As the world’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve, industry leaders around the world not only have a unique responsibility to lead the way in protecting company assets, such as employees, families and facilities, but also have a social responsibility to take recommended measures to slow the spread of the virus wherever possible.
For example, in the United States, the CDC has a list of best practices to help prevent infection and many government agencies are issuing guidance on travel and public events. At the organizational level, there is even more we may be able to do to help our teams directly. Accordingly, HR leaders can be part of the solution in several different ways:
1. Take preventative measures in office locations where employees must still report to work. As the saying goes, nothing inspires cleanliness more than an unexpected guest. In this case, the unexpected guest is the rapidly spreading virus. Here, HR departments can help coordinate an increased availability of sanitation resources (e.g., hand sanitizer, alcohol wipes, cleaning supplies, etc.) as well as increasing the frequency of cleaning services for high-touch common areas (e.g., door handles, communal office spaces, etc.). Employees want to know their companies are taking steps to protect them, and these actions help both in optics and prevention effectiveness.
2. Authorize flexible work arrangements for all possible positions. HR leaders can assist in implementing work from home (WFH) strategies to reduce densely populated workspaces, thereby reducing organizational risk as a whole. Whether only noncritical staff or all employees WFH, HR can help with sharing home office best practices — especially if WFH is rare or unprecedented within their organizations. Coordinating with IT will be key to ensure business systems can support the transition from office to virtual. Allowing employees to perform their jobs virtually may drastically reduce the risk of the virus spreading throughout the company (and hopefully local communities).
3. Avoid unnecessary exposure to populated areas. Similar to the value created through WFH strategies, recommend canceling, rescheduling or converting nonessential face-to-face business meetings, travel, and conferences or office events to virtual meetings where appropriate to greatly reduce the risk of exposure to your workforce and their families. Leverage technology wherever you can to continue business as usual, and limit risk where systems cannot be implemented to protect the health and safety of your employees.
4. Leverage benefits providers. Speaking of health, HR benefit administrators should leverage benefit provider services that offer information, best practices or employee services in these areas. Due to the nature of a global pandemic, along with all the media coverage that comes with it, it’s easy to understand how employee stress and anxiety can build up rather quickly. HR teams should be proactive in sharing employee assistance program (EAP) information and coordinating virtual town halls for those interested in learning more. The best way to treat fear is through information. The more information employees have on what the risks are and what measures can be taken to prevent them, the better they will be able to increase their resiliency while reducing their stress.
5. Think ahead on business continuity planning. Business continuity management (BCM) expertise and preparedness will vary from organization to organization. Whether this is the first or the hundredth time implementing a BCM plan, there are countless ways to improve the plan’s process and effectiveness. Capturing and sharing lessons learned is a vital service that all HR leaders can provide due to the level of involvement we have with the people side of the business. Thinking ahead and anticipating what’s next is as important as dealing with current conditions, so considering simple things such as trainings around leading virtual teams, which is typically a low-cost initiative that produces a high level of ROI for the organization, may be prudent for leaders with limited experience.
Maintaining business operations during a crisis can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. Researching best practices, observing industry responses and being as transparent as possible with your workforce will certainly help. As for HR, the more functional leaders commit to providing tangible solutions, the safer our workforce, families and communities will be.
