So, you’d like your business to survive this goat-rope known as Covid-19? You have come to the right place.
What do you need to come out of the other side? Employees. So bite the bullet, and instead of laying off your employees, get them home working when they can.
Always add a dog picture when taking about serious stuff. Chewy makes all things better.
The ones you can’t send to work from home, consider paying them anyway. Yeah, revenue not there is a bitch. It may not be possible. But if you own a small restaurant/bar/taco stand, you can probably do curbside pickup or delivery. If that’s not possible, how about you bring your staff in 2 days a week to clean every stinking thing you have. Start with the ceiling fans and work your way down to the corners of the basement.
The same goes for really big companies. You can’t do this if you make widgets, but some widgets are crucial to the economy so you aren’t shutting down in any event. If, however, your widget is a whoopee cushion with a politician’s face on it, you might consider 1/2 pay for the duration. That way your staff comes back when it’s done. Or, if you haven’t done it in forever, and you have enough space in the place to make it work for social distancing, how about you do as above and get all of your inventory done, clean and repair equipment, and do the training you haven’t done in years because there’s no time to do it.
Big buildings – now is the time to keep your maintenance people employed. Clean that bathroom wall you’ve “wiped down” for decades. That thing is gross. I can point to the place I work – the bathrooms haven’t seen a “deep clean” in at least 10 years. Nasty. Get all the slow sinks fixed. Repair all the screwed up door closing equipment. Fix the noisy fan in the hallway. Clean all the carpets. Vacuum under the desks, not around them. Just because you sent all the people home with their computers to work, you shouldn’t let the janitorial people vanish. Keep them working. If you have 50 maintenance people in a building that covers a city block 14 stories high, you can keep them apart if YOU MAKE THE PLAN WORK.
Families shouldn’t be ignored. So, if you’re trapped, er, uh, lucky enough to be home with your family for a month, Start in the attic and work your way to the basement. Give the kids their lessons. Chat with your wife, but declutter and clean the joint. I have plans to be in the attic next week (it’s too danged cold up there right now) sorting out the dumpster bait. It won’t be bad, did two huge cleanings in the last 10 years, but stuff accumulates. Week after that is the second floor. My wife has been working on this stuff for months, so it isn’t bad – my room is a zoo, and needs some trash-bag therapy.
The basement is remarkably organized. I figure that’s about a 6 hour work to make it totally shipshape. But it will be done.
The point is, there are things to be done besides throwing one’s hands up in the air and giving up.
Not me, Buckwheat. Alfalfa and I are going to make this work – Darla has promised we will succeed. So, join in and let’s put on a show.
