by Carolyn Kick | Apr 16, 2020 | Business Insurance, COVID-19 Resources, Return to Work
At some point, the quarantine will end and companies will start getting back to business. However, it’s unlikely this return will be “business as usual,” but will instead have to factor in the new nuances COVID-19 has brought about. How we handle going back to work will have a big impact on whether we rid ourselves of COVID-19 for good or if we see the coronavirus come back for new mass infections, as the Spanish Flu did a century ago.
As employers, we have an enormous responsibility to get our team members back to work as safely as possible. Rushing head-on as if nothing has changed since before the virus reached our shores is a surefire way to end up with another quarantine and many sick employees. So you have to plan TODAY for how you are going to reopen your business.
There is no proven formula for how to go back to work safely after COVID-19 has receded. As a world, we’ve never gone through anything quite like this before. But many people are thinking about how to work safely in a post-COVID-19 world and you do not have to reinvent the wheel to keep your team safe. In this post we’ll explore some of the main ideas out there about how to get back to business responsibly, including:
- Why it’s so important that you create a back-to-work plan today
- How to go back to business safely
- Long-term strategies to protect your team, business, and community
Why You Should Create a Back-to-Work Plan Today
If quarantines were lifted tomorrow and the CDC announced that the virus had been contained, do you know how you would begin bringing employees back into the office?
Given the rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 situation, there’s a good chance your answer is “no.” That’s why it is never too soon to start creating a back-to-work plan. You just can’t wait until things open up to create your plan: you have to be ready to hit the ground running as soon as you get the go-ahead.
But what if you didn’t put any particular plan into action? If the government says that it is safe to go back to work, what’s the risk?It’s highly unlikely the virus will be eradicated based on the current sporadic isolation orders, so there will still be people with the virus within the community. If you throw caution to the wind and jump right back into business as usual and one of those people is on your team, your entire company could potentially become infected. You can see how this could potentially snowball into another full-fledge outbreak, which would mean shutting down your office entirely once again.
For our own sake and everyone in our communities, we need to proceed cautiously and intelligently even after authorities say that it is okay to start getting back to business.
How to Go Back to Business Safely
Businesses must become an active participant in the effort to expand testing for COVID-19 and its antibodies. From looking at countries such as Singapore and South Korea that managed to control the outbreak, the key to stopping the spread of the disease once the quarantine is lifted and people go back to work is consistent and readily available testing, coupled with “contact tracing” – tracking interactions to identify people who might have been exposed. While the US is not necessarily set up to implement the kind of regimented, centralized testing and contact tracing system that Singapore used to great effect, employers can implement similar systems in their offices. Namely, through testing and keeping track of employee interactions such as meetings in order to isolate employees who may have been exposed if an employee tests positive.
There are many tests being developed and employers will have to work with their brokers and insurers to get the tests their team needs. The US is working to make testing more available, so it’s likely by the time your employees are coming back into work the tests may be much more widely available. Once you acquire the tests, you will have to decide on a testing cadence, testing your team as frequently as necessary without becoming overly burdensome. You can also use screenings such as temperature readings to identify candidates for testing. And don’t forget to test for antibodies as well as infections: it can be almost as useful to know who is already immune as it is to identify employees who might be carriers of the virus.
Another key consideration in your plan is determining how you will know when it’s time to get back to work. Currently, most organizations are in a waiting pattern to see when the quarantine will be lifted. Now is the time to be developing your return to work plan, and process which may includeleveraging recommendations from a range of trusted authorities and even employee feedback.
Once you determine that it is time to bring employees back into work, you need to make sure that they are doing it safely. This will make up the bulk of your back-to-work plan.One key best practice to keep in mind is to minimize the number of employees who are in the workplace at once. There are two main ways to do this: slowly phase employees back into the office and stagger employees’ schedules.
Instead of abruptly having everyone come back into the office, slowly have employees come back in based on how important it is that they work from the office. That way, you keep occupancy (and thus the risk of infection) down while simultaneously reducing the number of people who will get exposed if someone does come to work with the virus.
Also keep in mind that all of your employees do not have to come into the office at the same time. By staggering schedules, you can allow everyone to spend some time in the office but still keep occupancy down. For example, you can have different teams come in on alternating days so that people are in the office with their main collaborators while minimizing their risk. And staggered schedules do not just have to be by day. You can also modify employees’ daily hours, to the extent they feel comfortable with, so that everyone is not arriving to and leaving from the office at the same time.Once you decide who will be in the office and when, then it is time to establish office safety precautions.
Firstly, you should do everything in your power to prevent employees from coming into work if they are sick or have been exposed to the virus. The easiest strategy you can leverage to diminish sick individuals from coming into the office is to maintain a flexible work-from-home policy and encourage employees to stay at home whenever they feel under the weather or think that they have been exposed to the virus.
But you also cannot solely rely on your employees to self-report illness or exposure. While it might sound extreme, you should consider conducting daily health screenings before employees are allowed to start their shifts or workdays. Work with a third party vendor that provides health professionals to take employees temperatures at the door and conduct questionnaires to determine their level of risk of exposure. And if an employee seems ill, either send them home to work remotely or refer them to additional screening or treatment.
Another top priority should be to implement and enforce social distancing protocols. Just because employees can come into the office again does not mean that they shouldn’t limit their interactions. Encourage your employees to avoid close contact by issuing distancing guidelines and limiting occupancy for elevators, meeting rooms, and common areas. And if necessary, redesign your office to create distance or physical barriers between desks (the gold standard being recommended is 6-feet of space between individuals at all times).
