To start, let’s ask an important question: What is actually essential to running your business and how do you protect the way it’s being conducted while keeping your employees safety in mind? We have a few tips in mind when it comes to continuing to move your company in the right direction without jeopardizing your product or putting your employees at risk. It is a tricky situation we are in but we can navigate it together and your company and employees will be better than ever. Obviously, your options are going to differ depending on the type of business you are running, and what your local regulations allow at the moment.
Change Hours of Operation
One of the easiest things you can do to limit your business and your employees to exposure is to move to limited hours. You will see that a lot of companies are moving their open hours to a smaller window. Of course, this doesn’t have to directly affect your employee’s hours – you can, for example, implement time to clean before and after opening. Working with a smaller window of public open hours can help with either restocking or even providing a window for those at most risk to have a special hour blocked off much like you see now with grocery stores having senior hours. This is all in effort to lower exposure to both the customer and the employees.
Offer your Services Online
If there is a way to offer what your company provides on the internet and have it delivered this is a good way to keep the wheels rolling while also keeping your company up and running. If you don’t have a way to order your product online and you are relying on a telephone, this is the time to get web ordering in place, and, at a minimum, offer curbside pickup. If you can switch to video conferencing instead of face to face meetings, this is also the time to do that. And social media can help you get the word out about the changes and even simply let people know that you are still open for business.
Be Creative
Thorough these tough times your companies creative process is going to be tested. Do not limit these talks within the company on how to keep business growing. This may require you to step outside of what your company usually produces. For example; there are alcohol companies making hand sanitizer now as well as pubs putting together take and bake pizzas. The sky is the limit when it comes to using the company in a new a creative way that is in demand at this current moment. Who knows, you may find a new calling out of the brainstorming that goes on here. This is going to help protect the business as well as keeping your employees safe and healthy.
Provide Some Services to At-risk Populations at low or no Cost
If you are in a business where you can donate a small portion of your work to someone struggling, do it – and let people know on social media that you are stepping up to help. They will help you find the people you can help, too! You will both help motivate your employees and build a name for your business as an organization that is stepping up to help out in a difficult time. Just make sure to keep your free or low-cost services to a pace that you can afford to sustain. It’s ok to have boundaries around this.
Work Remote
This is something that takes a little bit of set-up work but if your employees have the capability this is beyond essential for keeping the company and employees in mind. It is essential that business continues as we march forward but it needs to be done safely. By letting your employees work remote when possible this will obviously limit exposure and unessential travel. But this also keeps the company doors open and life pushing forward. It is what I like to call a modern day solution to an extraordinary problem.
