Tag: human resources

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Give managers the time they need to sharpen up their all-around skills

timeclock, wage and hour, schedule, timesheet rounding

How to improve manager effectiveness seems like a loaded question.

Sure, there is always room for improvement. But how do you improve the effectiveness of a manager who shares responsibilities in almost every aspect of the business process? There are business operations including onboarding and offboarding, compliance and regulations, and scheduling shifts.

A manager also is involved in training, coaching and motivating staff. Sometimes they even play the role of staff psychologist. In short, a manager is an organization’s Swiss army knife.

Which leads to another question: If you are seeking ways to improve manager effectiveness, what blade of the knife gets sharpened first?

Manager basics

At its core, a manager’s job description lists overseeing daily operations, ensuring employee productivity, monitoring efficiency of all processes and creating a positive workplace environment. Because there are nuances to every aspect of a manager’s responsibilities, freeing up time could be the biggest perk an employer could provide for their supervisorial staff. By implementing workforce management solutions, employers empower their managers to make the right business decisions in less time through software solutions.

For those managing an hourly workforce, Workforce.com’s Live Wage Tracker software allows supervisors to see wage costs in real time and adjust staffing levels and assignments to drive profitability. Every shift becomes a profitable one, and because sifting through endless reams of paperwork is no longer necessary, a manager can concentrate on other ways to drive productivity and trim costs.

Creating effective managers

Managers rarely just materialize. A high-performing employee doesn’t necessarily make a great manager. The process takes patience and time — a rare commodity for managers in most businesses.

According to Great Place to Work, effective leaders should define the most important behaviors for great managers at an organization. While certain characteristics of manager effectiveness are universal, the best insights come from identifying the unique behaviors that align with an organization’s mission, culture, customer needs and strategic goals. 

  • Find the managers inside an organization who build high-trust relationships. 
  • Interview these managers and ask them how they did what they did.
  • Use this information to identify behaviors that create a great work environment and share them across the organization.

 Once company leaders identify managers and their best practices, instill in them these ideals:

  • Work with teams, seek ideas from team members and involve them in decisions that affect them.
  • Recognize employees, especially by calling out accomplishments and helping employees get ahead in their careers.
  • Inspire employees to follow by showing them that leaders are competent, honest and reliable.

What managers need from employers

Equip managers with the solutions to work smarter so they will be more productive throughout their work day. The result is an efficient workplace and a supervisor who can create a work/life balance for themselves.

Managers are constantly looking for ways to be more efficient with their time. Provide the leadership and perspective to manage their time. Encourage and help managers to: 

  • Establish their priorities.
  • Break big projects into small tasks.
  • Use a to-do list in the right way.
  • Eliminate distractions.
  • Avoid procrastination.

 Perhaps the most important tool in a manager’s arsenal is time. Through workforce management software, time becomes an ally for a manager rather than an opponent. Implementing Workforce.com’s Live Wage Tracker platform provides actionable data that empowers managers to react quickly and confidently to unexpected changes and keep things running smoothly throughout the day.

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COVID-19 is not an excuse for age discrimination

workforce management software; hr tech
Consider these headlines:
While there’s still a lot we don’t know about COVID-19, one of the things we do know for sure is that is much more greatly impacts people age 65 and above.
Indeed, according to the CDC, 80.6 percent of all coronavirus deaths are in that age bracket. These fatality rates might explain why you might want to protect your older workers by forbidding them to come into work or by placing them on leaves absence.
Here’s the thing, however. Employment discrimination laws hate paternalism. While you might be acting from a place of good intentions to protect your older workers from a potentially deadly exposure of COVID-19 by keeping them away from the workplace, that’s not your choice to make. Only the employee can make that choice.
The EEOC confirmed this guidance in an updated FAQ on COVID-19 and antidiscrimination laws it published late last week.

The ADEA would prohibit a covered employer from involuntarily excluding an individual from the workplace based on his or her being 65 or older, even if the employer acted for benevolent reasons such as protecting the employee due to higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

Unlike the ADA, the ADEA does not include a right to reasonable accommodation for older workers due to age. However, employers are free to provide flexibility to workers age 65 and older; the ADEA does not prohibit this, even if it results in younger workers ages 40-64 being treated less favorably based on age in comparison.

