How businesses are preparing to keep employees healthy
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Savvy entrepreneurs are planning ahead to mitigate the effects of supply shortages and sick employees.
When the 12 China-based employees of private-label sock manufacturer PAC-MFG return to their office on Monday after a two-week quarantine of the city of Haining, things will be a little different. Buses and trains are hot spots for transmission of the coronavirus, so the company has conscripted its in-house driver to pick up car-less workers and ferry staff around the city for quality-control inspections. PAC-MFG also will hand out ear thermometers and require employees to report their temperatures through a new company social media group. Even the bathroom has changed. Most sinks in China dispense only cold water. PAC-MFG just installed a water heater to amp up the disinfectant power of hand washing.
The coronavirus, which is pummeling stock markets and kinking supply chains worldwide, is particularly dangerous for small-to-midsize businesses, which tend to operate on shorter lead times and have all their manufacturing eggs in the China basket, says Hitendra Chaturvedi, a professor of supply chain management at Arizona State University. "I believe if the coronavirus impact goes beyond March, many SMEs will have to shut shop," Chaturvedi says. Even small companies without direct exposure to Asia are threatened as the epidemic rushes west and the potential for employees to get sick increases. So now smart small-and-midsize-company leaders are trying to mitigate the coronavirus risk with a variety of tactics, such as conserving working capital, crafting work-at-home policies, and communicating frequently with vendors and customers.