When We Start Working After Lockdown What’s Most Important: Protection, Privacy or Paychecks
With all the coronavirus upheaval of late, our work life has changed significantly over the past several weeks. From one week to the next, we experienced drastic changes in federal, state, and local government responses. Many of us began working from home for the first time, business as usual changed in creative ways to accommodate our customer base, while others tragically were laid off.
Gradually our isolation increased, and the uncertainty we experienced became ever more challenging as we read and watched the news, learning the nuances of the virus spread, false positives, re-infection, and unsettling neurological symptoms. With business closures and social distancing guidelines, we adapted. We were schooled on statistical modeling and learned about flattening the curve. Quickly, we learned exponents were something worth learning in math class because we would use them again as we wrapped our adult brains around the exponential growth of COVID-19.
Now, the latest news cycles consist of segments about the feasibility of reopening America’s businesses. As I think about the possibility of everyone getting back to work, it makes my head hurt. People are clamoring on both sides, with some taking their protests to the streets, albeit in cars. “Let’s do it next week,” they say. Others yell, “Let’s wait until next month,” while some insist, “Let’s wait until there’s a vaccine.”
I understand the sense of urgency with individual and business financial hardships quickly adding up and ruining some as they waited for hours on a highway to get a box of food. For others, the stock market’s downward spiral erased years of their 401K contributions. As industry leaders, politicians, and government teams at all levels lobby for and against the U.S. getting back to normal, we must ask whether it’s time for that. Let’s consider the data from Johns Hopkins and the CDC.
The data
We have 327 million people in the United States, of which 157 million work, with about 8 million employees working from home (pre-COVID-19). As of May 7, 2020 we have tested about 8 million people resulting in over 1,257,000 confirmed cases and 76,000 deaths.
In comparison, the seasonal flu spans six to seven months each year, with the last recorded death toll in 2018–2019 being 34,000. Those are all frightening numbers. Granted, we haven’t seen the dire statistical modeling estimates come true, but there’s no argument this is a public health crisis, we can only debate the severity.
Employee and business interests
I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know this is a complex issue requiring a comprehensive plan to protect employee and business interests alike. We need more testing, and we need a vaccine. But those are both slow to materialize, so what else do we need? When employees head back to work, are they going to be concerned about their paycheck, or is their personal protection and privacy on the wish list too?
In a recent article about implementing a National Back to Work Plan, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlined what we need to be concerned about. The Chamber clearly understands that revenue disruptions are only part of the equation and adds to it workplace safety, employee rights and the liability concerns of public and private businesses. It seems to me we don’t miss employee rights until we don’t have any. We don’t care about privacy until we have none.
Questions businesses must consider
Getting back to business is more than a date on a calendar. It’s also more than the number of tests performed, although that’s critical. If companies rush back in, they can conduct business as usual and issue paychecks. But, can they adequately address the new reality specific to COVID-19, create new workplace policies, and successfully implement change? Large corporations may have high paid teams working day and night to figure this out, whereas small and mid-sized businesses may struggle with their lack of resources. Despite size businesses and those who are employed by them need to consider these questions and many others I haven’t begun to consider:
- Will employers mandate PPE, will employees follow those guidelines and will management enforce them consistently?
- We know that malicious individuals may deliberately put others in harm’s way. Will businesses handle non-compliance and have zero tolerance for such acts? What does that look like?
- Will all employers need to protect employees and adhere to OSHA regulations? Will PPE be free or fee based as uniform costs often are in some jobs?
- Will a COVID-19 compliance course be mandatory for all employees in the workplace? If it’s less formal, how will an employer validate an employee understands the policy, beyond a signature?
- For the work from home crowd, are rules and expectations clearly established? It’s one thing for employees to work from home for a month or two, quite another for the long haul.
- Can employers be held liable if they require employees to work in unsafe conditions or fail to provide adequate PPE?
- What if workers contract the virus on the job confirmed via contact tracing? Who pays the bill for sick leave or helps with hospital expenses? What is the return to work process?
- What about HIPAA and the privacy currently afforded employees in the workplace? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my employer or anyone else all up in my healthcare bits. Will COVID-19 testing in today’s work environment put HIPAA at risk?
- Will employees need ID badges to certify they are COVID-19 free? The idea has been mentioned in press briefings but it scares me for several reasons; only one is the potential for discrimination in the workplace.
We’re all in this together or, are we?
You may have heard that we’re all in this together. And, that’s a nice soundbite. But, most of us have an opinion about what needs to happen, so it often doesn’t feel that we are. If you’re fighting for one side or the other, you have the right to your opinion. Keep fighting the good fight! Just make sure your opinion is an informed one. Both sides to almost any argument can earn some good points and help broaden your viewpoint.
There is so much at stake right now, so don’t just follow your crowd’s way of thinking. Check multiple sources as you investigate and fully form your opinions. Make sure that you’re not rushing toward (or away from) something that is only going to be worse for you or your loved ones in the long run.
Stay safe.