Finally, you have to maintain a clean work environment and supply plenty of protective equipment. This means intensifying your daily cleaning, potentially adding mid-day cleanings or daily UV-sanitation to eliminate any traces of the virus. Pay particular attention to common areas and high-risk surfaces such as phones and doorknobs. Provide masks and gloves to frontline workers who might interact with people outside of the office and provide alcohol based hand sanitizer wherever possible. In particular, place touch-free hand sanitizer stations at the entrances to any common areas and meeting spaces so employees can easily sanitize before interacting with each other.
You may well want to adopt additional safety protocols unique to your business and its needs. But these steps should go a long way towards ensuring that your team can get back to work safely, with minimal disruptions to your business.
Thinking Long Term
It would be nice to think that we could go back to working the way we did before the outbreak, after an initial period of caution. But the fact of the matter is that COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on how we work and do business in the future. And it is well worth your time to consider how you can adapt in the long-term to prevent your business from getting disrupted by another outbreak.
As difficult as it might sound, you may well want to rethink the physical layout of your office post-COVID-19 outbreak. While open offices have been all the rage for years, they don’t do a good job of protecting employees from sick coworkers. Many employers may end up adding space and divisions between desks, and positioning employees so that they work back-to-back rather than next-to or facing each other. You may also want to add infrastructure that facilitates remote collaboration, including videoconferencing equipment in meeting rooms and enhanced call booths for individual employees to work one-on-one with a remote employee. You should also consider making at least some social distancing protocols standard practice moving forward, along with intensive cleaning and extensive hand sanitizer stations.
Probably the biggest long-term impact that the COVID-19 outbreak will have on businesses is the expanded role of remote work. Many employers who were resistant to remote work will be much more open to the idea now that they’ve been forced to implement it. But even companies that accepted remote work will likely continue to expand it further. Whichever category you fall into, you should consider making remote work a fact of life at your company going forward. Depending on your business, you could even use it to replace the office entirely and cut your costs as well as your risk. Assuming you still see value in maintaining an office or need a physical office space, you can use remote work to augment your sick leave so that employees never come in if they are not feeling 100% well. Letting employees work from home without questioning their motives will help you avoid an office outbreak, whether it’s COVID-19 or a different illness.
Finally, employers should plan to be part of the vaccine distribution effort that keeps COVID-19 from coming back for good. Public health resources are going to be overwhelmed trying to provide both vaccines and medical care that was delayed because of the virus. You should work with your benefits broker, insurer, and providers to help your team members get the vaccine as soon as it is available. If you can get the vaccine administered in your office, even better. And don’t forget to provide the vaccine to employees’ immediate families as well.
Key Takeaways
Getting back to business after COVID-19 is a daunting task. Business owners and HR professionals are going to have to balance a wide range of considerations to ensure a safe and productive workplace. Remember these key takeaways and you will be a long way towards making sure that your team can get back to work as safely as possible:
- Listen to trusted authorities, your employees, and your gut when it comes to deciding when to open your offices back up
- Try to minimize the number of employees in the workplace, especially to start out
- Protect your employees through health screenings, social distancing guidelines and protocols, intensive cleaning, and protective equipment including hand sanitizer
- Remote work is an invaluable tool even once the quarantine is lifted
- Consider your long-term strategy to limit the risk of an outbreak, including redesigning your office and leveraging remote work and social distancing
- Develop a plan to get your employees and their families vaccinated as quickly and easily as possible as soon as a vaccine is available
Most importantly of all, don’t do it alone when it comes to developing your back-to-work plan. You should bring in experts on workplace safety, employee healthcare, and human resources to help you keep your team safe.
by Carolyn Kick | Apr 13, 2020 | COVID-19 Resources
It’s hard to believe we’ve been focusing our work at Launchways on helping businesses thrive, survive, and protect their employees during COVID-19 for just over a month now. As we’ve worked to support our clients during this evolving situation, we’ve found that businesses of all types, sizes, and industries keep coming back to the same core questions. That told us there was a need to create a resource that presented clear, actionable answers to some fundamental questions about coronavirus and the workplace.
Moving forward, we’ll present and answer those frequently asked questions, focusing on:
- How to approach the workplace procedures in light of COVID-19
- Understanding paid leave expansion under the FFCRA
- Questions about furloughs and layoffs
General questions about COVID-19 workplace procedures
Can we take employee temperatures and ask about their health each day?
Yes. Given the circumstances, it is reasonable to explicitly check in with employees about their health each day, including temperature checks upon arrival to work. However, you must limit your questions to specific COVID-19-related concerns (i.e. you can’t start asking them about medications, on-going health issues, etc.).
When should/can sick employees return to work after leave due to COVID-19?
Before employees return to work, they should have been completely fever and symptom-free without the use of medications for 72 hours (3 full days). Furthermore, they should not return to work under any circumstances for at least seven days after diagnosis.
For example, if an employee is diagnosed on April 10 as having COVID-19 and stops experiencing symptoms and fever on April 12, they still cannot return to work until April 17 – 10 days from their diagnosis. On the other hand, if an employee is diagnosed on April 15 and stops experiencing symptoms on April 27, they can return to work on April 30 using the three-day rule.
Can we tell our employees when one of their colleagues tests positive for COVID-19?
You should, but you need to do it very carefully. You may not disclose the name or other identifying information of the person who has tested positive, as that is private medical information. However, it is also an important responsibility to inform employees when they have been exposed, including specific dates/locations, if possible.
Can we ask employees who call out sick about their symptoms?
