Guide for Human Resources During Coronavirus

Crisis Playbook

Human Resources

Times of crisis are an opportunity to show your employees how much you care. The first and most important way is to educate and equip them with everything they need to protect themselves and their families. In this guide, you will learn about all the new benefits available for employees and employers that make it easier for your team to care for their family.

HR Guide Playbook

Maintain a Healthy WORK ENVIRONMENT

Provide a clean & safe environment

Implement training, processes, tools and resources that protect their health and wellness, at work and home.

Educate & emphasize prevention practices

Include best practices for social distancing, respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene by all employees. Involve your teams to share best practices, and don’t be afraid to have fun with it, laughter helps the immune system.

Share Corona Care Guides

Experts are forecasting that 50-70% of the country will get the virus, so it is critically important that you help your employees care for themselves and their families. Present the Corona Care Guide for Businesses to your entire team to help prevent the spread of the virus within your organization, and provide the Corona Care Guide for Families to your employees, so they can do the same for their families.

The Corona Care Guide offers practical information to help people avoid catching and sharing the virus, along with tips on how to care for loved ones who get sick. The guide can be branded for your business by adding a cover and an introductory letter from you, and you can share it via all channels, including email, text, website and social media.

Corona CARE GUIDES

For Families

Tool to educate their employees on how to protect themselves, their customers, and their families

For Families

For Businesses

Provides resources to protect your employees & the families you serve

For Businesses

“To win the marketplace, you need to win the workplace.”
Paco Wolfington

Protect EMPLOYEES & THEIR FAMILIES

Stop the spread

Employees who are confirmed to have COVID-19 or who have a sick family member at home, should immediately notify their employer and everyone they came into contact with, so they can follow the CDC guidance for how to conduct a risk assessment of their potential exposure.

Inform others of potential exposure

Employers should inform fellow employees of their possible exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace, while maintaining confidentiality, as required by ADA. Employees exposed to a co-worker with confirmed COVID-19 should refer to CDC guidance for how to conduct a risk assessment of their potential exposure.

Care for the Sick

When employees get sick, they should follow CDC-recommended steps, which means they stay home, except to get medical care. Learn what to do if you are sick.

Stay home

Employees should not return to work until the criteria to discontinue home isolation are met, in consultation with healthcare providers and state and local health departments. The new family act requires paid sick leave for those infected and caring for others.

Get up to speed

Research your workers compensation and health insurance policies to get up to speed with what’s covered and how you can better serve your sick employees and their families.

Quick Tips: STAY INFORMED

Follow the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines for Coronavirus (COVID-19)

This site provides the most up-to-date information that can help you protect your dealership & the families you serve

“Train people well enough that they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”
Richard Branson

Create a SKELETON STAFFING PLAN

Prepare a strategy to manage the business in an environment with high absentee rates. Have contingency plans to run your operations with 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% less employees than you have today.

Create a HR DECISION TREE

Develop a HR decision-tree
Create a plan that ensures the survival of your business if your revenue is cut by 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%. Create a decision tree that defines what you’ll do with payroll at each stage of the crisis.

Options to manage and reduce payroll:

Maintain 100% of payroll
Cut compensation by 25% and top out execs at $100k (ppp lilmits)
Furlough employees
Lay off employees
Leverage contractors when needed

Lay-Offs and Furloughs
If lay-offs/furloughs are necessary:

Develop a detailed communication plan for employees. Ensure that it covers any requirements for notification under Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)
Make sure your team follows all laws, regulations and policies with respect to employee entitlements, such as severance pay, accrued vacation and sick day payouts.
Communicate with former employees in terms of benefits administration, reference requests, verification of employment and, possibly, responding to lawsuits. Impacted employees will also want to know when they can expect to return to work.

Compassionate Support

Regardless of what you choose to do, prepare a strategy and a process to do it with compassion. Make all efforts possible to educate and equip the families you serve with the unemployment resources that are available to support them after termination.

