The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of fears and anxieties to people around the world, also raising a lot of concerns about businesses.
To prevent the disease from spreading, the two most popular measures are home quarantine and social distancing.
Health experts are united in social distancing as one of the most effective measures to “flatten the curve” of the disease and prevent people from getting infected.
For business, the responsibility to ensure social distancing is greater, since business owners need to maintain social distancing within their service areas.
Here are some of the most practical and effective tips businesses could use to avoid getting exposed to the deadly virus.
As long as your business caters to human traffic, you must observe the social distancing rule.
Set expectations regarding social distancing
This applies to both employees and customers alike. Don’t worry because they will understand it given the current circumstances.
Discuss the social distancing measures with your employees. Do the same by creating visual aids and tools that you can install inside your premises to make walk-in customers and clients aware of the social distancing policy in your business.
Restrict direct physical contact
One of the common methods of virus transmission is through physical contact, so making sure that you make people aware of avoiding physical contact within your premises is necessary. Avoid handshakes or hugs for now.
Make sure you have disinfectants available for use when physical contact is made to ensure that any or all parties inside the business premises are properly sanitised and prevent the disease from spreading.
Avoid mass activities or events
As much as possible, refrain from conducting social events in the next few weeks or months, or until the quarantine orders have been lifted. In case an event needs to push through, you can take advantage of online video conferencing services so you could stream your activities right from the comforts of your own home.
Meet people or clients virtually
You can set meetings through virtual chats or video conferences. This will immensely help with the need to avoid meeting face to face.
Encourage work from home
Make sure you equip your staff with facilities or equipment to allow them to work from home. This is the best time to take advantage of remote work capabilities, so make sure that you use this to your advantage.
Be open to flexible work schedules
You may want to consider planning for flexible schedules at work. You can assign your staff to work during different times throughout the day to ensure that you minimise the number of people present at the office when needed.
Establish additional space to encourage spacing in physical stores
You may need to consider developing additional space for bricks and mortar stores to increase the distance between customers or on-duty staff. For instance, you may want to spread apart workspaces or install see-through plastic or cellophane barriers to catch droplets and prevent fluids from getting spread around.
Take advantage of online services
In response to quarantine orders, you may need to rely on online services such as food or product delivery services. You can also adopt a pick-up only model, when possible.
Encourage your customers to avail of your website or call for service or when placing orders to avoid physical contact.
Minimise cash handling
Since money can be a medium for virus transmission, you may need to set-up a virtual or e-payment channel to accept payments.
Control or stagger customer flow
For businesses catering to walk-in customers and products for pick-up such as groceries, restaurants, etc. you may need to devise means to control or stagger the flow of customers by using visual aids or public address systems to help notify customers regarding social distancing.
With all these measures recommended, it would be wise to ensure that these are followed to help enforce social distancing and prevent the disease from spreading.