You can ask employees who call out sick during this time about their symptoms in order to maintain your own internal audit of the spread of COVID-19. However, it’s crucial you only ask about COVID-19-related symptoms. If employees are out sick for another reason, it could be construed as discriminatory to question them.
Can we make an employee with a sick family member stay home?
You can, if their family member is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 or has a confirmed diagnosis. With that said, if the employee themselves is feeling well and capable of work, you should find ways to enable them to work from home rather than forcing them to use accrued paid time off.
Can we send home an employee we’re concerned has been exposed?
CDC guidance does not explicitly recommend sending employees home unless they’ve had confirmed contact with either a symptomatic COVID-19 patient or someone who was later confirmed to be experiencing symptoms. However, if you have reason to believe someone has been in an unsafe setting that makes you nervous about the overall health and safety of your workforce, you can send that person home very carefully. When we say, “very carefully,” we mean in a non-punitive way that allows them to continue working and earning their salary without drawing undue attention or scrutiny.
Can we force employees to come into work?
If there is no specific threat to your employees’ safety or health, you can reasonably expect them to come to work and punish them for not doing so. However, you must be mindful of the Americans with Disabilities Act and make reasonable accommodations for professionals whose pre-existing conditions or medications put them at increased risk of complications from COVID-19. If someone has a doctor’s note saying they shouldn’t be interacting with the public or coming to work, you need to provide accommodations for them or transition them toward paid leave if none can be made.
What does my Telecommuting or Work-From-Home policy require?
If you don’t have a telecommuting/WFH policy on the books, it’s important to get one framed up in an addendum to your employee handbook. Generally speaking, you need to establish how telecommuting will work in terms of:
- Hours
- Expectations for communication/availability throughout the day
- Official channels/platforms for work and communication
- Workflow modifications and accountability systems
- How telecommuting performance will be assessed
- Reimbursement for home office supplies and home IT needs
Questions about paid leave expansion under the FFCRA
How much paid sick time or FMLA leave are employees entitled to?
The FFCRA states that employers must provide up to two weeks (80 hours) for full-time workers or a part-time employee’s two-week equivalent in sick time at their regular rate of pay if they:
- Are subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19
- Have been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine related to COVID-19
- Are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis
The FFCRA also provides up to 80 hours of paid sick leave at 2/3 the employee’s regular rate if they:
- Are caring for an individual subject to a quarantine/isolation order or self-quarantine
- Are experiencing any other substantially-similar condition specified by the US Department of Health and Human Services
Additionally, the FFCRA creates up to 12 weeks of paid sick leave and expanded FMLA leave at 2/3 the employee’s regular rate if they:
- Are caring for their child whose school or place of care is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 related reasons
How does the FFCRA connect to stay-at-home orders?
If your business is non-essential and therefore shut down as part of a federal, state, or local stay-at-home order, you do not need to provide paid sick or FMLA leave for your employees during the time you are closed.
Do all businesses under 500 employees really need to adhere to the paid leave expansions?
Generally, yes. If you are a business with fewer than 50 employees and adhering to the leave expansion would threaten the viability of your business, however, you can apply for a small business exemption.
When will enforcement of FFCRA requirements begin?
April 18th, but you can still be penalized if you are found to have not been acting in good faith between April 1 and April 17 when it comes to paying workers on leave or transitioning workers making reasonable requests for accommodations.
How can we afford the FFCRA’s leave expansion?
The CARES Act provides payroll tax credits which will offset these expenses dollar-for-dollar. The federal government has also promised to reimburse businesses 100% for expanded leave costs required through the Act, including both payroll and employee benefit costs.
Can employees really go on paid leave to provide childcare?
Yes! If your employee’s access to childcare has disappeared due to COVID-19 (school closures, day care shutdowns, providers getting ill, etc.), you must provide up to 12 weeks of paid FMLA leave at 2/3 their regular rate to stay home and provide care for their children under 18 until other accommodations can be made.
How do we make sure we get our tax credits?
The application/documentation procedure for the credits has not been formally announced yet. With that said, for employees going on leave, it’s best practice to gather whatever documentation you can (doctor’s notes, school closure notices, etc.) to create a strong narrative explaining the impact of COVID-19 on your business and employees.
How can we fairly handle incoming PTO requests when this normalizes?
Many businesses are worried that when some semblance of normalcy resumes, they’ll be flooded with PTO requests from employees. It’s definitely not too early to start articulating a policy for how vacation/planned PTO will have to be staggered upon return. This is another example of a situation in which proactive, honest communication with your team is the only real best practice right now.
Questions about furloughs & layoffs
What’s the difference between a layoff and a furlough?
We have a full guide on this topic, but here’s the abridged version: a furloughed worker is still employed but technically has no work to do; a laid off employee is, at least temporarily, no longer employed (i.e. there is a termination event).
How long can I furlough an employee?
This varies state by state. For example, in California, once someone has been furloughed for 30-days, you need to transition them toward a 60-day temporary layoff. Check with your state department of labor.
Can furloughed employees file for unemployment?
Yes, but the process is not consistent from state to state. In some areas, furloughed employees cannot gain access to unemployment benefits as quickly or easily as people who’ve been laid off. If you’re considering a mass furlough, it’s important to check your state unemployment framework and determine whether a layoff would provide greater financial security for your employees.
What if I’ve furloughed employees but aren’t seeing their unemployment claims?
If you’re concerned your furloughed workers aren’t getting the money they’re entitled to, you need to reach out to your state unemployment office and move the needle on documentation.
When do furloughed employees become COBRA-eligible?
This will vary based on your benefits carrier. Check with them or work with your benefits broker.
