The COVID-19 pandemic could lead to many questions unanswered for businesses and investors. To reduce the immediate impact of the outbreak, the foremost step must always be to focus on the emotional health of the employees. Business planning and execution in the era of CVOID-19 must focus on combatting anxieties amongst its employees through dissemination of accurate information about the virus, effective preventive measures, and how the business intends to operate during uncertain times.
Usually businesses formulate their disaster planning around events which have an element of certainty with its end date. This includes natural calamities like floods, fires or windstorms. However, there is a cloud of uncertainty around the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, which leads to a panic and a sense of helplessness for many people.
In this respect, companies must build trust amongst their employees through the alleviation of their fears regarding COVID-19. They can achieve this through proper communication regarding their response to COVID-19. The primary key to demonstrate a sense of control over the pandemic is by ensuring that employees have accurate information about the virus. Dispelling misinformation and spreading advice about simple, highly effective hygiene practices to the employees must be the core focus.
At the same time, it is also important to stay transparent about the businesses’ operations in the foreseeable future that will help to ease the anxiety amongst employees. Operations might demand a shift in the KPIs and new work processes which must be accordingly adjusted to cope up with the negative consequences of COVID-19.
It is obvious that many companies might be adjusting to the work from home model and digital conferences. However, these new adjustments will also be able to redefine how businesses will be operating in the future. So the positive side of the outcome is the adaptability towards the digital economy and tapping its full potential in business operations like training, travel, budgeting, or customer relations. For instance:
If digital conferences turn out to be as effective as in-person meetings, this could redefine the way we network and might even reduce budgetary costs involved in the conference set up.
In the end, companies must try to navigate the situation in such a way so that they maintain a sense of control amongst its employees while also being able to adapt rapidly. However, the urgent action must be to care for their employees emotional health and behavior, especially in the service industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic gives companies the opportunity to develop working methods that might become the norm in the future. This way they can manage through the crisis and emerge prepared for whatever comes next.
Source DBI at https://www.doing-business-international.com/
