Employers should help their workforces plan ahead by providing useful resources
The situation with novel coronavirus COVID-19 is fast moving, and it’s impossible to know at this point what will happen in terms of quarantines or other infection control. That’s why employers should be helping employees now to plan for possible work-at-home days, and when employees need to stay at home when they’re sick or have an ill family member.
Consider conveying these suggestions to employees, and supporting them with resources where needed.
Get technology in place
Is your company able to support an entirely remote workforce? That’s the question many employers are facing right now, and it helps to get participation from employees. Give them guidance on what types of secure online connections are needed, if they need to get a VPN connection, or how to download teleconferencing and workflow apps like Zoom, Skype and Slack. Zoom technology can be used to connect remote teams, no matter where they are.
Even if employees are still coming into the office, they should do a “test run” from home to make sure they can access company assets that are relevant to their jobs. That way, if they need to stay home, they’re already set up.
Create an intranet if one isn’t available
If your company goes remote-only, how will you send out messages about developments, or keep employees connected to one another?
Tools like Slack are helpful for intra-departmental communication, and company-wide emails can be used for announcements, but it’s also useful to put other resources in a shared space. You can create a private company intranet or even a private Facebook group. Also make sure employees have contact lists and other relevant databases in order to do their jobs.
Have necessary supplies
As Italian residents discovered in a very short timeframe, quarantine orders can happen quickly. That doesn’t mean it will occur in the U.S., or if it does, that it will affect your employees. But it’s still a good idea to have supplies that can last at least a few weeks, if not a month.
That includes food and water, but also should include pet food, medications, cleaning supplies, and over-the-counter drugs like pain relievers and cough syrup in case someone gets sick. Experts are warning against “panic buying and hoarding,” but the American Red Cross suggests that purchasing at least some necessities for an extended stay at home is a good idea.
Hopefully, it won’t be necessary to send all employees home for an extended period of time. But it’s far better to be prepared and have it not happen than to be caught in a situation where a remote workforce means plunging productivity.