How to Learn More
If you’re looking to learn more about COVID-19 best practices, discover innovative approaches to HR that are making a difference in the time of social distancing, or connect with resources to help you lead your team through this time in a way that builds confidence and maintains team spirit, be sure to check out Launchways’ COVID-19 Coronavirus Resource Center.
by Carolyn Kick | Apr 9, 2020 | Business Insurance, COVID-19 Resources
The COVID-19 outbreak presents a many challenges for business owners, executives, and HR professionals. Keeping business running smoothly amid dwindling demand, supply-line disruptions, and quarantines is no easy task. An on top of these considerations, you also have to ensure the safety of employees and put in place procedures to prevent them from becoming infected with COVID-19.
And while keeping your employees healthy is the right thing to do both morally and for long-term morale and productivity, it is also important from a compliance perspective. You don’t want to add an OSHA violation to the many concerns you’re dealing with during these challenging times. And OSHA has issued new recommendations regarding the outbreak.
That being said, there are simple steps you can take to ensure compliance and safety for all employees. You just need to follow some straightforward, common-sense best practices and implement some additional safety precautions. Let’s take a look at how you can follow OSHA guidelines to keep your team and your business safe during the COVID-19 outbreak, including:
- Categorizing staff
- Developing safety protocols
- Maintaining a safe workplace
- Educating employees on best practices
- Identifying and handling exposure
Categorizing Staff
The first step that you should take to protect employees and ensure OSHA compliance is to categorize your team members to organize your workplace safety initiatives. Essentially, you need to figure out who needs to be protected and in which ways.
First off, divide your team into remote-capable and non-remote workers. During the COVID-19 outbreak, whether your area has issued quarantine orders or not, working from home is the best workplace safety policy. It does the most effective job of minimizing employees’ risk of exposure and eliminates nearly every OSHA concern you may have. So everyone who can work from home absolutely should.
But what about those who can’t work from home? Well, here’s where it gets a little trickier. You may have to decide who among them counts as essential staff: employees who need to be working even if they cannot work from home. Your goal should be to have as few people in the workplace as you possibly can while keeping your business functioning. You can approach this in a few ways. For example, you can reduce your workforce through layoffs or furloughs.
Alternatively, you can have employees work partial schedules so someone is always holding down the fort while limiting each employee’s risk of infection. Depending on your resources, you can do this for the same or reduced pay. This method divides positions rather than employees between essential or non-essential. Identify what workforce you need in the office every day and then modify the schedule to maintain that workforce while thinning out the individual risk as much as possible.
Finally, determine the risk levels for your essential staff or positions. This will help you structure your safety precautions. For example, stockroom workers or BOH team members won’t need as much protection as those working the registers or making deliveries. Or it might be the case that your entire workforce falls under OSHA’s definition of high exposure risk or very high exposure risk, generally reserved for healthcare or morgue workers. Whether subdividing your workforce or assessing your team’s general status, it’s important to know the real level of risk so that you can adopt the appropriate safety measures.
Developing Safety Protocols
The next step is to develop your safety protocols. You need a clear plan and strategy around these protocols in order to ensure compliance. So, you should decide what your plan will be for maintaining safety standards and handling exposure as soon as possible.
We’ll explore what those plans should look like in the next couple of sections, but we can’t emphasize enough how important it is that you start planningimmediately if you haven’t done so already.
Get your department heads, especially HR, executive team, and any outside consultants involved in the planning process. Contracting an HR or compliance specialist can help you develop an effective COVID-19 workplace safety and staff management plan.
Maintaining a Safe Workplace
Once you have reduced the number of employees in the workplace to the bare minimum necessary to keep things running, you have to make sure that those team members will be able to do their job safely, with the minimum possible risk of exposure. That means formulating a plan to maintain a safe workplace.
Obviously, all preexisting OSHA standards hold and you should maintain your compliance policies. But you will have to implement several new procedures to keep your team safe.
First off, you need to keep the workplace as clean as possible to eliminate the virus if anyone brings it in. That means regularly cleaning and disinfecting all workspaces, equipment, and commonly touched areas. Kitchens and bathrooms, phones and registers, desks and board tables should all be sanitized regularly using EPA approved cleaning solutions that are proven to eliminate coronavirus. Also, provide proper sanitation materials for your employees including alcohol based hand sanitizer, especially for frontline staff.
Next, ensure that your workplace is a closed system to the best of your ability. If you have control over what comes into the workplace it will be much easier to prevent potential COVID-19 exposure. That means limiting customer and partner access to the workplace. If you run a physical shop or restaurant of any kind, take steps to minimize the number of clients who can be inside at a time and outline approved areas for them to enter. Even better, switch to a curbside pickup or delivery model. The same goes for internal movement: do your best to keep high-risk employees away from lower-risk employees. For example, cashiers shouldn’t enter the stockroom. And all employees should minimize their interactions. Meetings should be transitioned to phone calls or video chats whenever possible.
Finally, provide employees with the personal protection equipment that is appropriate for their risk level. Frontline workers should have masks and gloves but BOH may or may not need these items, depending on local guidelines and community spread within the area your team works. You should review OSHA guidelines and talk to your leadership to determine what equipment each of your employees needs, but it is important to remember that needs will vary depending on risk levels.
Educating Employees on Best Practices
One of the most nerve-wracking aspects of workplace safety and compliance is the fact that at the end of the day, your protective measures are only as good as your employees’ compliance. And with the COVID-19 outbreak, stakes are higher than ever. If employees don’t take the outbreak seriously and instead cut corners, they could put the entire workforce at risk. That, in turn, can cripple your business’s ability to function at a time when it is already on thin ice.