If you force older workers to stay away (even if it’s for their own protection), you are almost certainly committing age discrimination. Their health, their choice. Don’t make it for them.
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‘I was terminated for refusing to wear a Trump 2020 face mask.’

coronavirus, mask, reopen

Ohio requires that all employees wear face masks or other face coverings as a condition to any business reopening that (subject to a few limited exceptions). The only rules are that the mask cover the employee’s nose, mouth, and chin. There are no other requirements about the nature of the mask or face covering, including its design or style.

One southern Ohio business, The Village Inn restaurant in Farmersville, is testing the mask-requirement waters by requiring its employees to wear “Trump 2020” masks.
Worse, it’s firing employee who refuse.
Or at least that’s what Kris Hauser, a former waitress of the restaurant, claimed happened to her in her viral Facebook post describing her termination.

The owner then approached me again and stated I needed to wear my Trump 2020 mask. I responded and told him I would wear it, but I would wear it inside out (which a majority of employees had been doing already for the days prior).

The owner, Scott, told me “No, you will wear it with Trump 2020 facing out for people to see.”

I told him I would not do this and he said that I needed to leave.

Your first inclination might be to say, “Jon, Ohio, like every other state besides Montana, is an at-will state, meaning that an employer can fire any employee for any reason, good or bad. And just last Thursday you told us that there are only a few states that ban political opinion discrimination, and Ohio isn’t one of them. So while many will feel that Kris Hauser’s termination is morally and ethically reprehensible, I don’t see anything unlawful about it.”
While Ohio is an at-will state, it recognizes several key exceptions to employment-at-will, including a tort claim for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. What does this mean? I’ll let the Ohio Supreme Court explain:

In order for a plaintiff to succeed on a wrongful-termination-in-violation-of-public-policy claim, a plaintiff must establish four elements: (1) that a clear public policy existed and was manifested either in a state or federal constitution, statute or administrative regulation or in the common law (“the clarity element”), (2) that dismissing employees under circumstances like those involved in the plaintiff’s dismissal would jeopardize the public policy (“the jeopardy element”), (3) the plaintiff’s dismissal was motivated by conduct related to the public policy (“the causation element”), and (4) the employer lacked an overriding legitimate business justification for the dismissal (“the overriding-justification element”).

In other words, if a termination offends a clear public policy of the state, and the employee does not have any other remedy to redress the termination, the employee can sue in tort for the wrongful discharge.
In this case, Ohio has a clear public policy against employers influencing employees’ political opinions—Ohio Revised Code section 3599.05, which criminalizes employers that make expressed or implied threats “intended to influence the political opinions or votes of his or its employees.”
That’s exactly what The Village Inn did in imposing its “Trump 2020” mask requirement under threat of termination. And it’s not too far off the mark from Kunkle v. Q-Mark, Inc. (S.D. Ohio 6/28/13), which refused to dismiss a public policy claim based on section 3599.05, after the employer allegedly threatened employees with termination if President Obama won re-election, and allegedly fired the plaintiff after she stated she voted a “straight Democratic ticket.”
I’ve never been shy about calling out an employer that has wronged an employee. The Village Inn has wronged Kris Hauser. The internet has already spoken. I hope Ms. Hauser finds a lawyer to take her case and the courts have their say as well.
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Shift swap software empowers managers and employees to take charge of scheduling

shift scheduling for hourly restaurant workers, shift swap

Employers must have been taking notes from athletic coaches when they started naming shift schedules. The 2-3-2, the DuPont, four on four off, and going EOWEO all sound like a defensive strategy or a trick play. (For the record, EOWEO stands for Every Other Weekend Off, not a signal to Tom Brady to throw the football to Rob Gronkowski.)

Whatever the terminology, shift schedules remain the lifeblood of an hourly workforce. Whether it’s 12-hour shift schedule types or a traditional 24 hours on and 48 hours off scheduling system for firefighters, shift swapping also is a key tool for employees and managers to maintain both consistency in staffing levels and  a vibrant, engaged talent pool.

Accommodating a shift swap

Shift swapping lets an employee request to work one of their shifts and in exchange, work one of that colleague’s scheduled shifts.

Establish a written policy that provides clear guidance to staff while simultaneously ensuring the organization’s needs are met. Make sure the policy is clear and easy to understand. Don’t overcomplicate it; the simpler the better. Implementing an easy-to-use shift swapping software simplifies the process, which can otherwise bog down into an arduous, overly complicated back-and-forth among employees that wastes everyone’s time.

Benefits for employers 

A manual, paper-based shift swapping policy that relies on employees scrambling to cover for each other is a risk at best and a chronic, chaotic scheduling disaster waiting to happen. Managers play an integral role in closely monitoring shift swapping. Their oversight assures that every shift will be fully covered. 

