Trust and COVID-19 Testing
COVID-19 AND THE WORKPLACE
There are stages to how businesses have dealt with COVID-19 in the workplace:
React - What just happened? What is this? Will it affect us?
Respond - What are we going to do?
Resilience - We are making it through.
Reopen - Happening now.
Rebound - still to come
As a business leader you have likely moved past the react and response stage and are actively discovering and developing resilience amongst your workforce. Hopefully you have been able to weather the storm of shuttered doors and working from home. And are now looking to the horizon and charting the best course for reopening.
To be honest. We are in uncharted territories but there is good science, strong knowledge and expert opinion to guide us.
Some of that expert opinion has come from the good folks at Deloitte. They released their “Reopening the workplace: a resilient leader’s guide” and have a great series of articles on ‘Resilient Leadership’.
They are a good read and we recommend it. The most important thing that jumped out to us was this when thinking about reopening was the importance of trust.
RE-OPENING YOUR BUSINESS... PUT TRUST FIRST.
Trust is crucial to reopening your company. It underpins your efforts to re energize your workforce and attract your customers. It is the difference between “I felt like they did their best.” and “They don’t know what they are doing.”. In this day and age, trust is defined by transparency, authenticity and altruism.
Transparency. Being transparent and communicating with employees that the decisions, guidance and recommendations that you are receiving are dynamic. And that you are getting advice from the best leaders, officials and consultants to make the right decisions. Invite employees into the process to ask questions and communicate their concerns.
Authenticity. It’s okay to tell your employees. “We don’t know. But we are going to figure it out.” While people may want an answer, they are not always expecting one. And are often very satisfied with knowing that someone is working very hard to find the right answer.
Altruism. Your employees need to feel that your decision to reopen is not in your best interest, not even in the company's best interest, but is in their best interest. That you’ve taken the steps to make reopening as safe, healthy, and stress free as possible. And that you have their financial, physical, mental and familial health in mind.
In our Welcome.. Blog one question we promised to answer is “What role does COVID-19 testing play in opening my business?”. Let’s flip that a little and ask “What role does COVID-19 testing play in gaining the trust of my employees?”
Based on the three components of trust we outlined, transparency, authenticity and altruism. Let’s explore the role that COVID-19 testing can play.
COVID-19 TESTING CAN BUILD TRUST
Transparency.
We need more data. As we look to reopen, the high level of anxiety that employers and employees are facing stems from the unknown. The glass is opaque and we can’t see what is on the other side. Testing brings more data. It improves the resolution of peering into the future from a pixelated mess to a gaussian blur.
Allowing business leaders to make more educated and confident decisions about what to do next and what steps are best to take.
Here are some questions you should be asking yourself.
What percentage of my employees have been exposed to COVID-19 and have developed antibodies?
Does this mean they are immune? Less likely to get as sick?
What number of my employees are showing signs and symptoms of coronavirus?
What number of my employees have tested positive and recovered?
What number of my employees are positive right now?
What is the risk to my workforce if we have an outbreak?
How resilient is the health of my workforce? ‘
We will be exploring and answering these questions, be sure to sign up to be notified or follow us on LinkedIn.
Testing your employees can seem a little big brother if they don’t understand why you are testing. So it will be important to let them know what you are going to do with the test results. Will they be anonymous? But most of all, what happens to them if they are positive.
Authenticity.
I’m not a lawyer. So I don’t make legal decisions without one. You’re (likely) not a doctor or public health expert. So you likely shouldn't be making employee health decisions without one.
Testing your employees for COVID-19 is authentic. It’s your way of saying “Listen, I’m not a doctor, so I’m not going to make decisions about your health without one.” It’s candid. It’s honest. You are a business leader, and need the best information to make decisions on the health of your business and workforce. We have a hunch that your employees will respect that.
Altruism.
Just as you are facing unknowns. Your employees are too. Access to testing has been… difficult. To say the least. Where to get it? Can I trust it? Can I trust who is interpreting it?
Testing employees not only solves problems for you, but it solves problems for them too. It’s a great benefit and shows that you and your company really do care about them. It says “We aren’t getting back to work till it’s safe.” And that you are putting people, your people, over profits.
Testing can help build trust. Between leadership and their teams, and between members of your greater community.
But is it right for your company and your employees. That is a great question. Contact us to find out if onsite COVID-19 Testing and Telehealth is right for your employees.
Meet the author:
Hello I am Dr. Steven C. Moyo, MD. I am CEO of Welfie and proud to be launching Welfie&Co. to help America get back to work. Safely.
I can’t stress how important it is that we work together to try and get this right. And we believe it starts with open conversations, asking tough questions and candid answers.
That is what you will find here. Use this blog, and contact us, if you have questions, concerns or corporate problems that need solutions. It is why we are here.