Stay the Course
February is a month we’re used to celebrating. Plenty of holidays and events tend to fill the calendar– Lunar New Year, Family Day Long Weekend, Valentine’s Day are just a few that help people get through the winter and also deliver substantial economic impact on tourism and hospitality industry. There is no question that this year, things will continue to be different.
As caseloads plateau and with new variants in our midst, we need to continue doing all the work necessary to keep workers, customers, and communities safe. Since the provincial orders were extended once again, it’s important to revisit your COVID -19 safety plan to ensure the appropriate protocols are in place for the current environment. If your plan required barriers separating workers in certain locations, are they in place? What about room capacities, are they being maintained? Are enhanced cleaning schedules being implemented? Do your employees assess their health daily? As we move through this critical time, there will be increased inspection and enforcement, with the news media highlighting the cases of the worst violators which influences customer and community confidence. We need to do everything we can to instill and rebuild confidence and we are seeing a lot of good work from tourism and hospitality businesses.
If you have questions about revisiting your COVID-19 safety plan, go2HR maintains an all-encompassing resource page dedicated to COVID-19 information to support your efforts. Check out the on-line COVID-19 safety plan assessment or register for 1:1 advisory service.
We all have a role to play in keeping everyone healthy and safe. Employers and employees share in this responsibility. Employers can help motivate employees to do their best by ensuring that all are aware of all elements of the COVID-19 safety plan. Employees play an important role and they are required to understand the plan and to carry out the elements of it each and every day. They need to consider their health each day before work and if not well, they need to stay home. Its important workers know there are supports out there for them to cover some expenses while not being able to work. It’s important they follow public health orders around social gatherings too. We’re all in this together. As redundant as it may seem, it is still critically important to communicate the importance of following public health orders to better days ahead.
It’s important to recognize that while the BC vaccination programs is underway, we cannot relax our adherence to COVID-19 safety plans until we have mass vaccination which will take time. We will need to keep following public health guidelines for a while. Employers have the additional burden of combatting “COVID-19 complacency” within their team. But I am hopeful that we can all muster up a bit more resolve. There is no doubt that this is a long race back to normal. But remember, this is a marathon, maybe even an ultra-marathon. Reminding myself every day to be the best responsible citizen I can be helps me to keep my resolve and others around me motivated to do the same.
As the global pandemic quickly approaches the one-year mark, there is no question that fatigue has set in. This is where employers can lead and continue to impress the importance of safety protocols at their place of business and to their staff and customers.
