The Best Practices for Reopening Your Business
The pandemic knocked down many companies who are struggling to find a point to reopen.
With several states struggling to reopen and others adding additional restrictions, it’s hard to figure out the best way to reopen in the midst of all the madness.
Several companies have begun to reopen to mixed results. However, there are a few common similarities with the opening structure of the companies that succeeded. Follow these steps if you are looking to reopen, and get to work!
Talk to Your Staff First
Before you make any concrete plans to reopen, talk to your staff to see how they are doing. Many employees who have been furloughed or laid off entirely have realized that they can make more money on unemployment than they ever did collecting a paycheck.
Even if your employees are willing to return to work, they may ask for additional safety measures to be put into place as the pandemic is still a problem.
Create a strategy with your staff about how to reopen the company while keeping everyone’s safety and best interests at heart.
Check Your State’s Pandemic Regulations
Depending on where you live, there could be multiple restrictions in place on reopening your business. Some cities won’t allow any sort of business be done in-house or any gatherings of more than 10 people.
Learn the regulations and talk with your team about what the future of your business is going to look like.
If You Need to, Restructure Your Business
A lot of businesses have realized that the services their business offers simply are not as needed now during the pandemic. As a result, they have changed their business model entirely to accommodate the needs of their customers. For example, several microbrewers have started distilling hand sanitizer as they can no longer serve people in their restaurants.
Talk with your staff about services that you can offer your customers during the pandemic. This does not need to be the future of your business, but it can help keep your business afloat until life returns to normal.
Have Tons of New Safety Precautions
Many companies that have reopened have stressed to their customers that their safety is being considered on all fronts. This includes taking people’s temperature when they enter your office, making sure that everyone wears a mask, providing gloves and masks to people and having hand sanitizer for everyone.
Not only do you need to make sure that you have these precautions, you need to make sure that they are enforced. Make sure that everyone who enters your business wears a mask, and is asked to leave if they refuse to put one on.
Do a Soft Reopening to Test the Water
It might not be time to reopen your business entirely. Instead, you might want to consider partially reopening to see how things go at first.
If you do a major reopening, you have to pay all of your employees involved with the reopening and purchase safety equipment to ensure everyone’s safety. Instead, you can do a soft-reopening where only a few of your employees return to work and you order some of your safety devices.
A soft reopening will let you know whether or not people are willing to utilize your business and its services during the pandemic, and to what degree they want you back.
