Remote and Essential Workers – Part 1

This is Part 1 of a series on remote and essential workers. This article examines the essential components of classifying and transitioning remote and essential workers. We will cover the following topics:

In subsequent postings, we will cover developing policies and procedures, effective virtual strategies for managing supervision and strengthening your culture during periods of transition. We will also cover maintaining a strong communication flow and managing group projects online.

Please subscribe to Third Sector News, which will also be providing resources and toolkits for managing the transition to a virtual setting and managing crises. 

In addition, I am including a “How To” video for contingency planning and transitioning an in-person office to a remote office when there is no disaster plan in place.

In these unprecedented times, for organizations struggling with this transition, please reach out to me directly at [email protected], and I will be happy to schedule time with you (for free) to help you work out the details associated with your transition to a virtual space. 

If You Have a Disaster Plan…

If you have an updated disaster plan in place, this is a scenario that you are prepared for. Follow the plan and make any adaptions based on any changes that may be relevant to the current situation that may not have been anticipated when the plan was developed. Then, implement the roll-out plan for remote and essential workers as well as your internal and external communication strategy. 

How to Triage Priorities, Balance Client Needs, Use Financial Forecasts, and Administrative Realities in a Pinch

In the event, you don’t have a disaster plan, or it is out of date, the first thing to consider is how to balance your administrative needs and financial reality with the needs of the clients you serve. This requires you to hold quick conversations about essential issues: 

As part of a robust transition planning process for remote and essential workers, you should consider financial scenarios that include using part of your rainy-day funds or lines of credit with banks. Remember, though, if you are tapping into a line of credit, you must be certain that you will be able to repay it, and that your existing funding streams allow you to pay for the interest on the loan. If there is no realistic way of paying any or all of the money back, you and your board members could be held personally liable for putting forth misleading financials. 

It cannot be emphasized enough to make sure you double-check your assumptions for the revenue you will receive under the current circumstances, and that they are not just based on what you hope will happen or what was true before the crisis. Deal with real and tangible numbers that reflect the current situation. Otherwise, the mission and sustainability of your organization will be compromised and you will likely have to close your doors.

Cross-reference the mission, financial, and administrative analysis with your contract requirements, your legal obligations, and your ethical obligations to your clients and remote and essential workers. Questions you should be asking, include, but are not limited to:

Responses to all of these scenarios should be informed by your legally mandated requirements and your cash flow. Once you have a realistic assessment of your real income and cash-flow projections, you can begin to triage your priorities and adapt your strategy as circumstances change. 

Determining Who is Essential Staff

Once you have triaged your priorities and developed a plan for various potential scenarios, you will be able to determine who should be classified as remote and essential workers. This may be determined, though, by externally imposed state or federal guidelines. Under this scenario, you will just have to engage in planning scenarios driven by compliance. 

However, if you still have control over this determination, clearly define remote and essential workers. The best way to think of essential staff is as employees that perform work involving the safety of human life or the protection of property. Thus, health workers, security guards, home health aides, or one-on-one aides who provide direct and immediate care would all be considered essential. Keep in mind as you go through this process, for programs with vulnerable populations, the expectation is that your organization will continue to provide services, even in periods of uncertainty and difficulty. 

Classifying and Supporting Essential and Remote Workers

With respect to remote and essential workers, you will have to determine how you will classify administrators, clerical staff, physicians, doctors, mental health professionals, social workers, and others, utilizing a triage approach for services is best in order to practice effective social distancing. 

First, determine which services are vital for clients versus optional. Non-mandatory activities should be delayed until the resumption of normal operations. For service providers on staff, are there ways for these practitioners to ethically carry out their work through other means in order to meet different the needs of the patients you serve? Some options to consider include, but are not limited to online counseling, telephone counseling, videoconferencing, self-guided Web-based interventions, electronic social networks, mobile apps, automated tutorials, e-mail, and text messages.  

If telemedicine is an option, make sure you are adhering to the ethical practices and best practices outlined by the American Medical Association. If you are able to provide telepsychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association has a series of guidelines and toolkits for carrying this work out ethically and effectively. The American Psychological Association also provides guidelines as well as the American Association for Social Workers. 

Please keep in mind, working in virtual settings is a significant transition for employees. You will have to develop new systems for communicating with staff, maintaining morale high, and helping employees feel connected to their teams and the mission of the organization. Also, it is easy for employees to feel burned out because they can just continue working at home. Make sure you require that they maintain regular business hours. 

Employees that are considered essential workers need a lot of support, training, and guidance. This is a scary time, but strong systems and transparent leadership are key to helping them feel confident that their safety is a priority, and that they have the support they need to carry out their work. Everyone should follow guidance from the CDC, as well as State and local government officials, regarding strategies to limit disease spread.  This includes separating staff by off-setting shift hours (when possible) or days and/or social distancing. 

Managing Payroll: 

Payroll will always be at the forefront of your employees’ minds and is a significant compliance issue for every organization. A global pandemic will not be considered a justifiable excuse for not paying employees on time and fully for work they have completed by the state or federal government. If you have a direct deposit already set up for your employees, resolving this issue is much easier. The same applies if you use a payroll service. You should check before you move to implement this step, though, to confirm that all employees still live in their original residences. It is important to note that in some organizations, employees may have not set up direct deposit either because they do not have bank accounts or do not want to share their bank information with their employer. A decision must be made about how these employees will receive their wages. If an employee does not have a stable address and there is nowhere to mail it, then a process will have to be designated for them to pick up their paychecks in person. 

If you have an in-house payroll system and/or use paper timesheets, you will have to determine how hours will be communicated and registered. If these functions are still being carried out manually, this is the moment to start thinking about how you will incorporate automation into your payroll systems in the future or reach out to a payroll service. As long as this process is undertaken manually, you will also have to develop a system for the person who manages payroll to carry out this function. Organizations that use attendance systems that are tied to payroll (i.e., standard time clock with software, biometric time clock, cloud-based software, and locally installed software), will have to work with their providers to make the transition to virtual time-keeping. 

Transparency and Communication of the Transition Plan: 

Once you are clear on how the transition is going to operationalize, it is time to communicate to the staff and board across all levels of the organization. Organizational town halls, explanatory documents, staff meetings, and one-on-one meetings should be set up to get the message out. The same consistent message should be communicated during this transition by all people who are assigned the function of explaining the transition process. No matter how much engagement and how much collaboration there is in the planning process, there will always be unanticipated issues that surface that could negatively impact the transition if they are not addressed. It is essential for you to address these issues immediately to ensure the success of the transition. 

All staff should have access to a core set of documents that provide questions and answers to everyone regarding the technology policy, how confidentiality is supposed to be maintained, how group projects are going to be documented and carried out, how supervision is going to work, and how different functions are going to work. This includes instructions around payroll and accessing timesheets.

Your communication plan should also extend to the constituents you serve, so they know what to expect and how to get their needs met. If you are unable to meet certain needs, you should provide a resource for clients to turn to.

You should also reach out to all of your funders to inform them of how your transition will be operationalized. Ideally, you have already been in contact with them, and you are just confirming logistics for them. 

The Center for Nonprofits has also compiled a series of excellent resources that can provide some guidance to nonprofits and individuals.