What Can Small Businesses Do to Help Employees Adapt?

During the coronavirus outbreak, you’ve probably had to make adjustments to how your small business operates, whether that’s closing your doors temporarily, intensifying your cleaning practices, or moving all of your services online. All of these changes affect more than just you and your bottom line; they affect your employees too. So how do you adapt to a new situation, and how can you help your staff do the same?

If you find yourself asking these questions (and more!), you’re not alone. Over 4.5 million Alignable members in every industry, and the small business community as a whole, are sharing solutions to help you manage your employees during uncertain times.

Here’s how some small business owners are navigating two different employee scenarios—and how you can do the same.

How to Manage Your Employees During Coronavirus

Before we get started, we should mention that how your business manages employees depends a lot on the type of business you have. For example, a software company might have employee issues that aren’t relevant to those in manufacturing.

For that reason, we chose two common employee scenarios across five industries that coronavirus might have forced on you. If you’re in the process of reducing or eliminating your employees or neither of the below options fits your business, tell us about your employee situation in the comments. We want to help!

Managing remote employees

By now, many small businesses in the marketing, consulting, and other digital services industries have taken their workforce online. At Alignable, we went fully remote weeks ago, and while we’re happy to have the option, we’re all adjusting to a digital-only workspace. And we know others who made the jump to remote work are too. 

Aside from keeping employees calm and on-task, the biggest issues center around communication, such as:

• How and how often you update your teams
• How and how often you meet with each other
• How well you work together

Thankfully, the tech around remote work, like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Slack, makes it easier to communicate. But how might those tools help you and your employees in day-to-day operations? 

One of our members, Gayle Morris of Wellness Travel BC, shares how her business uses them to stay connected and productive:

“Throughout the week we use Zoom to schedule partner discovery calls and presentations and Slack for updating our team on progress, website updates, social and digital media campaigns, wins, and opportunities so we are all on the same page. We are a team. We have never worked in silos!”

From a frequency standpoint, consider setting expectations with your employees about how often you communicate, both in formal settings like meetings and informal ones like coffee or lunch dates. And identify what platforms to use for each. 

Remember, people are going to be stressed from the crisis itself in addition to adjusting to remote work, so how you approach it goes a long way.

For more info, listen to Harvard professor and consulting firm owner Tsedal Neeley talk about how business owners can help their employees adjust to remote work.

Related discussion: Are your employees staying at home during the outbreak? 

Keeping employees safe in the workplace

Some companies won’t be able to make their services available online, which means workers don’t have the option to go digital. In that case, the issues shift to keeping employees safe, healthy, and supported. 

Here are a few industries that might be in this situation:

Health care

If you own a healthcare practice, you may not be able to have your employees work from home. But before you have everyone come into the clinic, look into telehealth options. Many insurance companies lifted the restrictions around telehealth sessions, which can keep your staff safe and socially distanced.

If that’s not an option for your employees, focus on the things you can control—the sanitization of your facility, following CDC recommendations to keep everyone safe, and encouraging your employees to stay home if they’re sick. 

To reduce the number of people in your office, consider staggering shifts and reducing hours. You can probably address some of your patients over the phone or online, which will limit the amount of people coming through your doors.

Regardless of your approach, have a plan in place to address what happens if one of your employees comes down with coronavirus.

Manufacturing

Those of you who own manufacturing companies likely can’t have all of your staff work remotely either. So what can you do for your employees?

1. First, identify what staff is essential to the production and manufacturing processes. Anyone who isn’t should shift to remote work. 
2. Then, consider how you can limit the amount of people in the facility. You might stagger shifts or inform delivery services to conduct their work from outside of the building. 
3. And of course, sanitize as much as you can

“We have an extra rigorous disinfecting and cleaning plan in place for our production and shipping staff that are working in our facility,” says Jody Tessler of Rosette Wellness/ Emerald Cup Supply Co. “Luckily, we do not allow outside visitors into our facility even on a normal day, except for deliveries. Delivery people must stay outside when delivering. We clean door handles, doorbells, packages, etc. after they leave.”

Amidst all of this, it’s really important to keep your employees’ health and safety top of mind: What can you do for them? How can you make this a little less stressful? Communication is a good place to start, suggests Beverly of KleenRite Manufacturing. 

“We have been continually communicating to our employees and have posted reminders to follow preventative actions as recommended by the CDC, social distancing, staying home if employees are ill or believe they may be at risk, and encouraging appropriate hygiene, such as frequent hand washing,” she says. 

“Our employees are at the heart of our business, and we remain committed to making sure they take care of themselves during this time. Under no circumstances are we requiring any employee to work if they are not comfortable in doing so.”

Lead with compassion 

We know this is a stressful time for small business owners, but it’s also a stressful time for your employees. Whether they’re working from home or coming to your facility, they’re experiencing  stress over their health, the health of their loved ones, and the possibility of losing their job or reducing their income. In short, it’s tough on everyone.

That’s why it’s especially important to show compassion: Can you offer more flexibility to reduce their risk? What about people taking care of sick loved ones? Are there ways you can help ease their mind over their employment situation? What benefits do you offer that can help?

The way you show up for your employees now will determine how—and with whom—you’ll recover. So be kind, be honest, and be flexible, and we’ll all make it through together.

How are you helping your employees during the coronavirus outbreak? Share your tips and stories in the comments below for a chance to be featured in our coverage.

Related content: Find more resources, ideas, and inspiration at our Coronavirus Resource and Recovery Center