Best Practices for Employers During the Coronavirus Crisis
(Originally posted on LinkedIn)
As the Coronavirus continues to spread in the U.S., businesses are aiming to protect the health of their employees and their organizations and we've compiled a few tips on how to do just that!
Offer Remote Work: Giving your employees the option to work remotely is the easiest, most efficient way to help protect them from getting and/or spreading any highly-contagious virus, such as the Coronavirus. If virtual work is new to you and/or your organization, take a look at the vast amount of technology on the market that helps teams maintain productivity and engagement while working from a home office.
Nix Sick Time Tracking: Assuming a remote-working model is not an option, some organizations are not tracking sick time for those experiencing any symptoms of illness during this health crisis. By encouraging employees to stay home when they're not feeling well and not counting their sick time against them, you are significantly lowering the risk of your employees coming to work sick and spreading their illness to other employees in the office.
Keep it Clean: The Coronavirus is extremely contagious and the best way to prevent spreading the virus is to follow the same rules that apply to the flu: wash hands frequently, avoid physical contact with others in your office (handshakes, hugs, etc.), wipe down your deskspace and technology with antibacterial wipes and use hand-sanitizer frequently. As an employer, sending these tips to your employees and providing them with sanitizing items is a great way to promote a clean and healthy workplace.
Hope For The Best, Prepare For The Worst: We're all hoping the Coronavirus crisis will be short-lived and that the virus will be under control in the near future. With that being said, it's important that we do prepare our employees and our organizations for potential outcomes such as quarantines, corporate shut-downs, etc. If you're not currently offering remote work, looking into tools/strategies in case it becomes your only option, is a smart thing to do! Also look into how a wide-spread outbreak of the virus could potentially affect your organization, with hospitals being at the very top of that list! Will you need to staff up or down? Will you need to add locations? Planning ahead is the only way to ensure you're as prepared as possible.
Keep Everyone Informed: Last, but not least, be transparent with your employees about the status of the virus outbreak and how your organization plans to respond. Transparency will keep employees from panicking and will make them feel more comfortable during this uneasy time.