7 ways to prevent COVID-19 discontinue work at your small business

Here is some important and useful information on Covid19, its prevention, treatment, post-infection care and vaccination shared by Dr. Parinitha Kaza, MBBS, MD, Specialised in Microbiology and Infectious Disease, and Dr. Harshith Rao, Academic Senior Resident (DM Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine). This information has been compiled by ClearTax.

If the finances of your business seem volatile due to the COVID-19 situation, then you are not alone in this crisis. Following are a few ways through which business owners can bring down their financial losses as much as possible:

1. Prepare a Business Continuity Plan (BCP):

Identify the worst-case situations and potential business challenges. Later, come up with a strategy to resolve those problems before they occur. This plan will be your roadmap to move forward with pace and confidence.

2. Ensure a Supply Continuity Plan is in Place

This strategy focuses on the sourcing of goods, services, and resources from an alternative supplier during the time of crisis. Here, unexpected situations may include wherein a vendor ceases production all of a sudden without any prior notice.

3. Set Up a Communication Strategy

This strategy should consist of both internal and external communication, so that there is no confusion. You will need to decide on what exactly you want to tell your employees, investors, and contractors. Later, come up with a proper plan on how you want to pass on your message through various communication channels.You will need to communicate with your customers transparently. Everybody is facing this crisis together, so it’s important to be transparent about what’s happening in your company. Customers will be able to empathise with brands facing an emergency, as long as they are being communicated in regular intervals about what is happening within a company or a business.

4. Consider Your e-Commerce and Virtual Options

In case your business depends on in-store purchases or face-to-face contact, you’ll need to think slightly differently during a crisis situation. Consider using virtual conference rooms for meetings and services and online retail platforms for purchasing goods.

5. Keep a Remote Work Option Ready Well in Advance

Impose a remote work policy that includes when you want your team to be online or available, how to connect (e.g. by email, Slack, or video call), and what deliverables each of the team members have to complete.Most of the people have already chosen to work remotely; business owners can use several online tools to be in touch with their teams and continue to work even though they are not in the same area.

6. Create an Emergency Communications Plan

This plan should include primary contacts along with the respective backups, a chain of communications concerning vendors and customers, and processes meant for communicating and tracking the status of the business and employees. Create a contingency plan for each of your audiences and organizational roles. – Should there be an outbreak near your workplace, what should be done first, second, and third? – Who is allowed to undertake prompt decisions? – Who all should be informed? – What should the communication methods be? – What protocols need to be followed while providing updates?

7. Establish a Disaster Preparedness Policy

A good policy should cover several things, which includes remote-work procedures. It should also explain how people will be working from home and what resources they will need to get the job done; how to manage travel; what to do regarding meetings and more. It’s also essential to consider things such as business closure insurance coverage or trip cancellations, how to get funding when nobody invests, what credit lines are in place, supply chain alternatives, etc.