, but much of UK business has no idea what Brexit will mean for them. During discussions in the past few weeks, I have heard of financial services companies applying for licences in EU countries in case they need to move some of their operations there. But most businesses are watching and waiting to assess what comes out of the negotiations.
There is one thing many companies are sure of: they cannot manage without their EU staff. It is not just the numbers of EU nationals working in many industries. Some companies are also desperate to hold on to the languages those citizens speak.
The head of training at a fashion company, speaking on a panel I recently chaired, said it is not true that all business is now done in English. Some retailers and distributors in Spain, France and Italy did not speak English well enough to do business in it, and some probably did not see why they should.