COVID-19 And Your Business

Most of us are doing our best to comply with the COVID-19 stay at home order.  However, there are also many of us who still must go to our place of work.  Here are some things you can do to help maintain safety and financial health for your business, employees, and clients in the workplace during this time of uncertainty.

We recommend you check with your City, County, State, OSHA, Department of Health, and other agencies for provided employer guidelines, as during this COVID-19 event, policies can change daily.

COVID-19 Workplace Safety Tips

• Keep the lights on.
• Do not leave any valuables clearly visible or accessible.
• Mandate all employees wash hands frequently and provide antibacterial supplies.
• Develop an Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response Plan.
• Restaurants that offer takeout services should remove all tables and chairs.
• Provide gloves for staff to use when cleaning, and frequently clean rooms and any areas to which people have access.
• Limit food sharing.
• Disinfect surfaces like doorknobs, tables, desks, and handrails regularly.
• Use videoconferencing for meetings when possible.  When not possible, hold meetings in open, well-ventilated spaces.
• Consider adjusting or postponing large meetings or gatherings.
• Add COVID-19 information and updates on your webpage and social media sites.
• Limit non-essential work travel.
• Consider regular health checks including temperature and respiratory symptom screening, of staff and visitors entering buildings (if feasible).
• Require workers who are ill to stay home.
• Consider posting “NO TRESPASSING” signage.
• Create a communications plan.  Review your employee and client needs.  Who are the key stakeholders with need for information from your organization?  What information do they need, who needs it first, and for what purpose?
• Disable access to your public WiFi network.
• Deactivate any nonessential reoccurring deliveries or services that bring extra people into your workplace.
• Make regular site visits to monitor your shop/business and manage inventory and storage conditions.  Consider randomizing the times this is done to avoid establishing a detectable pattern.

Be Aware of COVID-19 Scams

The FCC offers the following tips to help you protect yourself from scams, including coronavirus scams:

§  Do not respond to calls or texts from unknown numbers, or any others that appear suspicious.

§  Never share your personal or financial information via email, text messages, or over the phone.

§  Be cautious if you are being pressured to share any information or make a payment immediately.

§  Scammers often spoof phone numbers to trick you into answering or responding.  Remember that government agencies will never call you to ask for personal information or money.

§  Do not click any links in a text message.  If a friend sends you a text with a suspicious link that seems out of character, call them to make sure they weren't hacked.

§  Always verify the authenticity of a charity (for example, by calling or looking at its actual website) before donating.  (Learn more about charity scams.)