COVID-19 and Your Business: 11 Steps to Take Now

Whether you like it or not, COVID-19 is having an effect not just on individual health but on business health as well. You might not consider the coronavirus a traditional disaster the way we think of tornados or floods. But it does meet the definition of a disaster as "an unplanned interruption of normal business operations for an unacceptable period of time." Every business needs to have a plan to respond to the unplanned interruption. Playing the ostrich, hiding your head in the sand, will leave your business vulnerable. Smart businesses are proactive and will be prepared to survive and even thrive. My best advice is this: Stay calm and Start Planning!

Planning comes in two forms - disaster response and business continuity. Disaster response covers the immediate actions to contain and mitigate a disaster. What will you do if one of your employees is diagnosed with COVID-19? Business continuity planning refers to the steps you will take to resume normal operations. The response to COVID-19 will be a combination of the two.

1. Identify the potential effects on your organization - if COVID-19 affects your employees, your customers, your community, or your supply chain how will that impact your business? If employees cannot or do not come to work, how will you get the work done? If customers cannot or do not come to your office or store, how will that affect your sales? If a supplier is shut down how will that affect your ability to produce and sell goods?
2. Identify steps you can take to mitigate the potential impact - For each of the potential effects you identified, what steps can be taken to limit the negative effects? Can employees work from home? Can you meet with clients virtually? Can you arrange for alternate distribution methods? Do you have alternate suppliers for your key product components?
3. Exercise your emotional intelligence - with all the uncertainty around the coronavirus there is an abundance of concern and fear. Show your concern for your employees by giving them an opportunity to share their concerns and ask questions. Consider bending the rules when appropriate. Unusual circumstances call for unusual responses. But at the same time be consistent. If you bend the rules, bend the rules for all employees.
4. Protect your employees at work - you have a legal obligation under OSHA (the Occupational Health and Safety Act) as well as various state laws to provide a safe, healthy work environment. This includes NOT putting your employees in unsafe and dangerous situations. Educate your employees on how to stay safe and healthy. Consider having a doctor or nurse conduct a training session. Provide hand-sanitizer to every employee; post signs to remind employees to wash their hands; ask clients/customers visiting your locations to use hand-sanitizer; increase the level of cleaning and disinfecting of your locations.
5. Establish work from home policies and procedures - identify which employees can work from home regardless of whether or not they are sick or exhibiting symptoms. Work with your CIO (Chief Information Officer) or IT Consultant to ensure that your system has the appropriate bandwidth to support abnormal levels of traffic. You also need to establish procedures to ensure data safety and integrity. If you need to give external access to your system to all employees - how do you ensure that non-employees do not get access? How will you ensure data integrity, if multiple employees might be accessing the same files at the same time? How will you prevent hacking or ransomware attacks?
6. Reduce non-essential travel - follow the guidance of the WHO (World Health Organization) and CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and limit or cancel non-essential travel to high-risk locations. The CDC website lists the threat-rankings of the countries with COVID-19 cases. In addition, consider whether other travel should be limited. Some employees may be concerned about any travel under the current circumstances.
7. Be careful with employees returning from high-risk areas - if an employee has recently traveled to a high-risk area or an area of recent outbreak, consider whether the employee should stay home for the recommended 14-day quarantine.
8. Take action with sick employees - send employees exhibiting symptoms home immediately and require sick employees to stay home. You will need to confer with human resources, an employment law attorney, your union contract, and your current benefit policies and procedures to determine your responsibilities to pay employees.
9. Communicate early and often - share with your employees and customers the steps you are taking to ensure everyone's safety. Make sure you have updated email addresses and cell phone numbers. Identify one person who will answer questions to ensure a consistent response. Establish a plan to connect with employees and customers if you close your offices.
10. Be part of the solution - are there steps you can take to make your customer's lives easier? Offer virtual meetings, provide home delivery, adjust your normal terms and conditions. Some virtual meeting software companies are offering free subscriptions, airlines are relaxing change fees, credit card companies are reducing minimum payments. Think about what you can do that will help your customers and generate goodwill.
11. Keep going with your business continuity planning - the coronavirus is the current issue facing businesses but it won't be the last. Take what you learned from this issue and keep the process going. Ask yourself, what other issues could disrupt my business and how can I protect my business? The more you plan ahead, the less likely you are to be caught by surprise!