Through innovative workforce management technology, managers can approve shift swaps with complete oversight of costs and compliance. The technology empowers managers to: 

  • Control staffing levels — eliminating understaffing and overstaffing.
  • Monitor so staff members swap shifts with colleagues who have similar skills and experience.
  • Lower the potential for no-show employees.
  • Reduce overtime.
  • Create a deadline for shift swaps.
  • Distribute unwanted shifts fairly and evenly among all employees.
  • Customize to control cost, employee availability, qualifications and fatigue management.

Benefits for employees

Employees have lives away from work, and there are times when they need to get a shift covered. Family issues, a sudden illness or a day away for mental health, if the shift is claimed, the employee will be free to take the day off. If not, the employee remains responsible for the shift. Shift swapping software allows employees to: 

  • Post the shift for all fellow employees to see.
  • Control their own schedules.
  • Get a shift covered quickly and easily.
  • Create a more complete work/life balance.
  • Build camaraderie and teamwork through communication.
  • Earn additional money by picking up extra shifts.

With the freedom that employees will enjoy through shift swapping technology, managers still control the approval process and hold the power to override a shift swap in case a specific exchange is seen as unworkable or create unnecessary costs.

Shift swap software allows managers to prevent employees from constantly posting their shifts and become a stand-in for requesting time off.

Additionally, no one benefits from the employee who continually volunteers to work day after day after day, double shifts and late night-early morning shifts. Managers can track that employee and curb shifts and hours, since there is the potential for burnout as well as safety concerns for fellow employees.

Finally, misunderstandings over a missed shift are a thing of the past. Shift swapping technology puts the responsibility to fill the shift squarely on employees. Managers OK the swap, leaving them with more spare time to do things other than babysit the schedule.

Organizations need a reliable employee scheduling plan while employees want job flexibility that adapts to life outside of work. With Workforce.com’s shift-swapping software, a carefully planned shift swapping policy manages employee costs, accommodates employer and employee needs and ensures that both get the schedule they want.

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A technology integration is an intervention to dissolve common payroll errors

pay for performance, payroll, compensation

Paying employees accurately and on time should be a forgone conclusion for employers. But that’s not always the case.   

Incidents of unfair pay practices have surfaced since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Lawsuits involving wage discrimination and unfair compensation practices also can cost an employer tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

According to law firm Seyfarth Shaw, wage-and-hour settlements are a leading cause of litigation exposure for corporations and that HR leaders must focus on prevention. While the majority of companies are fair and honest regarding their compensation practices, errors can occur. Prevent those mistakes from creeping into your compensation function by integrating workforce management software with your payroll software.

Eliminate the mistakes

Wage-and-hour lawsuits are unnecessary and largely avoidable. Payroll integrations in your tech stack can help ease a complex, arduous process fraught with opportunities for mistakes.  By integrating a payroll system with Workforce.com’s platform for automated timesheet exports and calculations, a company can negate costly wage-and-hour lawsuits.

  1. Poor record keeping and data entry. Mismatching names and Social Security numbers is so common that, according to AllBusiness.com, the Social Security Administration has established a special verification phone number. Errors in data entry and poor recordkeeping of employee hours can result in costly government penalties.
  2. Misclassifying employees. The number of temporary employees and independent contractors continues to grow among the labor force, and organizations constantly confront problems in properly classifying those workers. Are they exempt or nonexempt employees? Are they an independent contractor or an exempt employee? While the Fair Labor Standards Act provides protections for most employees, it’s still easy to slip up on employee classifications without an integration of workforce management software into the payroll function. If neglected, it can turn into a costly payroll error.
  3. Miscalculating pay and overtime. Poor time-tracking capabilities can lead to miscalculated pay. There are guidelines that must be followed when determining overtime, and miscalculations can be costly. Besides overtime, there are commissions and paid time off, among other things to track. State policies vary and it’s a best practice to default to the law that is more generous for the employee. Workforce.com’s payroll integration technology can help retool poor time tracking capabilities.
  4. Adherence to pay deadlines. Payroll is the basic bond between employer and employee. While payroll should function like a well-oiled machine, missing deadlines can happen. Payroll technology can help with establishing a payroll calendar that encompasses deposits as well as timely payroll tax filings with federal and state agencies. Remember, late deposits can result in penalties and interest charges. Oil up the payroll machine and set up timelines both internally for paydays and externally for taxes for a smooth payroll process.
  5. Mishandling garnishments and child support. An employee may owe money through a court order to other parties. Payroll is responsible for sending the money to the appropriate person or agency.