Execute on Human Resources RESPONSIBILITIES DURING COVID-19

Review & Understand the CARES and FFCRA legislation to the best of your ability
Make sure that your Legal and HR advisors are experts in the legislation and give recommendations based on an in depth understanding of CARES and FFCRA

Review HR Practices
Ensure they are consistent with public health requirements and state and federal workplace laws regarding the Coronavirus. (For more information on employer responsibilities, visit the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

Sick Leave and FMLA – Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)

Review and comply with the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act, to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave. FAQ’s from NADA
Note: The FFCRA provides for emergency paid sick leave and emergency leave for parents who cannot work due to having to care for children whose schools or daycare providers have closed. Employers with less than 500 employees are generally entitled to receive 100% reimbursement for the costs of the paid emergency paid leave they provide in the form of tax credits.
The FFCRA provides for paid leave to employees that have been directly impacted by the Coronavirus
- Impacted employees who require leave must be paid 100% of their pay if they are quarantined, pursuant to a government order or on advice of a doctor.
- Impacted employees who require leave must be paid 2/3 of their pay if they are unable to work due to a need to take care for an individual or child impacted by the Coronavirus
Employers will receive reimbursement for these wages as tax credits
Employers may not discharge, discipline, or otherwise discriminate against any employee who takes paid sick leave under the FFCRA

CHECKLIST

Steps to take

During an Outbreak

Work with the local health department and community partners to implement response plans.
Update partners, stakeholders, employees, and customers regularly and continue to promote healthy habits.
Address the potential fear and anxiety that may result from rumors or misinformation.
Clean frequently touched surfaces and objects.
Increase space and limit contact between employees & customers (avoid handshakes).
If someone develops symptoms, immediately isolate them and give them a clean disposable face mask. Note that face masks are intended to protect others, not the person wearing them.
Separate sick individuals and call for medical advice.
Consider alternatives for employees and customers who are at high risk for complications from respiratory disease, including older adults and those with chronic health conditions.

Follow up

After an Outbreak

Discuss and document lessons learned. Gather feedback from employees, customers, community partners, and stakeholders.
Improve preparedness plans accordingly.
Maintain community partnerships. Participate in community-wide emergency preparedness activities.
Test and update plans regularly.

Action Plan

Actions

Action	Who	When
Schedule meeting to review & distribute the Corona Care Guide for Businesses
Share & distribute Corona Care Guide for Families with all your employees, customers, vendors, partners, and community via email, website, and social media
Implement training & processes to protect health and wellness, at work and home
Educate & emphasize prevention best practices including social distancing,respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene by all employees
Follow the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Provide instructions to employees of what to do if they get sick
Establish a process for employees to inform the HR department about possible exposure & create a policy for sick employees returning to work
Develop your HR Plan. Here is what should be included
Review and update HR practices (for more information visit the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
If lay-offs/furloughs are necessary: develop a detailed communication plan research laws, regulations and policies with respect to employee entitlements, such as severance pay, accrued vacation and sick day payouts communicate with former employees in terms of benefits, reference requests, verification of employment
Review and comply with the new “Families First Coronavirus Response Act.” Learn about the rules here.

Schedule meeting to review & distribute the Corona Care Guide for Businesses
Share & distribute Corona Care Guide for Families with all your employees, customers, vendors, partners, and community via email, website, and social media
Implement training & processes to protect health and wellness, at work and home
Educate & emphasize prevention best practices including social distancing, respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene by all employees
Follow the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Provide instructions to employees of what to do if they get sick
Establish a process for employees to inform the HR department about possible exposure & create a policy for sick employees returning to work
Develop your HR Plan. Here is what should be included
Review and update HR practices (for more information visit the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
If lay-offs/furloughs are necessary:
- develop a detailed communication plan
- research laws, regulations and policies with respect to employee entitlements, such as severance pay, accrued vacation and sick day payouts
- communicate with former employees in terms of benefits, reference requests, verification of employment
Review and comply with the new “Families First Coronavirus Response Act.” Learn about the rules here.