Lockdown in the cities, increasing number of COVID-19 positives, people being isolated, stocks going down, uhhhh…! The pandemic has brought the world to a halt, it’s time for the earth to take the rest.
Well, you can not have control over the things going around, but you can surely make your contribution by taking command over your business and how you want your business and your people to prevent getting affected in the situation of crisis.
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In order to reduce risk from COVID-19 virus on your business, below are some recommended tips and guidance that all the small business owners can take to reduce risk in their business along with keeping in mind employee safety and customer support to make the transition smoother.
Table of Contents
How to reduce risk from COVID-19 virus on your small business?
● Analyse the effects in case of a temporary closure
As per the current situations and the announcements of national and international authorities, lockdown is the only option that can break the chain of the pandemic virus to gain control over the spreading situations.
Think about the possibilities that could happen if you suddenly need to lock down your business. Talk to your insurer about different possibilities if your business gets affected due to the closure during the lockdown.
Plan how you will deal with your business plans once you are over this situation, how will you be dealing with the work and payment delays and what if certain priority tasks remain pending?
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Contemplate over each of the scenario, get things sorted over a document, take guidance from someone experience, there are many startup business consultant services available out there which have experts of your business niche to guide you to navigate the sudden change and help you make a plan that would have minimal effect of lockdown on your business.
● Talk to your customers about payments and work delays
The pandemic virus has affected the whole world, your clients are also part of the situation you are stuck in. Talk to them about how you are planning to organize the work.
Show them your plans, figure out a collaborative solution to keep things on the same page to maintain a healthy and understanding work relation and fight against the situations together.
Ask them if they can help you make things easier by providing you the necessary information virtually.
In case you are planning to make your employees work from home, make sure your clients know that your team might not be always available onboard.
Making them informed about the predictable situations will help you justify any mishaps that could occur in the situation of your resource unavailability.
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● Allow work from home
Your people are your first responsibility, they are the beam of your business to function and make things possible.
Taking measures that foster employee safety is your duty, so start making efforts that could streamline your work. Allow them to work remotely, make them aware of the safety measure they should personally focus to remain healthy in the infected environment.
Keep sanitizers, provide private transport to your employees, provide carbon masks, promote cleanliness. Take all the steps that ensure the safety of your people.
The best option here is always to allow them to work from home, but before you jump into this decision, make sure you take into account the different factors that are attached to the remote working concept, like providing them with enough facility and access to work efficiently at home.
● Be proactive about cleanliness
You and your employees are spending 9 hours a day in the same cubicle, many of them might be coming through public transports, while there are many people visiting your office during the work hours.
These all might have come up with their own sort of germs in the office which calls for the need to sanitize the workplace too.
Add some extra efforts after the office hours to ensure cleanliness, do dusting, cleaning and sanitizing of the whole office twice the day. Instruct your employees to use sanitizers and hand napkins while they are working in the office during work hours.
Keep posters and guidelines that help people know why it’s important to clean themselves. Allow guests to your office, but ask them to maintain hygiene by offering them sanitizer. Taking these small steps could prove out to be very effective in these critical situations.
● Reduce meetings or opt for virtual options
There might be many meetings lined up that’s very important for your business, but making an effort to reduce these social contacts is a feasible option to adopt.
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Try to keep away from the situations that lead you to exposure to the virus, if it’s very important to meet a client or discuss something urgently, try using virtual mediums like Hangout Meets or skype calls. Avoid business travel if you have planned one, postponing it for now, can assure you a better work productivity later.
Summing Up
Crisesought to come, but the way you deal with it defines your strength and wisdom. The COVID-19 outbreak is one such crisis that has arrived to test your abilities as a leader.
Being a small business owner you might be having many dilemmas about the future of your company and the effect that the lockdowns might bring to your business and your economy.
Evaluate the situations right, plan for the change, take the necessary steps towards fighting the COVID- 19 effect to ensure safety not only of your employees but also your business.
So keep up the spirit as it’s time to bring the community together, from a distance.
Author Bio:
James Vargas is an experienced business expert, startup business consultant, and manager at Get Everything Delivered. With the 1.5-decade corporate experience, he is now sharing his guidance to start-ups to grow with corporate team building activities and project delivery solutions.
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