5 Tips For Protecting Your Business During A Pandemic

Saying that the world was caught off guard by the COVID-19 pandemic could be the understatement of the century. Owning and running a business is difficult enough during tough economic times, but the pandemic lead to an estimated 200 000 extra businesses closing their doors.

As tragic as the pandemic was and is on society, it needs to be a learning curve for businesses and organizations. The vast majority of medical and scientific professionals have all hinted at future pandemics and some hints that imply that the future is not so distant. 

Business continuity planning is essential these days, below are five tips for protecting your business during a pandemic like COVID-19.

• Have An Emergency Plan

Creating a plan for dealing with situations like pandemics and other natural disasters should be your number one priority. An emergency plan will help to lay out the steps needed to be taken when another outbreak occurs. Pay special attention to outlining the measures your business will take to protect itself and the employees during the next pandemic – planning for the future is the only way to survive another global shutdown.

• Inform Managers

Protecting your business and the employees means that all managers need to be in the loop on updates to your plan at all times. Communication is key to navigating disasters such as pandemics and keeping your team motivated. Do your research on the next pandemic and check for daily updates as it spreads and changes. The last thing any business wants is a repeat of the last pandemic, but you need to be prepared – just in case.

• Business Resilience Planning

All businesses need a plan to take over after the emergency protocols have run their course. This plan is for keeping the business running as successfully as possible as your company navigates the ebb and flow of uncertain times and a changing environment.

Only resilient businesses make it through pandemics, and only with the right planning and efforts to keep them adaptable to change.

• Have Pandemic Procedures

We all learned relatively quickly with COVID-19 that cleanliness was imperative for getting through it as safely as possible. Regularly check and update your business cleaning standards before and during pandemics, you never know – with the right level of cleanliness, perhaps we could collectively avoid another outbreak.

Pandemic cleaning procedures need to be clear and concise, there is no room for error here. Make sure that your business uses the recommended cleaning materials, and don’t skimp on these – we all know what happened when companies tried that last time.

• Check Your Insurance Policies

As a business owner, you must regularly evaluate your business’s insurance policies and double-check the coverage. Many insurance companies will have changed and adapted to pandemics themselves, which means they could have new coverage rules and package changes. You need to make sure that you stay up-to-date and informed on any changes to your policies.

If there are changes that you don’t agree with, feel free to query these with your provider and shop around for alternate providers. The most important thing is for your business to survive the bad times and succeed during the good times.