Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor, and his simple power-point presentations are fast becoming a highlight in my day. Keeping it simply without dumbing-it-down, he has helped me to focus on what employers want to know.
Cuomo spoke yesterday of ‘unpausing New York’ – I think it’s worthwhile to whittle that concept down to ‘unpausing my business.’ We don’t have all the information we would like but what we know for sure is this: there won’t be a day soon where everything just goes back to normal once the clock hits midnight.
Some of the questions employers need to start thinking about and planning with are:
1. What do we do? How do we do it?
2. Does it have to be done the ‘old’ way or can we do it better?
3. What have we learned about our business and our staff during this time?
4. What risks are there when we go back?
5. How can we avoid them?
6. What can we do to make the workplace safer?
Some businesses will return to what they knew, doing what they have always done as they have always done it and there is nothing inherently wrong with that. Some businesses have evolved and some will never be what they were before. Added to this is the fact that employment legislation and health and safety legislation will eventually evolve to reflect the challenging times we are in.
Crisis management won’t be the name of a cheap course no one wants to take and IT skills will become more integral to the core skills we look for in a lot of our employees. We have had to learn this lesson the hard way, but we have learned it. By asking ourselves the questions above we can take the next step in the evolution of Irish business and at the very least ensure that we don’t make the same mistakes again.
If ESA can help you with any of the above issues please contact us on 01 8774608 or [email protected]
Until then stay safe and wash your hands.