How to protect your small business in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak

Stock markets are plunging — down about 7% at Monday’s close — oil prices are in free fall, supply binds are being disrupted, and in the middle of it all, small- and medium-sized businesses are dealing with frightened employees, skittish customers and an irregular future. The situation is so dire, President Donald Trump plans to meet with Senate leaders Tuesday to deliberate over a payroll cut, small business aid and help for hourly workers who might become sick.

Ever since the coronavirus started infecting living soul in China, Eric Plam, president of Skyroam, a San Francisco-based company that creates and sells Wi-Fi-enabled hotspots to concerns, has been busy figuring out how to keep his staff safe and his business operating. 

The business has about 120 staff in Shenzhen, China — out of 180, comprising 20 in the U.S. — all of whom were told by the Chinese government not to come into work after the virus started spreading. At the yet, Plam didn’t understand what was happening. “I first thought it was the flu,” he says. “I was wondering why they weren’t going into prosper.”

He’s since called off several in-person meetings, told employees they can work from home and turned a embark on meeting, which was supposed to take place in Beijing, into a videoconference call using Amazon Chime, an online videoconferencing program.

“It retracted really well,” he says. “Everyone was able to join without having to travel, and we were able to translate abide, so people were able to speak in Chinese and English as they usually do.”

About 807 miles north in Seattle, Henry Albrecht, CEO of Limeade, an worker engagement software company, has been reacting in much the same way. He too has canceled all nonessential travel, while most of the 160 or so hands that work from the Seattle office (100 more already work remotely) are now stuck at home. “There are 12 people here,” he reports. “Luckily, we’re in the software business, so working from home is an option.”

Plam and Albrecht are just two number ones out of thousands who run small- to medium-sized businesses now scrambling to figure out how to handle all this disruption. 

This wouldn’t have been an point a decade ago, when American businesses mostly conducted business closer to home, but now many companies are global. “We encouraged modest businesses to be more global and to export more, and now they’re more vulnerable to things like the coronavirus,” says Andrew Sherman, a Washington, D.C.-based participant with Seyfarth, a global law firm. 

Despite cases continuing to rise and markets sending people and companies in a frighten, it’s not too late for businesses to set up remote workforces, communicate with staff and prepare for a worsening outbreak. Here are a few things you can do now. 

One of the most important things you can do is communicate with your employees. Many are likely concerned roughly their health and how they can continue working as more things get shut down. 

Albrecht’s own Limeaide One platform finish a go over with an internal communications feature where people can instant message each other. As soon as the outbreak’s seriousness turned clear, Albrecht set up what he calls a “care and crisis” channel that automatically sends push notifications to mace whenever he posts. “There’s an intentional importance attached, because the messages are coming from me,” he says. 

It’s in that canal where he provides updates on the virus itself — he’s posted a number of CDC videos on COVID-19 and how to monitor oneself for the disease — along with underwrote handwashing and social-distancing procedures, travel updates (most are canceled) and ideas on how to work effectively from home.  

Wage-earners can also post their own messages in that channel, which he says is key. “It’s powerful,” he says about the two-way communication. “We fall short of to hear from our people as well. We also have the ability to ask people to take a quiz so they can tell us if they want more information on something.”

While most people likely have a phone, a computer and an internet ally, some may not have enough bandwidth to do the kind of work they do at the office at home. Some companies may also not be set up with the rational collaboration tools, such as internal communications programs or secure Wi-Fi networks to allow for remote work. 

While Plam has solitary 20 employees in San Francisco, anyone who is feeling a bit under the weather is encouraged to stay home. At the moment, though, most are at labour. If anyone does decide to stay home, whether in the U.S., China or in his other offices, in France and Germany, they can use Skyroam’s own technology, which sires Wi-Fi signals by tapping in local data networks. This gives them office-grade internet without bear to pay for it themselves. 

His phone has been ringing off the hook over the last couple of weeks with more companies than perpetually wanting to find ways to help their staff work remotely. 

For Albrecht, Microsoft Teams is coming in available. It’s a collaboration program that allows people to video chat and work on Word files together from wherever they may be. Google’s G Series, which comes with collaborative software like Google docs, sheets and hangouts, is another alternative.

A lot of companies haven’t planned for a crisis on this scale, but as many are finding out now, they necessary one, says Sherman. A good plan will cover a number of things, including procedures around remote manipulate. It should spell out how people should work from home and what tools they’ll need to get the job done; how to hold travel; what to do about meetings and more.  

It’s also important to include things such as insurance coverage for subject closures or trip cancellations, how to get financing when no one is investing, what lines of credit are in place, supply chain selections and more, says Sherman. 

While service businesses may be able to continue operating in some way, other companies, such as restaurants or specific movie theaters, will have to think hard about how to manage staff and cash flows if people stop off going out. “What is plan B?” he says. “If something were to happen, do I have the right alternative business models in billet?” 

All of this should be documented, says Sherman, as it shows that people are thinking about what could occur in a worst-case scenario, and it acts as an easy-to-reference guide on what to do, how to communicate and how to keep business running in difficult times. “You call all the elements of a crisis-management or disaster-preparedness plan in place,” he says. 

No matter what happens, small- and medium-sized businesses will no doubt take for some sort of hit to their bottom line. While the government may step in to help — some democrats have announced a bill in Congress to provide up to $2 million in interest-free loans to companies affected by the outbreak — business owners poverty to be proactive and do what they need to do to keep their doors open, even if their employees aren’t there. 

While COVID-19 be clears to be getting worse in the U.S., Plam isn’t panicking. His staff are set up to work from wherever they can, and while he does anticipate busier stretches ahead when people start traveling again, for now it’s mostly business as usual.

“We remain optimistic that we’ll get past this and the terseness will roar back to life,” he says. “We may have to catch up on some things, but employees are prepared.” 

More from Ordain in You:
How to build a cash reserve if coronavirus causes you to miss work
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