Avoid payroll errors

To avoid costly wage-and-hour lawsuits, HR and business leaders should keep these tips in mind:

  • A reliable payroll software program maintains accurate time-keeping and record-keeping practices through up-to-date systems.
  • Supervisors must recognize the differences between exempt and nonexempt employees.
  • Rather than hide it until it’s too late, encourage managers to proactively report wage issues.
  • Conduct wage-and-hour audits to ensure correct classification of employees.
  • Assess your independent contractors. 

Keep payroll mistakes from disrupting your organization by investing in payroll software. Workforce.com’s payroll system integration technology works seamlessly with more than 50 different payroll systems. Process your payroll minus the long hours, avoid the errors and easily run reports, file taxes and distribute pay stubs.

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Do Lake of the Ozarks employees sent home from work qualify for paid sick leave under FFCRA?

flu season coronavirus, fever

Last week I discussed how to handle employees who are not social distancing outside of work.

My thoughts were spurred by videos of employees partying over the Memorial Day weekend at Lake of the Ozarks and elsewhere around the country.

I said the following:

I would also place any employee who violated social distancing rules outside of work (whether the information is volunteered on a self-assessment or discovered through a viral video) on a mandatory two-week unpaid leave of absence and require a quarantine as a condition of continued employment.

It looks like I might have a reader in Lincoln County, Missouri.
According to KSDK, employers are mandating unpaid leaves of absence and quarantines for employees who spent their holiday weekend amid the throngs at Lake of the Ozarks, The story also quotes an attorney who says that placing an employee on an unpaid leave of absence, under those circumstances, might violate the FFCRA’s requirements for paid sick leave for an employee “advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.”
I completely disagree, and the Department of Labor has my back.
Take a look at Question 77 to the DOL’s FFCRA Questions and Answers:

May I take paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave under the FFCRA if I am on an employer-approved leave of absence?

It depends on whether your leave of absence is voluntary or mandatory. If your leave of absence is voluntary, you may end your leave of absence and begin taking paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave under the FFCRA if a qualifying reason prevents you from being able to work (or telework). However, you may not take paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave under the FFCRA if your leave of absence is mandatory. This is because it is the mandatory leave of absence—and not a qualifying reason for leave—that prevents you from being able to work (or telework).

In other words, if an employee’s leave of absence is the employer’s choice, as is the case in the Lake of Ozarks example, then the employee does not qualify for FFCRA paid sick leave, because it’s not a COVID-19 medical recommendation or quarantine that’s preventing the employee from working but the leave of absence.
It’s no different from a furlough, for which employees also do not qualify for FFCRA paid leave. As long as you place an employee on leave before they tell you they’ve been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine because of COVID-19 concerns, you shouldn’t have to worry about paying the employee for that leave under the FFCRA.
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Justice Department indicts employee for COVID-19 workplace fraud

COVID-19, coronavirus, public health crisis
In mid-April the FBI warned employers to be on the lookout for fake COVID-19 diagnoses, doctors’ notes, and other coronavirus-related documents from employees.
The Justice Department has now indicted the first employee for committing this new breed of fraud.

Santwon Antonio Davis has been charged with defrauding his employer by allegedly faking a positive COVID-19 medical excuse letter, causing the employer to stop business and sanitize the workplace. Davis has since admitted that he did not have COVID-19. …

According to the … charges and other information presented in court: The defendant, who was employed by a Fortune 500 company with a facility located in the Atlanta, Georgia area, falsely claimed to have contracted COVID-19 and submitted a falsified medical record to his employer. In concern for its employees and customers, the corporation closed its facility for cleaning and paid its employees during the shutdown. This caused a loss in excess of $100,000 to the corporation and the unnecessary quarantine of several of the defendant’s coworkers.

You can read the full affidavit submitted by the U.S. attorney in support of the criminal complaint here. (Disclaimer: Mr. David is presumed innocent until proven guilty.)
This is as good as time as any to remind you of the steps can you take if you think an employee is faking a coronavirus diagnosis.
  • Pay attention to inconsistencies on notes and other documents in fonts and spacing, or grammatical or spelling errors.
  • Look for computer-generated, versus hand signatures.
  • Compare legitimate medical excuse letters from health care providers to be aware of their typical format and structure.
  • Contact the medical provider to authenticate the document (after first providing the employee the opportunity to authenticate).
Be alert, because it’s fair to assume that as more employees return to work, more employees will try to take advantage.
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Is your business ready for the COVID-19 golden age of union organizing?

union

“Among the many lessons we will learn from the COVID-19 pandemic is its demonstration of the importance of union membership for essential workers.

