Working Remotely in the Wake of the Novel Coronavirus
The novel coronavirus outbreak has sparked drastic measures to prevent its spread across the United States and on Wednesday was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. While companies are not required to institute remote work policies and there is no federal law that gives employees the right to work remotely during a public health crisis, many companies have already done so in the wake of the novel coronavirus. “This is an unprecedented, potentially severe health challenge globally,” Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, told a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. UC Berkley Labor law professor Catherine Fisk cautioned that employers should be thinking about both safety measures and benefits they can provide employees as they balance essential business functions with protecting their workers from this infectious disease. On March 2nd, Twitter was the first major US corporation to encourage its employees to work from home and Microsoft, Amazon and Google were not far behind. For companies who do not already have a remote work policy in place, here are a few things to consider as you create one:
- First determine who can and cannot work remotely. Do they have the tools necessary to complete their assignments? And if not, can their tasks be reconfigured to alternative ones that can be completed off-site? Can you shift their essential on-site assignments to personnel who can continue to work in the building?
- Next, audit your hardware and software to make sure employees have what they need to do their jobs from home. Do you have enough laptops for all employees? What other equipment will they need? What do employees have at home that can be appropriated for business use? Do all employees have remote access to your company servers? Can the servers you have handle the extra traffic they may experience if more employees are dialed in remotely? Make sure you have enough personnel ready to help with IT issues as novice users login from home and as your systems experience greater traffic flow. Provide training for employees to practice before a true crisis hits.
- Consider how you will collaborate with your employees and ensure all employees understand the plan. Will you use a team chat application like Slack? Enterprise Social network like Igloo? Web conferencing like Zoom? Make sure everybody has accounts set up and knows how to login. Offer time to take tutorials. Communication is key.
Threats like the coronavirus will create disruptions in our personal and professional lives. Employers and employees can create effective strategies now to deliver business goals. Use this time now to plan and prepare.