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COVID-19 and your business

Several business owners are in confusion about the preparations they should make if COVID-19 (Corona Virus) spreads into their area. It is likely to happen that people in the businesses we deal with, will be exposed to the COVID 19 virus, and people may get sick.

Here’s what you can do today:

Masks are not the only protection from you catching the virus. Only use a mask if you start coughing, or going to a public place.

Wash your hands often. Use an alcohol wipe after shaking hands.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth if you have not washed your hands.

If people get sick or have a fever, send them home. Have them put on a mask before seeing their physician.

Checkup on elderly people you know who don’t go out much. Make sure they are well. They have their medications.

Covid-19 and your business

Most of the casualties are from people who have underlying physical ailments already. So those are the people to watch out for.

  • Set Staff Expectations
    Convey the HR Policy to the staff, regarding Sick Leave, Personal Time Off, or Vacation pay. Staff may have to use those if they are sent home, so let them know up front where they stand.
  • Allow staff to work remotely
    Allow your staff to work from or remote location by providing them facilities required to serve clients. Have a check-in policy when they are working remotely.
  • Banking
    Make sure you can deposit checks and pay bills without having come to the office. Be on the lookout for fake Invoices and “Late Bills”. The bad guys are using this as a way of stealing money from businesses. If in doubt call us to review the veracity of the emails. And call the number that you have on record, not the one in the email that you were sent.
  • Hire Virtual Assistants
    We understand that there may be a lot of things that you can’t deal with single-handedly. You can go for virtual assistant services and hire a VA to help you with simple yet repetitive tasks. Your VA can take care of Administrative, Personal, Real Estate, Social Media, etc tasks easily from a remote location. Our VA plans start as low as $6/hour for all types of services.
  • Collaboration Tools
    Use Sharepoint, Onedrive, and Teams to collaborate on projects. You can sync files, but it won’t preserve file locks, so not of much use for AutoCAD and Revit users.
    Consider using Zoom/Teamviewer/AnyDesk to hold meetings. You can set up and manage accounts, for staff at a lower price than going direct. Cameras and USB/Bluetooth headsets make it easier to hold a meeting and collaborate.
  • Prepare your phone system
    Most modern VOIP systems can route calls to people’s mobile numbers. There are softphone apps that allow calling back through the office so the numbers are not exposed. Those of you on Cytracom phone systems can shift the calling to users’ cell phones in a couple of clicks.

In the Future

Get a flu shot every year, get it early in the year.

Keep hand sanitizer in the office, especially in conference rooms.

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