It is now mid-March 2020, here in Australia the impact of the Corona virus has not quite taken hold in comparison with what appears to be taking place in places such as France and Italy. Their social legislation would be, at other times in western Europe, considered draconian. Restricting assembly and even walks in the park according to some sources. The UK is not much different with their recent laws implemented around social and community and sport gatherings. .
These are difficult times with the massive nosedive that has taken place in relation to the ASX over the past 3 weeks since the end of February and the impact this makes on people’s savings or investments or strategies around housing and getting on with life. Added to that is the fear of potential job instability as well as potential income. Schools are very likely to be closed which will add additional issues to families. Certainly a worrying season in particular for some and not to be taken flippantly.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has all sorts of implications for you, your colleagues, family and friends on a daily basis.
I think it’s reasonable to say that the actions we are seeing being taken around the world by governments, businesses and communities in general are unprecedented in our lifetimes and need to be acclimatised to. Few, if any of us here in Australia, will have experienced anything like this, and so it is understandable that many are naturally feeling anxious or confused. My observation is that there is a low hum of anxiety.
Within companies we partner with, some good and calm leadership has been shown. Leadership at a senior level have made themselves available. This cannot be underestimated in times like this. People & Culture teams or Human Resources, whatever such departments call themselves , have been active in relation to the strategies that need to be put into place, especially as the responsive doctrines of isolation and containment are asserted. Its in this space where you see leadership exercised.
The positive situation with companies in Australia seems to be learning from the experience of other companies overseas and predicting the course of government and business response. We have the advantage of a window of time Perhaps 2-3 weeks a month ago its now measured in days. Things change and adapt on a daily basis, which is rapid beyond our usual considered Australian pace. But this is there new reality. The issues that impact working families, such as childcare and schools and of an older cohort with ageing parents or of disabled family members will further need to be addressed as the Corona episode continues.
Many companies have implemented intranet which can be accessed from home and provides reliable information. Employees need to be reassured that Management are constantly monitoring this fast-moving situation and are evolving policies and organisational response to the virus at all unit or team levels. While the rule book and procedures are not thrown away, flexibility and new ways of dealing with work will be put in place. Working from home scenarios, or having emergency B teams will likely be put in place. It’s pretty obvious that larger companies have been rehearsing and working on worse case scenarios for months. But even then, the implementation is impacted by daily variables. Insightful questions from staff or conundrums that evolve are all useful to be dealt with and translated in to working solutions.
The bottom line with leadership at times like this, from Inwit’s perspective, has to be the primary one of taking all necessary steps to protect the health and well-being of employees and secondly to take measures that will ensure the survivability of the company so that people will have jobs to return to when this epidemic has passed.
Management and employees need to do everything they can to keep their business running in the best way possible given the unsettling circumstances. If companies have had business continuity plans in place, they are in a good position to survive.
For some industries such as mining, construction, demolition, and logistics, remote working from home is obviously not possible. Common sense will have to be applied to those sites. The same rules apply however of ensuring the safety and health of those who work for them and followed by the continuity and survivability of their company or product.
The next season of time will see people breaking away from office-based work. This means some of us may well be doing our jobs in a different way for a while if we cannot access our normal place of work. From my own experience living and working in during the 9/11 attacks with the SARS virus back in the early 2000’s, and the GFC I never lose sight of the fact that what we are currently dealing with, will pass. We just don’t know when, but it will.
Finally, a lot will unfold over the next few weeks. It may well bring a degree of disruption into our lives, we may be doing our jobs in different ways for a while, but with the right attitude and even keeping a sense of humour, we will get through this.
