Questions to Ask of Company Leadership in a Time of COVID-19

As the novel coronavirus, now named COVID-19, pops up in countries around the world, with at least 81,000 infected and 2,770 dead at last count, many companies and organizations are finally waking up to the reality that even if infection does not affect them, the ripple effects created by major quarantines, reduced tourism, disrupted supply chains, silent factories, delayed products/games/movies and disrupted operations/glitchy work from home protocols certainly will. For businesses with already very thin margins, the coronavirus presents an existential threat; inevitably some will go bankrupt and have to close their doors.

There is no need to panic, but there is absolutely a need for intelligent preparation.

Stunningly, major video game and movie studios, oil and gas firms, and technology companies, as well as NGOs and other organizations, are only having business continuity and crisis preparedness meeting THIS WEEK. This seems incomprehensible given the long lead time they’ve had to pull their dusty plans off a shelf or downloaded them off some forgotten folder in the company cloud. Many will find their existing plans to be sorely lacking, as most of these tackle things like active shooters, power outages, company-wide tech glitches, and fires in the office, and often forego thinking about major geopolitical events beyond what’s plainly obvious and in their 10-K forms.

One US e-commerce firm specializing in apparel which finally bothered to check in on their Chinese suppliers this week, thinking they got back to work after the Lunar New Year, found out that the factories are still silent, and once they sell out their stock on hand, there’s no more coming. That means that people here in the US will lose their jobs since they have nothing to sell. Another firm is in similarly difficult straights- they supply a product that people don’t buy very often, and they have major competitors to whom they’ll lose market share, once they run out of stock already in the US. That means cutting back on ads, and that in turn means the industry publications that rely on their ad dollars will see their already tight budgets squeezed.

Political campaigns that thrive on getting candidates in front of huge crowds at rallies and into pricey dinners to shake hands with donors and voters are going to have to think about how to best protect their older or immunocompromised candidates while still courting voter support.

Will oil rigs have to be evacuated? Will movie studios be able to operate? What happens to rockstar stadium tours or major sporting events if people are afraid to attend? Will M&A deals fall through because teams cannot visit the firms they’re trying to acquire to conduct due diligence? How will schools deal with long closures? How will churches/synagogues/mosques deal with needing to turn people away from large gatherings? Will Amazon temporarily pause private home delivery and opt to only deliver to lockers? Will grocery stores be able to restock and shift labor toward pickup/delivery instead of in-store checkouts if people avoid going to the stores? Delaying an expected video game launch, principal photography on a movie, product releases, etc. is expensive and affects vendors, suppliers, resellers, etc.

It isn’t just clients who worry about these questions. The people who work at these firms and organizations need answers about the effects for their daily workflows. Now is the time to start asking questions of leadership. This isn’t just about keeping business travelers safe or deciding whether to attend an international business conference or convention.

All of the following questions don’t have easy answers, but for the average employee, there are several questions you should ask of leadership right now to see how well prepared they are and what measures they’re taking to adapt to likely challenges like city-wide mandated quarantines or recommended self-quarantines.

1. What protocols are in place to allow people to work from home? What steps need to be taken now to acquire the right licenses for teleconferencing or collaborative software? Are these platforms secure for sharing sensitive/company confidential information?
2. Will business/campaign travel be suspended? What are the specifics of the travel insurance policies that the company provides- does it cover medical evacuation?
3. What happens if someone in the HQ/office tests positive? How will the office be disinfected? Are there hand sanitizer stations everywhere?
4. If people work at a firm/campaign/small business where tele-work is impossible, what steps can be taken to better protect workers interacting with the public? Is the company stocking masks/gloves/hand sanitizer, etc?
5. What happens if a company or campaign needs to pause operations because the public fears coming to their events/hotel/restaurant/movie theatre, nightclub, etc? Will people be fired? Laid off temporarily, etc?
6. There are so many people working without sick leave, living paycheck to paycheck, who will be tempted to come to work even if they’re sick, potentially infecting others and creating big problems for small companies. If the company doesn’t offer sick leave, how can it address the issue of people not being able to afford missing work if sick?

Smart leaders should already have answers to these questions and be able to assure employees that specific steps are being taken to deal with short or long disruptions to normal operations. When it’s a question of health, and you’re worried about bringing a potentially severe respiratory virus home to your elderly parents or infant children, or potentially a serious financial challenge for your family, you can’t just trust that things are being handled. You need to know. And now is the time to ask.