What does a snap lockdown mean for your business?

In an ever-changing landscape, business leaders have to continue preparing their organisation for the potential risk of a COVID-19 outbreak with lockdown protocols. Recent community transmission of the UK strain of COVID-19 caused the Queensland State Government to issue a statement announcing a three-day lockdown and increased restrictions across the Greater Brisbane Region. 

It is a healthy reminder that the threat of COVID-19 still looms even in countries that have so far managed to contain community outbreaks and bring the rate of community transmission to zero. Whilst the possibility of a full vaccine rollout is still in its infancy, there are other ways that businesses can continue operating without significant disruption. 

This can be achieved through the implementation of lockdown protocols for a COVID-19 outbreak. Read on to find out more. 

Health And Safety Planning

People are at the core of every organisation and it’s essential to maintain a working environment where everyone feels safe. In our recent Occupational Health and Safety Guide to 2021 Planning, we discussed several ways to implement the guidelines outlined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) into the workplace. 

Importantly, social distancing, wearing a mask, using hand sanitiser and regularly disinfecting objects and surfaces continue to be practical ways of improving health and safety. If you can, encourage your workers to continue practising these steps when they are outside the office as well. If an employee tests positive, require all employees to get a COVID-19 test and temporarily pause operations until the results arrive. 

Communicating any new workplace practices is key to their success. Be sure to display signage in high traffic areas, set up hand sanitisation stations and keep employees in the loop with emails or your communication platform of choice. This way you will be prepared for when community outbreaks occur and anticipate lockdowns. 

Successfully Working From Home 

One thing many office organisations have become familiar with this past year is working from home. This new normal of setting up a home office with a laptop and an internet connection allowed operations to continue and being ready to switch to a WFH model when lockdowns are introduced should be a part of every organisation. 

Many employees have welcomed the changes and demonstrated that it is possible to strike a balance between being in the comfort of home and continuing to work efficiently. That said, WFH has created numerous challenges along the way and keeping productivity up when your staff are experiencing disruptions like these can be tough.

To successfully Manage Your Remote Employees, leadership should maintain regular face-to-face meetings over digital tools such as zoom, outline the goals you are trying to achieve and equip them with all the necessary tools they need. 

Maintain Flexibility

What do you do when your business faces unexpected challenges? The way you frame problems is key to overcoming them. Instead of seeing challenges as the cause of an uncontrollable issue, look at them as opportunities for your business to learn and grow. 

Maintaining flexibility should formulate your business lockdown protocols because you need to expect the unexpected. You can Implement Effective Flexible Working in a few ways. Begin by preparing a flexible working policy, which outlines the type of flexibility that suits your business – this may be flexible hours, working from home or compressed workweeks. 

Additionally, establishing an innovative culture in your workplace is essential to creating new opportunities for growth. You can do this by supporting staff members that share new ideas and being open to integrating new technology and tools into the workplace. 

New Challenges Lay Right Around The Corner

Is your organisation ready for new challenges? Because chances are, your competitors will be. Connecting with an expert can provide you with the guidance needed to succeed. 

GB fosters strong partnerships with insurance carriers to ensure outsourced claims management provides unique value. We provide tailored claims management solutions to insurers, brokers, underwriting agencies, businesses and government departments. Learn more about how GB can support your organisation. 

This publication is not intended to offer legal advice or client-specific risk management advice. General descriptions contained herein do not include complete definitions, terms, and/or conditions, and should not be relied on for claims management interpretation. Actual claims and risk management policies must always be consulted for full coverage details and analysis.