Communication & Contingency Planning Is Key

Communication and Contingency Planning is Key!

We encourage you to keep communicating with your people, collaborate with contingency planning and how you can minimise the spread while also keeping your business running. 

Consider what you need to do and put a contingency plan in place with various scenarios, what is it going to look like for you as a business and how are you going to keep operating. The more you communicate with your people the better, keep communication up, keep checking in with your people and watch for any changes in behaviour. Communication is pivotal and this will lessen the worry, anxiety and fear. It will also assist with increasing productivity, morale and team spirit.
 
Most importantly please keep up to date and take all reasonably practical steps to address the risk of your people being exposed to the virus or spreading it to others. This will reassure your team which increases security and trust.
 

Practical steps to consider:

  • Providing information on good hygiene practices

  • Encourage the use of hand sanitisers, antibacterial wipes (clean workstation), and ramp up your cleaning efforts. Consider making your own hand sanitiser like Good George Brewing

  • Requiring staff who are unwell to remain at home (utilise Sick leave)

  • Cancelling client and staff functions

  • Stopping unnecessary travel and limiting domestic travel to only critical matters

  • Deferring conferences and large meetings

  • Utilising technology to conduct your meetings digitally – such as Zoom

  • What about implementing a communication platform such as Workplace

  • Ensuring you have a working from home policy and checklists in order

  • Have you got EAP support in place – remind your staff

A reminder that Grant Robertson did state on Tuesday that “it is not a one-of package, it is just the beginning, and as we go through the crisis towards economic recovery the Government will be constantly monitoring the situation and adjusting its response”.  Encouraging words, and given the Government’s responses to date, I am hopeful that there will be much more relief for our SME client.
 

Questions to consider when you are putting a plan in place

  • Could your team work from home, have you trialled this?

  • Could you consider split meal breaks to minimise the people contact, or split shifts to provide social distancing?

  • Are your front-line people aware of how to protect themselves?

  • Can you alter your current office layout to provide more space between your team?

  • What does it look like for your business if the Country goes into lockdown? Think about – do you need to keep the business running? Can you run a small crew? Can you run different shifts? 

  • Review start/finish times

  • What about opening and closing hours

  • Rotating staff in the frontline

  • How can you get product despatched now with limited people contact?

  • Are your team aware of their boundaries to protect themselves?

  • Re-evaluate, use short term change to test long term viability

  • Listen to your gut

  • Have you got a ‘work from home policy’ in place and a H&S checklist for working form home? Email People Passion if you require these

How do I pay my team members (employee) if they go into self-isolation?

You have options to consider and these need to be talked about if an Employee heads into self-isolation and is unable to work from home, is sick or is not sick.


Options: 

  • An Employee can utilise their sick leave or annual leave – if they are sick

  • An Employee can utilize their annual leave – if they are not sick

  • An Employer can apply for the Leave Payment Subsidy on behalf of the Employee the payment is:

    • $585.80 per week full-time Employee

    • $350.00 per week part-time Employee

  • The Employee can choose to take leave without pay

  • The Employer could agree to advance annual or sick leave

  • Have you considered implementing Special Leave? 

Note: The Employee must have registered with Health Line to be eligible for the Leave Payment Subsidy and confirmation will come from the Employee to the Employer.  

If a worker is sick with COVID-19 or is caring for someone dependent on them for care that is infected with COVID-19, they are required to inform the employer of their illness and may take leave in the same manner as they would for any other illness.
 
Note: The Government announcement on 17 March 2020 surrounding the ‘Leave Payment Option for Self-Isolation is vague’. We hope to have more information in the next few days.
 

Privacy matters to be considered:

When informed that an employee has been infected with COVID-19, employers should ensure that they manage the information with care and confidentiality. 
 

Practical advice to consider:

  • If the employee has had contact with other employees, customers, suppliers etc those exposed should be informed sensitively.

  • You should inform only those persons who require notification – for example in a large organisation, if the employee has been restricted to one area, it may be necessary to inform only co-workers in that area but not the entire organisation of the employee’s illness. 

  • Where possible, the name of the infected employee should be treated with confidentiality to ensure their privacy.  Speculation as to the identity of the infected employee/s or the reason for any sudden absence should be discouraged.

  • All notified employees should be provided with relevant information as to how to protect themselves and what support will be granted to them.  The support we recommend employers provide to affected employees includes:

    • time off to allow employees to get tested themselves,

    • time off for doctors’ appointments,

    • counselling for employees stressed by the possible infection, and

    • alternative working arrangements   

Self-isolation

It is important to consider the impact on your team who are facing isolation or infection. 
 
Practical advice to consider:

  • Keeping in touch with employees during this period, either by phone or email to monitor their progress.  Where possible, utilising Skype or Zoom video functions allow employees to still engage on a face-to-face basis;

  • Assuring employees who may be infected with COVID-19 of the process that will be followed in informing others that need to know, and the confidentiality that will be attached to those communications;

  • Keeping employees regularly informed with changes to the work environment including when they may be in a position to return to full services.

If employees are working remotely from home they should be still encouraged to take breaks, including a lunch break and be provided with information to ensure that their working area is set up adequately and safely for their use. Additionally, if they are unwell (either connected to COVID-19 or not), they should be encouraged to rest.

Here to help

This is a very unknown and unprecedented time. The COVID-19 situation is ever-evolving day by day. We urge you and your team to be prepared, get a practical plan in place, and continue to communicate. Your team will be feeling anxious and on-edge, reassure them that you have plans in place to protect them and the business. We are here for you if you need us – lets stay safe and enable each other to get through this together.
 
Should you have any specific queries regarding COVID-19 please refer to the Ministry of Health’s website at https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus or the Healthline team on 0800 358 5453 and MSD These websites are constantly getting updated.
 
The Team at People Passion will continue to keep you informed and most importantly look after yourself  then others and keep evolving as a business. Our support line is 09 299 2525.

We will be continuously reviewing this situation and will inform you if any changes to the process we have suggested need to occur. Please note that the above approach may be amended subject to any further direction or guidance from the Government. 

People Passion