Coronavirus CT: How Small Businesses Can Survive The Outbreak

BRANFORD, CT — The governor and health officials say stay at home if you’re ill with symptoms like fever, cough or shortness of breath, meaning any respiratory symptoms.

“If you don’t have to be at work, then work from home,” adding that is “our strong recommendation,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday.

Easier said than done for some, especially in the service industry and others where the work can only be done on site.

Lamont and the state's chief operating officer Josh Geballe appeared on WTIC 1080 Thursday morning and fielded questions from residents. The concerns raised on the radio program came mostly from small business owners and employers.

For Connecticut business owners small and large, their worries range from how to ensure employee health to running out of cash to stay afloat.

Lamont said on the air that the state legislature is “working on right now” an economic relief package for businesses to be able to pay employees that must be out while making business loan payments, for example.

Lamont said part of federal and state relief would allow for loan payments to be deferred. A Madison small business owner with 15 employees was worried about not being able to make payroll but also about his “business falling off.”

Gabelle and Lamont both said there’s concern for business impact but that they are “working on it.”

What To Do Now, Business Owners Ask

In the meantime, a presentation from Norwalk-based human resources firm Operations, Inc. noted that a priority is to make sure that someone who may be ill does not infect the rest of the workplace. But, notes that each business must make hard decisions about payroll during quarantines, employees that are afraid to come to work for fear of exposure and how to cope with the loss of essential employees who cannot work from home but cannot come in to work either: layoffs, furloughs and reductions may become necessary.

There are also tips on how to create a work-from-home plan that includes firs identifying the critical staff and those who can work remotely, laptops, reliable internet connections, and the use of video chatting, direct messaging and collaboration software service like Slack and Google Hangouts and chat. Many businesses, they say, can make the switch but need to act quickly.

David Lewis of Operations Inc., says "companies need to plan for the loss of key employees, (and should) have a plan for how to coalesce around the most critical of functions. There won't be time to conduct cross-training or transitional activities. Documenting key tasks becomes paramount."

What The Connecticut Business And Industry Association Says

The Connecticut Business and Industry Association has myriad resources directly related to how to weather the coronavirus pandemic for employers and a list of, right off the top, five things employers need to know.

Employers need to monitor reliable and credible news sources, update or create a business continuity plan, and focus on how to cope with employees that must stay home, mandatory quarantine and finally, how to ensure workers get paid.

What The Small Business Association Is Doing To Advise & Help Employers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month issued a guide for employers. That was then and the situation has changed significantly, but the advice is the same: sick employees stay home, sanitize the workplace and provide work-at-home when possible. Given the inevitable widespread school closures, employers should already have had a plan in place, and should "monitor" the absenteeism. Other measures include cross-training workers to perform essential functions so that the workplace is able to operate even if key staff members are absent and to "be prepared to change your business practices if needed to maintain critical operations."

But the big questions is how does a small business stay afloat?

The Small Business Association has a list of what many small businesses may encounter:

• Capital Access – Incidents can strain a small business's financial capacity to make payroll, maintain inventory and respond to market fluctuations (both sudden drops and surges in demand). Businesses should prepare by exploring and testing their capital access options so they have what they need when they need it. See SBA’s capital access resources.
• Workforce Capacity – Incidents have just as much impact on your workers as they do your clientele. It’s critical to ensure they have the ability to fulfill their duties while protected.
• Inventory and Supply Chain Shortfalls – While the possibility could be remote, it is a prudent preparedness measure to ensure you have either adequate supplies of inventory for a sustained period and/or diversify your distributor sources in the event one supplier cannot meet an order request.
• Facility Remediation/Clean-up Costs – Depending on the incident, there may be a need to enhance the protection of customers and staff by increasing the frequency and intensity by which your business conducts cleaning of surfaces frequently touched by occupants and visitors. Check your maintenance contracts and supplies of cleaning materials to ensure they can meet increases in demand.
• Insurance Coverage Issues – Many businesses have business interruption insurance; Now is the time to contact your insurance agent to review your policy to understand precisely what you are and are not covered for in the event of an extended incident.
• Changing Market Demand – Depending on the incident, there may be access controls or movement restrictions established which can impede your customers from reaching your business. Additionally, there may be public concerns about public exposure to an incident and they may decide not to go to your business out of concern of exposing themselves to greater risk. SBA’s Resources Partners and District Offices have trained experts who can help you craft a plan specific to your situation to help navigate any rapid changes in demand.

• Marketing – It’s critical to communicate openly with your customers about the status of your operations, what protective measures you’ve implemented, and how they (as customers) will be protected when they visit your business. Promotions may also help incentivize customers who may be reluctant to patronize your business.
• Plan – As a business, bring your staff together and prepare a plan for what you will do if the incident worsens or improves. It’s also helpful to conduct a tabletop exercise to simulate potential scenarios and how your business management and staff might respond to the hypothetical scenario in the exercise. For examples of tabletop exercises, visit FEMA’s website.

Can 'Families First Coronavirus Response Act' Help Employers?

What may help small business and employers in Connecticut is the proposal in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that would include paid emergency leave for workers including, according to a press release, both 14 days of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave."

The legislation is supposed to be debated and voted on today.