Well, first of all, nobody would take advantage of this situation just for business opportunities. All we would like to praise is the Coronavirus outbreak gone and it would not affect our loved ones. Above all, health is far more important than money.
However, if we think positively, there is one thing we can do better as a leader of business: Let your employees work remotely.
While the school allows children off for a week in Vietnam, all of the festivals will be postponed, it is logical to think offices should be off as well. Office buildings are crowded with more than hundreds of people, everybody goes up and down in small-sized lifts, the chance the virus spread is high. And you sit there in around 8 hours, with people who were traveling up and down the countries, visiting their hometowns in Tet holiday, the chances to get viruses even higher.
Why shouldn’t a business take a few days off? Of course, it is the economic reason. If we cannot do it, work remotely is the solution. With companies embracing technologies, we can work across continents. We are in Vietnam and working for our clients all around the world. The clients believe in us, why shouldn’t we believe in our beloved colleagues and let them work from home. With tools like Jira, TFS for project management, Google Doc, One Drive for document management, Google meet, Zoom for online meetings and so on.., we have more than enough to do that. It is also the chance to practice work from home which all companies should embrace earlier. If you are in doubt, it is a chance to test it out.
Everybody knows the benefits of work remotely: save carbon footprint, save travel time, more focus and more productive…However, in this special case, in this special moment, when the Coronavirus is an outbreak, let your employees work from home show your appreciation to your employees not the “Employee appreciation party” you hold every year. Your employees will feel it. They will feel you truly care about them, not just treat them as a tool for you making money. They will have time to take care of their kids who are off school and fewer chances to get the virus and transmit it to their family. Their appreciation will boost productivity and help to reduce the turnover rate. They won’t look for a chance to jump on another job cause who wouldn’t want to work for a boss who cares about them. You will save a ton of money on recruitment and training.
Word-of-mouth effects: People start talking about this or that company let employees off or work from home. With the Wuhan virus is the hot topic of all conversations and all over social media like Facebook, your kind action to employees will spread out not just inside your company but all over the industry. Why don’t grab this golden chance to do good work and promote your company image.
What are you waiting for?
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