“Of all the injustices exposed by the pandemic, the risks faced by non-union workers have become the most apparent. Non-union workers are being asked to risk their safety with little or no protections of their own.”

— Gary Perinar (executive secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters), The importance of unions is more obvious than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago Sun-Times, Apr. 30, 2020

One of the unexpected byproducts of the COVID-19 pandemic is a corresponding rise in union organizing.
This crisis has magnified attention on key labor union agenda items and talking points such as worker safety and higher pay. Unions have been pressing these issues not only for current members but also more importantly for potential members.
  • The Teamsters is backing Amazon warehouse workers.
  • The UFCW is helping organize Instacart shoppers.
  • The SEIU is funding fast-food activists and Uber/Lyft drivers.
Indeed, according to Richard Berman, the founder of the Center for Union Facts, this union activity is part of a much larger trend:
  • This is the first time since the early 1980s where I sense significant interest by employees in “collective action” and “3rd party representation”.
  • Gallup polling in 2019 shows the 18-34 demographic has a 69% approval of unions. In 2017, 76% of those joining unions were younger than 35.
  • Employees who feel they will be exposed to co-workers or customers who have the virus are communicating on Facebook and other platforms about their jointly held concerns. Union organizers have access to these conversations and are making themselves available to help.
  • Most current HR professionals have no history in dealing with a partial workforce rebellion. This will most likely happen in individual companies or it could be a wider industry movement in a city or region.
That last point might be the one most important to your business. “Most current HR professionals have no history in dealing with a partial workforce rebellion.” What should your business be doing right now to best prepare itself in the event a union starts talking to your employees? The best defense is a good offense. I recommend that employers adopt the T.E.A.M. approach to union avoidance:
Train supervisors.
Educate employees.
Affirm the open door.
Modernize policies.

1. Train supervisors. If a union is organizing, supervisors are likely to be the first people to know. They will also be the people who rank-and-file employees will come to with questions or concerns. Thus, supervisors need to know how to report, monitor and legally respond to union activity.
2. Educate employees. Employees should not be told that the company is anti-union, but why it is anti-union – competitive wages and benefits; a strong commitment to worker safety and health; positive communication between management and employees; a history of peaceful employee/management relations; management’s openness to listen to employees and handle their concerns without an intermediary; and an unwillingness to permit a third-party to tell the company and employees how to do their jobs. Of course, if this is just lip service, you might as well not say it at all.
3. Affirm the open door. Management should routinely round its employees up to learn what is happening within the rank-and-file and what they are thinking about. Management should walk the floor on a daily basis. It should also hold regular meetings with employees, whether in small sessions with HR or large town hall-style meetings. And management’s door should always be open to listen to employees’ concerns, offer feedback and adopt positive change when feasible and practical.
4. Modernize policies. In an ideal world, employee handbooks and other corporate policies should be reviewed and updated annually. I’ve yet to come across a company that does so this frequently. Issues to consider and review? Do you have a written statement on unionization? An open-door policy? An issue resolution procedure? Peer review? An employee bulletin board? An electronic communications policy? Most importantly, do you have a no-solicitation policy? It is the single most important policy to help fight labor unions.

No avoidance program is foolproof. No matter what steps are taken and no matter the quality of employee relations, every company is at some risk for a union organizing campaign. Some, however, are more at risk than others.
All businesses should strive to be an employer of choice for employees and not an employer of opportunity for labor unions. The steps you take before that representation petition ever arrives will help define whether you remain a non-union employer.
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Permanent working from home works well if you have the right technology

coronavirus, remote work, COVID-19, remote workforce

Remote work is not a new concept. Telecommuting grew as an acceptable business practice as technology rapidly advanced through the late 20th century and into the early 2000s.

Perhaps more importantly, working outside an office gained credibility as employers realized remote work increases productivity, improves employee morale and saves money.

Debating remote work pros and cons

The debate over the value of remote work has remained largely the same even as a wider swath of employees spend time outside a traditional office environment. One lingering argument against it is that there are too many distractions and the lack of a quiet place to focus on the task at hand. Yet a 2017 FlexJobs study found that just 7 percent of workers say they are more productive in an office setting.

