THIS GUIDANCE is for supporting your employees who may be out in the field while other workers and people are restricted.
As their employer, your priorities are:
1. Ensure your employees have the proper personal protective equipment and supplies for the work they are doing.
2. Ensure your employees have the right information to safely and properly perform their work at this time.
3. Ensure your employees have the right information to represent the priorities of your business at this time.
This guidance is to help with item #3, and is in three parts (a, b, and c).
a) To help employees easily and quickly assure people that they are supposed to be out and working at this time, a letter, laminated card, or name tag with the following may be helpful:
Hello. I am out when most people are in.
Executive Order 202.6 and the New York PAUSE Act have declared my function to be ESSENTIAL.
My job is: [JOB FUNCTION] for [ESSENTIAL FUNCTION]
We are all responsible for the public health right now. Your responsibility may be staying at home, and mine may be heading out to work, but we’re doing this TOGETHER.
The “Job Function” is your employee’s job title. The “essential function” is the listed category from the order and Empire State Development Guidance, or the specific exemption your company has arranged through Empire State Development.
b) To help employees easily and quickly assure people that they who may have questions about how your company is handling things (rent, payments, continuity, and other pandemic-related concerns), give them this script, with a responsive person’s name and contact information included.
“I hear your concern. My job right now is [JOB]. Please send questions on company policy to [PERSON] and [contact information]. Right now I am going to do my job to the best of my ability, which will help keep things going, and I know [person] will do their job and get back to you.”
Why provide this script? It is critical to not leave your front line people without a reliable back-up employee to relay company-related concerns. This is bad for their morale, bad for productivity, and for your company mission as a whole.
c) To help employees help you, check in with them daily and LISTEN:
How are you?
What do you need to perform your work?
Is there anything you think we can be doing better?
Right now, your front-line people are best situated to help your business respond to public needs. Listen to them.
This guidance is very generic and is designed for small to mid-size companies without internal HR resources who must keep their valued people in the field. Please call us with questions.