You cannot entirely control employee behavior. But what you can do is make sure that they know exactly what they should be doing and what the consequences will be if they fail to abide by new and existing guidelines and procedures.
That means educating them on best practices, including:
- Properly covering coughing or sneezing
- Avoiding touching their faces & washing their hands if they do
- Regular hand-washing using proper procedures (20+ seconds)
- Not touching other employees’ equipment
- Reporting any safety or health concerns, especially regarding COVID-19
This last best practice deserves some more attention. You need employees to be extremely proactive when it comes to informing you of any potential risks. That includes potential exposure outside of the workplace, coworker failure to follow procedures, and symptoms that employees notice in themselves, customers, or coworkers. The sooner you catch any risks the safer your team will be. Emphasize the importance of communicating any concerns and consider implementing policies that protect people who report any issues.
Identifying and Handling Exposure
Finally, you need to figure out how you will identify whether an employee has been exposed or infected and how you will handle the situation.
It’s a true nightmare scenario: you’ve done all you can to protect your team members but now one of them has been exposed to the virus or seems to have COVID-19. What do you do?
Unfortunately, to echo many public health officials around the world, it’s probably not a matter of if, but when. Don’t avoid creating a game plan out of self-confidence, denial, or fear. Imagine you found out that employees would start showing up to work with the virus next week. Now how do you respond?
Well, the good news is that we’ve put together a handy checklist of steps to take when you confirm an employee is positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed.
But, generally speaking, here are the steps that you should plan to take:
- Work with the employee to plan next steps: remote from work, sick leave, etc
- Find out who the employee might have infected by talking to them about their recent exposure
- Immediately complete a deep-clean of effected spaces
- Inform employees of potential exposure and reeducate them about best practices
- Monitor workforce for signs of an outbreak
- Set terms and create a plan for affected employee’s return to work-from-home
Key Takeaways
Maintaining a safe workplace and OSHA compliance amid the COVID-19 outbreak can be an intimidating task. But it also is not as difficult as it sounds, even though the stakes are so high. Just remember to:
- Determine who needs to be in the office and take steps to keep everyone else at home
- Figure out the level of risk for each employee or role and establish safety precautions for each
- Implement stringent cleaning measures to disinfect the workplace regularly, focusing on high-risk areas
- Educate employees on best practices to protect themselves and each other
- Develop policies for managing employee infection or exposure including determining who else may have been exposed, warning other team members, redoubling safety precautions, and planning for the affected employee’s transition away from the workplace and their return to the workplace
by Carolyn Kick | Apr 9, 2020 | Compliance, COVID-19 Resources, Human Resources
COVID-19 is continuing to affect our ability to do work in the way we’re all used to. For billions of workers around the world, there has never been a greater time of uncertainty and concern.
In order to continue the work effectively, you need to address those concerns directly. Furthermore, you need to codify your expectations for work and behavior during this time to give employees something to hold onto and provide them with stability and knowledge during this time of unknowns.
One emerging best practice is creating an employee handbook addendum specifically built around modifications to work and workplace culture created by COVID-19. By including this information in your handbook, you create both a new level of clarity and a new level of accountability for employees.
Moving forward, we’ll explore:
- What you need to add to your employee handbook to address employee safety at this time
- What you need to add to your employee handbook to address remote work enablement at this time
- What you need to add to your employee handbook to address work reductions, potential layoffs, etc.
Safety in the Workplace
Everybody’s health, safety, and wellness should be the top priority at this time. Here’s a list of considerations your employee handbook needs to address in order to keep everybody safe!
For each consideration, it’s important to think about:
- How you will communicate expectations
- How you will bring the modifications to life
- How you will enforce new employee expectations
- How you will keep yourself accountable for employee safety
Handwashing
You need to clearly communicate your expectations when it comes to employees washing their hands. Handwashing is key to preventing the spread of COVID-19, and if you’re going to protect your workforce, you need an official enforceable policy.
Your policy needs to communicate which occasions should lead to an employee washing their hands. The exact shape of your policy will likely depend on the kind of work your employees are doing, but here are some situations you should think about addressing in your policy:
- Should employees wash their hands immediately upon arriving at work?
- Should employees wash their hands regularly on any set timeframe (i.e. every 30 minutes)?
- Should employees wash their hands any time they exit and re-enter the building?
- Should employees wash their hands at the start and/or conclusion of any breaks?
- Should employees wash their hands immediately before or after any specific work task or processes?
Surface/Workspace Disinfection
It’s now believed that COVID-19 spreads on surfaces much more effectively than scientists originally thought. That means keeping frequently touched surfaces clean and disinfected is essential to community health in your workplace.
Your policy needs to address both what responsibilities individual employees have when it comes to cleaning and what new practices the company as a whole will employ. For example:
- How often are employees expected to clean and disinfect their individual workstations?
- With what kind of cleaning materials should individual employees disinfect their workstations?
- How will individual employees clean/disinfect shared surfaces and equipment after they use them (i.e. equipment, communal spaces like the break room, etc.)?
- What additional custodial/janitorial practices will your business adopt to protect your workers?
Checking Employee Temperatures
Checking employee temperatures when they enter the building is very inconvenient, but it’s also a best practice for limited the spread of coronavirus in settings like healthcare or retail/hospitality, where there’s frequent interaction between employees and the public.
