Business Owners’ Need to Implement Measured and Thoughtful Responses to COVID-19
COVID-19 is now creating serious disruptions within our society and our businesses.
As trial lawyers, our firm specializes in strategic and deliberative approaches to resolving serious problems and anxieties facing our clients. While COVID-19 presents a very different problem with far greater societal implications, COVID-19 still demands a strategic and deliberative approach by each of us, including business owners.
A business owner’s reaction to this pandemic should not be panic. Employees and customers deserve a measured and thoughtful response, based on the facts and concerns for personal safety. Many of us are hearing “work remotely” and “work from home.” Regrettably, there is a considerable lack of readily available information for small businesses to assist them in preparing for this period of transition and uncertainty.
In response, our firm has prepared the following materials to assist owners and employees in developing and adopting their own “work-at-home” plans. This information includes (i) sample plans for firms to adopt, (ii) a presentation on working remotely and (iii) other helpful resources for establishing a fully functional “work at home” team. Our firm has adopted many of these technologies and is able to continue working with its staff of 9 almost exclusively working at home.
Sample COVID-19 Response & Work at Home Plans:
To aggressively prepare a possible shift towards remote working, our law firm prepared and implemented two separate policies. The first policy is a COVID-19 Response Plan to reassure our employees and set forth our expectations. The second policy is a Technology Plan outlining the requirements of, testing required for, and the ultimate implementation of technology for our employees to be able to readily work at home if necessary.
Although developed for our law firm, both documents have broad applicability to many small businesses. Both documents are in MS Word format for your adaption and use in your business’ response to COVID-19.
Presentation on Working Remotely:
Adam Spence developed the below program for the Maryland State Bar Association to assist small law firms to ready themselves for “working from home” if it becomes necessary. Although taught to attorneys, this presentation has broad applicability to many small businesses.
Additional Materials to Help You Work Remotely:
“Working from home” generally entails the need to adopt paperLESS office strategies to be able to access files from different locations. The below materials provide useful information regarding software and hardware that will make your transition to a paperLESS office less painful and far more efficient. Although generally prepared for attorneys, the information in these materials has broad applicability to many small businesses.
- Acrobat 101 for Attorneys
- ScanSnap Set Up Instructions
- Principles for a PaperLESS office
- Using Acrobat to “print” documents
- Technology Purchasing Needs
- File Directory Management and Organization
- Printer & Scanner Information