Employer trust in the time of COVID-19
News Industry News
New data says globally more people trust their employers more than the government (the research surveyed many major countries, but not Australia). Is it the same here? And what should employers be doing?
Recently a friend of mine found out her partner’s workplace had a confirmed case of coronavirus. At the time information about the situation was even more scarce than it is now. All they knew was the diagnosed individual was being treated and those who had close contact with them had been told to self-isolate for fourteen days.
Any employees who developed symptoms in the meantime were advised to seek medical attention. The company’s office underwent a deep clean and my friend’s partner was informed it was business-as-usual less than 48 hours later.
Viruses have a domino effect, or perhaps it’s more like a ripple. One person gets infected and everyone around them needs to reevaluate their health, and then everyone around them needs to reevaluate theirs and so on.
In the case above, it wasn’t just one workplace affected by this, my friend’s organisation needed to decide what to do with her. Was she a risk? It had no handbook to deal with this. It was decided her office would follow the lead of the other company. My friend was told to pass on the advice her partner received and if he wasn’t required to quarantine, then neither was she.