Your handbook needs to address:
- When and where regular employee temperature checks will occur
- Procedures for employees who display a fever upon temperature check
- Procedures for employees who feel they are developing a fever at work
- When and where temperature checks for incoming members of the public will occur
- Procedures for members of the public who display a fever upon temperature check
Eliminating Shared Food
Usually sharing food regularly is a feature of a healthy, positive workplace culture, but now is not the time for potlucks or picnics. Your handbook must clearly establish the expectation that there will be no communal eating or sharing of food at this time. That means:
- Modifying procedures in expectations in the cafeteria, breakroom, etc.
- Modifying policies on free food from managers as a work incentive/reward
- Providing employees with guidance on how they can eat in safe, compliant ways
- Explicitly stating areas in which nobody should be eating
Staggering Breaks
As we’ve explored, community spaces are a very touchy issue during this time. It’s important everybody has access to what they need, but it’s equally crucial to create that access in social distancing-friendly ways. Staggering breaks is a great way to do that, but you need to create a strong policy that addresses:
- How these modifications will be provided in ways that are compliant with labor laws, collective bargaining agreements, etc.
- How supervisors/managers will release employees for breaks
- Maximum number of employees on break at one time
- Expectations for employees during breaks
- Procedures for employees returning from break
Social Distancing
It’s important for your business’ employee handbook addendum for COVID-19 to address how employees will maintain at least six feet of distance between each other at all times.
Your policy needs to include:
- How you (the employer) will modify the space to support social distancing
- Daily measures employees need to make to support social distancing
- How employees will interact with customers/the public in ways that support social distancing
- How you will address situations where an entire team can no longer share the same physical space during the workday
- The elimination of in-person meetings and expectations for video/remote conferencing
FMLA & Paid Sick Leave Expansion Under FFCRA
Does FFCRA Apply to Us?
If you have fewer than 500 employees (499 or less), your company must comply with FMLA & paid sick leave expansion under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
If you have 500 or more employees, the temporary expansion does not apply to you.
If you have 50 or fewer employees and the expansion would threaten the viability of your business, you can apply for a small business exemption.
What Does Our Policy Need to Address?
Responsibilities Under the Act
The FFCRA states that employers must provide up to two weeks (80 hours) for full-time workers or a part-time employee’s two-week equivalent in sick time at their regular rate of pay if they:
- Are subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19
- Have been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine related to COVID-19
- Are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis
The FFCRA also provides up to 80 hours of paid sick leave at 2/3 the employee’s regular rate if they:
- Are caring for an individual subject to a quarantine/isolation order or self-quarantine
- Are experiencing any other substantially-similar condition specified by the US Department of Health and Human Services
Additionally, the FFCRA creates up to 12 weeks of paid sick leave and expanded FMLA leave at 2/3 the employee’s regular rate if they:
- Are caring for their child whose school or place of care is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 related reasons
What Your Handbook Needs to Address
In your COVID-19 handbook addendum, you need to explain to your employees:
- How much paid leave they are entitled to (see above)
- Procedures for application/approval of paid leave
- Procedures for communication/check-in during paid leave
- Procedures for returning to work at the end of paid leave
Telecommuting or Work-from-Home Policy
Right now, safety is everybody’s number one concern, but after that’s addressed, continuing organizational momentum is the next concern. Given the variety of regional stay-at-home orders, work enablement for most businesses will require considerable expansion of telecommuting and work-from-home programs.
Your handbook should describe your telecommuting program and provide employees with an understanding of:
- Who is eligible to work from home
- How to apply for or request to work from home
- General expectations for work-from-home continuity
Anytime you transition an employee from the traditional office setting toward telecommuting, it’s important to have a formal agreement in place. That document should effectively be a contract that communicates:
- The approximate length of the work-from-home engagement
- The individual names and signatures of the employee and either their supervisor or an HR professional
- Attendance, time-logging, and overtime expectations
- Expectations for the use of company-owned devices and platforms from home
- Official communication platforms and expectations in terms of check-ins
- Procedures for expense reporting and reimbursement
Hour Reductions
Your COVID-19 addendum needs to address what will happen if your business cuts back employee hours or temporarily closes during this economic slowdown, including:
- Procedures for communicating with employees about hour reductions
- Employee rights during their time of reduced hours
- Continuity of employee benefits during their time of reduced hours
- Procedures for re-expansion of work hours down the line
- How employees with reduced hours can connect with employee assistance programs and other resources
- Communication expectations for employees whose hours have been reduced
Furloughs & Temporary Layoffs
Your handbook also needs to address how furloughs and temporary layoffs will be conducted during this tough time. This section needs to help employees understand how furloughs or layoffs will be conducted and how they can protect themselves and their families, including:
- Timeline for reevaluation of furloughs and layoffs
- Continuity of employee benefits during their time of furlough or layoff
- How furloughed or laid off employees can connect with employee assistance programs and other resources
- Expectations for employees during furlough or layoff
- Official communication platforms during furlough or layoff
- Reinstatement procedures for furlough’s end
Key Takeaways
COVID-19 has already significantly disrupted our business space, and it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. That’s why it’s so crucial every business creates an addendum to their employee handbook at this time to provide clarity, reassurance, and structure for employees during this tough time.
Remember:
- Your first priority should be protecting health and safety: How will you keep employees safe? How will they be expected to keep each other and your business safe?
- Your second priority should be work enablement: How will you ensure your employees are able to continue high-quality work through telecommuting, working from home, and other outside-the-box approaches?
- You also need to help employees understand how you will address work reductions, furloughs, and layoffs.
by Carolyn Kick | Apr 8, 2020 | COVID-19 Resources, Partnership Announcements
During these uncertain times, it’s more crucial than ever for the business community to come together and provide mutual support in ways that identify impactful best practices, connect colleagues with the tools they need to get work done, and ensure we’re all adapting to this new climate in the best way possible.