As employers deliberate a remote workforce, the rapid evolution of workforce management technology has enabled more people to work outside the office. Professions once considered as chained to punching in and out immediately become more productive by starting and ending their day on the job.

Influencing expectations through technology

Innovative GPS-enabled technology now empowers remote employees to clock in and out simply by using their mobile device. Workforce.com’s GPS Clock-in features the longitude and latitude and provides employers with a real-time glance at each remote employee’s precise location.

With such dynamic, easy-to-use technology available, the challenge then becomes shifting organizational and managerial expectations surrounding remote work. Security is understandably a concern that can be allayed by a trustworthy, safe platform. Here is some insight to appease curmudgeonly employers that a remote workforce is indeed a boon to business.

  • Choose and vet the right employees for remote assignments. You don’t want your fledgling remote work program to be DOA.
  • Consider the effect on customers, co-workers and management.
  • Productivity expands since time is spent on the job, not traveling back and forth to punch a clock.
  • Set regular goals and objectives to be evaluated monthly, weekly or even daily.
  • Encourage ongoing feedback between management and the remote employee.
  • Online video programs allow for remote workers to visually participate in staff meetings and events.

No guessing where they are

Managers will quickly and easily know where remote staff is with the GPS Clock-in platform’s photo-verified system. While this provides peace of mind for employers knowing their workers are on the job, there also is a safety component involved.

In the event of an unpredictable natural incident, be it a sudden tornado warning, freak ice storm or an earthquake, employers can find peace of mind in knowing that resources are instantly available to check the location and safety of their remote employees.

The federal Office of Personnel Management cited improved emergency preparedness planning as a benefit of expanding its remote workforce. The agency also stated that remote work reduced employee commutes and provided cuts in real estate costs and energy use. Other positive outcomes included:

  • Improved employee attitudes.
  • Better recruitment and retention.
  • Improved employee performance.

As the number of employees working remotely increases every year, change long-overdue attitudes and adopt the right technology to build a vibrant, dynamic remote workforce. Enhance your business and put your remote workers in a position to excel in their jobs and boost productivity with Workforce.com’s GPS Clock-in platform.

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When an employee isn’t social distancing outside of work

coronavirus, mask, reopen

How did you spend your Memorial Day weekend? Mine was way more mundane than years past.

I watched my nephew receive his high school diploma and pre-record his valedictory address in an individual, family-only ceremony. We walked the dogs a bunch. We went to Lowe’s, masks on faces (the first store in which I’ve been inside other than a grocery store in over two months). I barbecued for my wife and kids.

Other people chose less COVID-appropriate holiday weekend activities.

This video is on Snapchat in the Lake of the Ozarks? Unreal. What are we doing?

Embedded video

Scenes like this one were repeated all over the country. Will you be surprised when COVID-19 cells spring up in two weeks linked to these mass gatherings? Because they will.
Here’s my question. What do you do if you see one of your employees in one of these social-gathering viral videos? Do you welcome him or her back into the workplace today with open arms?
I would not. I’d screen employees for risky behaviors during the holiday weekend or otherwise. Ohio already requires all businesses, as a condition to reopening, to “conduct daily health assessments by employers and employees (self-evaluation) to determine if ‘fit for duty.’” With the country reopen and summer upon us, I’d recommend adding two questions to this self-assessment
  • Did you take part in a social gathering in which you were within 6 feet of others? Being within 6 feet of others who do increases your chances of getting infected and infecting others.
  • If you attended a social gathering, was everyone around you wearing a mask or facial covering? Others within six feet of you not wearing masks increases your chances of becoming infected.
I would also place any employee who violated social distancing rules outside of work on a mandatory two-week unpaid leave of absence and require a quarantine as a condition of continued employment. (According to NBC News, the Kansas City health director has called for self-quarantine of all Lake of the Ozarks partiers.)
If an employee returns after being at one of these weekend parties and then tests positive, there is a really good chance that you will have to shut down your entire business (or at least a sizable part of it). Is this a risk you want to take? I wouldn’t, which is why I’d ask the questions and place anyone on an unpaid quarantine leave who answers “yes” or who I otherwise discover violated social distancing rules (such as if I see them on a viral video or photo.
We all have a social responsibility to help stop the spread of coronavirus. If an employee fails to play his or her part and chooses to act irresponsibly, I am not going to lose any sleep by sending them home for two weeks to protect the rest of my employees and their families, and my business and its continuing operations.