This is Vernon Litigation Group’s weekly bulletin to support local small business owners and help navigate the challenges of staying in business, supporting employees and clients, supporting the community, and positioning local businesses for growth and success on the other side of the COVID-19 crisis.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This is certainly true for small businesses during this time. Although plans certainly do not guarantee success, it is crucial to consider and develop ways for your business to thrive, even in a global pandemic.
If you do not have concrete methods for moving your business forward throughout this time, here are seven recommendations below for protecting your business, your employees, and your customers:
- Communicate thoroughly with your team. Discuss problems and solutions with your team on how to protect the business against issues that may arise. Topics such as leave, telework, and compensation policies should be discussed to ensure that employees are informed and aware of any potential issues in these areas.
- Educate your team. Train and educate your team on how to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency while also emphasizing safety amongst team members.
- Develop policies and measures for remote work when possible. Before the pandemic began, most businesses lacked remote work policies and measures for employees. Developing efficient remote work policies is crucial during this time, especially considering that some of your employees may have no choice but to work remotely at some point in the future. When possible, allow your team to work remotely for increased flexibility and productivity. Remote work also encourages employees to stay home if they may have any symptoms of COVID-19 rather than put others in the workplace at risk. (see last week’s bulletin #12 for more information on improving your company’s remote work policies and measures).
- Identify a workplace coordinator. Designate a team member who is responsible for COVID-19 issues in the workplace to ensure that your business is properly prepared for unexpected events arising from the pandemic.
- Prioritize health, cleanliness, and safety. A healthy team is a productive team. Make it clear to your employees that safety is the top priority. Encourage this priority through sufficient health and cleanliness measures.
- Re-evaluate travel needs for yourself and your team. Distinguish necessary travel from unnecessary travel. When possible, consider using teleconference and video conference technology for meetings that would normally require travel.
- Check-in with your team regularly. Make sure to show your employees that you are concerned about each of them during this time. Understand what everyone is dealing with so that the business continues to thrive without any unexpected problems from employees. Create ways for your team to thrive while also emphasizing health and safety.
If you have any questions or require further assistance to help you navigate through these difficult times, please feel free to give us a call. We are all in this together.
Vernon Litigation Group represents businesses & individuals throughout the United States who have financial disputes, including cyber litigation, securities litigation & arbitration, business & commercial litigation, financial advisors & employment disputes, and FINRA arbitration.
For more information contact, Brooke Sandoval-Banker bsandovalbanker@vernonlitigation.com or call (239) 319-4434.