At Launchways, we’re proud of the work our partner network is doing, both in the greater Chicago area and nationwide, when it comes to B2B COVID-19 support. That’s why we wanted to take this time to shine a light on the work some of our closest partners are doing.
In this post we’ll explore some great services, promotions, and opportunities Launchways partners are offering right now, including:
- Free online COVID-19 training and e-learning modules
- FFCRA and CARES Act-compliant payroll & HR software
- Relief funding for businesses in need
- Free software to streamline HR & IT operations
- Virtual platforms for employee engagement & physical wellness
Paylocity
Who is Paylocity?
Paylocity is an HR and payroll technology company that’s earned a reputation for truly caring about their clients’ individualized business needs. They offer a full suite of HR software solutions, covering everything from benefits to employee engagement.
How is Paylocity supporting businesses during COVID-19?
Paylocity is unlocking the gate on their powerful Learning Management System (LMS), providing six months free for any business. Using the LMS, employers can connect their team members with education on COVID-19 safety and best practices while also providing free training on remote work management best-practices for supervisors.
They’re also providing six free months of their employee engagement and safety surveys to help businesses keep a finger on the pulse of their workforce, even as they work from home. Paylocity’s Community Portal (built into their mobile app) can also be used as an effective command center for employee communication, and it’s currently free for use.
How can businesses connect with Paylocity right now?
To connect with Paylocity’s library of coronavirus resources and learn more about the free services they are offering for businesses during this time, be sure to visit their COVID-19 Resource Page. If you are interested in learning more about Paylocity’s HR technology solutions, reach out to Launchways’ Paylocity partner, Aaron Liga, directly at [email protected].
Paycor
Who is Paycor?
Paycor specializes in bringing boutique HCM and HR services and technology to the small and medium-sized business community. They’ve been innovators in the B2B support space since 1990.
How is Paycor supporting businesses during COVID-19?
Paycor responded to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) swiftly and has completely updated their software to reflect all the new compliance requirements that went into effect on April 1. Their software also allows businesses to connect with the loans they need to provide paycheck protection for employees.
They’ve also built a COVID-19 Command Center, filled with resources and information for businesses hoping to maximize their understanding of what is going on right now and what is required in terms of response and compliance.
Most impressively of all, Paycor has created a $1 million relief fund to support small businesses, community organizations, and Paycor clients/partners during this time, providing direct funding to keep the small business space healthy.
How can businesses connect with Paycor right now?
To connect with Paycor and learn more about how they’re supporting businesses during this crucial time, be sure to check out their COVID-19 Command Center. If you’re interested in learning more about Paycor’s solutions, reach out to Launchways’ Paycor partner, Chloe Carter, directly at [email protected].
Rippling
Who is Rippling?
Rippling is an HR & IT work enablement platform that is designed to eliminate the logistical administrative work of running a company while also bringing together team members in powerful ways using the online space. Their platform makes life easier for employees and managers at every level of an organization.
How is Rippling supporting businesses during COVID-19?
Rippling is offering their entire platform completely free to new customers for the next six months. Their software has the potential to significantly lower the learning curve for businesses transitioning toward a remote work strategy and enable continuous productivity through ease of use.
Rippling believes it is important to offer their services for free in this moment, both to protect the short-term viability of businesses and to help stimulate a strong recovery, both from a work enablement and an innovation standpoint.
How can businesses connect with Rippling right now?
To learn more about Rippling’s powerful all-in-one platform, be sure to book a demo of how Rippling and Launchways partner to offer best-in-class technology with hands-on guidance from HR and Benefits experts.
LulaFit
Who is LulaFit?
LulaFit provides boutique wellness programs, fitness center management, and personal training for businesses, commercial real estate, and individuals in the greater Chicago area. Their work creates programs that are truly valuable and attract top talent and desirable renters.
How is LulaFit supporting businesses during COVID-19?
To keep people fit during social distancing and stay-at-home orders, LulaFit has launched LulaFit LIVE, a subscription-based service that provides their current subscribers complete wellness program continuity and offers a comprehensive online approach to physical and mental wellness for new members.
LulaFit LIVE contains both on-demand and live workout classes, allowing their customers to continue working with their current trainer and attend both personalized and group fitness experiences. In this way, LulaFit LIVE brings both the physical and social elements of working out or participating in a fitness program directly to people in their homes during social distancing.
How can businesses connect with LulaFit right now?
To connect with LulaFit and learn more about all the workout, lifestyle, and community resources available through LulaFit LIVE, For additional information, please reach out to [email protected]!
Takeaways
It’s a challenging time for all businesses right now, but it’s truly inspirational to see the way organizations are coming together for the greater good. At Launchways, we couldn’t be more proud of the work our partners and clients are doing to support the health of the business space in Chicago and around the country and world.
Remember:
- If you’re looking to strengthen your communication strategy and improve employee engagement during this time, be sure to contact Paylocity
- If you’re looking for HR & payroll software you know is FFCRA and CARES Act compliant, be sure to contact Paycor
- If you’re looking to simplify IT & HR to streamline operations during this time, be sure to contact Rippling
- If you’re looking to engage your employees and embrace a physical and mental wellness program specifically built for today’s challenges, contact LulaFit
by Carolyn Kick | Apr 7, 2020 | COVID-19 Resources, Employee Benefits
There’s never been a moment in recent history where access to healthcare and other employee benefits was quite so important. As we enter the predicted “surge week” here in the United States, HR and business leaders across the country are scrambling to determine how COVID-19 and the laws that have gone into effect this month will affect their employee benefits program.
The challenge is: everyone’s program and carrier are different, so there’s no one right answer to the question of “What does this mean for benefits?”
That means you’re likely going to have to work internally and with your benefits broker to figure out exactly how COVID-19, the FFCRA, CARES Act, etc. will impact your benefits program. With that said, however, we can provide you with some general guidance to ensure you’re asking the right questions, viewing your benefits through the right lenses, and doing everything you can to support your employees and continue your business in a compliant way.
In this post we’ll explore:
- Extension of benefits to cover COVID-19 care
- How your FSA grace period can spread out coronavirus-related expenses
- How special enrollment periods can help you connect employees with coverage right now
- What the FFCRA & CARES Act say about employee benefits
- The value of providing access to telemedicine as part of your benefits strategy
Benefit Extension During the Coronavirus Outbreak
Anytime you terminate an employee who is disabled or hospitalized or has a dependent who fits those criteria, benefits are generally extended until one of the following occurs:
- The terminated employee returns to work
- The terminated employee finds new work or access to coverage
- The terminated employee’s dependent/spouse is discharged from the hospital
Of course, with all the layoffs and furloughs surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, those requirements carry a heftier responsibility than ever before.
That means there is no benefit to terminating workers who are already away from the office due to COVID-19, as you will continue to remain liable for their family medical expenses. It’s not an advisable strategy to reduce your employee benefits program costs by terminating people.
Thanks to the Employee Retention Credit provided by the CARES Act, retaining those employees on FMLA leave may actually be advantageous in the long run, as they will decrease your tax burden.
Keep in mind that if you’ve already laid off employees, you’ll have to extend coverage to COBRA-eligible workers for up to 18 months if they don’t find new jobs.
Understanding the FFCRA’s Paid Leave Grace Period
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act significantly expanded paid leave for small and medium-sized employers, but it also provided a grace period of non-enforcement, which lasts through April 18th.
In essence, that means that employers cannot be punished for non-payment of employee leave until mid-month as long as they are acting in good faith and not delaying payments for reasons other than logistical constraints.
However, that doesn’t mean employers can negligently ignore the mandate until April 18th. If you’re dragging feet or waiting for the enforcement period to begin before playing by the rules, you could be putting your business at risk. The Department of Labor will be applying Sections 16 and 17 of the FSLA judiciously to minimize non-compliance and abuse of employees requesting leave at this time.
Leveraging Special Enrollment Periods
A special enrollment period represents any time where employees or individuals may enroll in health insurance outside of the typical renewal window.
While a national ACA special enrollment window has been shot down from legislation several times since the COVID-19 outbreak, several states have announced special enrollment periods for uninsured individuals and families looking to protect themselves during this crucial time.
If there’s a special enrollment period occurring in your state, it’s vital that you communicate that information to employees that previously opted-out of a healthcare plan and encourage them to get the care they need.
Encouraging Employees to Use Your FSA Grace Period Effectively
Flexible spending accounts, healthcare reimbursement accounts, and other benefits that help employees fight out-of-pocket healthcare costs generally need to be used within a given calendar or plan year. However, employees usually have a few extra months to make sure they use those funds before they disappear. For example, if your plan year ended on December 31, that means your grace period likely extended through mid-March.
If your benefits program plan year ended in mid-January or later, your employees are likely still able to incur FSA or HRA expenses for plan year 2019. That’s good for you because it means that the funds your employees and their families need to fight COVID-19 and stay healthy might already be allocated to them from the prior year.
If your plan year ended in November or December, your grace period is likely over, but employees can still use FSA and HRA expenses to pay for the medications, treatments, doctor’s visits, and so on they need to survive this time. For those lucky enough to have plan years starting between January and June, employees will be able to “double-dip” this year, significantly increasing their ability to meet out-of-pocket medical costs.
The Value of Telemedicine
Telemedicine (access to doctors via video conference, phone call, etc.) has grown significantly over the last decade, and if it’s a part of your employee benefits program as you’re reading this, you’re already going a long way to support your employees during this challenging time.
Telemedicine is powerful because it gets employees a doctor’s appointment without the need to travel to the doctor’s office. During this time of social distancing, that technology has the power to provide care for patients without exposing them to the COVID-19 health risks that will be present in most of our U.S. hospitals for months to come.
If you’re offering telemedicine to employees, you need to be sure they’re aware of it and are clear on how to access it. Communicate via email blast with your team to help them understand what services are available through telemedicine and how they can access them.
If you’re not currently providing telemedicine opportunities through your employee benefit offerings, now would be a perfect opportunity to talk to your benefits broker about how to maximize access to care while minimizing the need to visit a doctor’s office.
Takeaways
As we said when we began, there’s no one answer to the question of “How is COVID-19 affecting my employee benefits program, and how can my employee benefits program help affect change in the fight against COVID-19?” You need to dive deep into your program offerings and speak with your benefits broker to understand what this really means for your business.
In the coming days and weeks, however, it will be important for everybody to think about:
- Benefits extension: What will the real cost be of laying employees off while also continuing to support their benefits? Can we maintain our team and leverage the tax credits of the CARES Act to keep us afloat this year?
- The paid leave grace period: How will we be sure we’re fully compliant with FFCRA leave requirements by April 18?
- Special enrollment periods: Is there one in your area? Can you help previously unenrolled employees protect themselves through special enrollment?
- FSA/HRA grace periods: Does your plan year allow for employees to use both 2019 and 2020 funds to fight coronavirus? If sure, make sure they know.
- Telemedicine: Are you currently offering it? Do your employees know? How can you start offering it if you aren’t already?
