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Impact of COVID on working Lives
As a manager what measures would you put in place for your employees who have health and safety concerns and are anxious about their safety?

The new pandemic that has being ripping through our mother Earth since December 2019, is a threat to the international economy as well as a global health crisis. To curb the spreading of the virus, the world has gone into lockdown with businesses and industries being affected the most. The Covid-19 virus has created a wide array of fundamental and inimitable challenges for both the employees and the employers. During 1918-1920 when the Spanish flu had killed almost 50 million people, many countries across the globe has adopted a number of policies in the intention of working conditions and health by providing insurance schemes that was employer-based as well as universal health care. Moreover, the health and financial impacts pertaining to the infectious disease was seen to be tightly linked to cultural practises and norms, xenophobia and political conservatism (Ji, Tybur & Van Vugt, 2019) as well as a workplace leadership that was more directive. It was also seen during the 9/11 attack in the United States, long-lasting shocks as such resulted in changes in attitudes as well as practises pertaining to privacy, security and surveillance. Similarly, there are a number of measures and changes that employers and managers needed to put in place to ensure the safety of their employees, especially those with health concerns.

A broad range of social, economic and psychological risks were seen by the workforce all over the world. A number of impacts seen in offices were that emergent changes in work practices was a necessity, which included remote-working or mandatory working from home, which was often carried out in a virtual setting or unprecedented scales, impacts pertaining to economic and social-psychological aspects which included mental illness, stress, unemployment and addiction and the need to moderate factors pertaining to family status, gender, age, race, personality and ethnicity. According to WHO (2020), Covid-19 can be transmitted at the workplace, while travelling to work or during any travel that comes with work; via contact with surfaces that are contaminated or respiratory droplets. Occupational health and safety advisors recommend all managers to contact them for support to identify, plan and implement workplace preventative measures. First and foremost, managers need to carry out a rapid risk assessment to determine and regulate the possibility of exposure risk. Only after this step, the manager can put in preventative measures in place. These steps need to be carried out by the managers of each department and each specific work setting. There are three essential exposure risk levels, namely, low, medium and high. The low exposure risk concerns job that do not come into frequent contact with the general public and have minimal occupational contact. These jobs include remote workers and workers that provide teleservices. Medium exposure risks include jobs that come into frequent contact with the general public or places with high population density areas. These jobs include construction, public transport, home deliveries and security and police. High exposure risk tasks are ones that come close to people who are more likely to have Covid-19 and may come into contact with surfaces or objects that have possibly been contaminated with the virus. Examples of such jobs include transporting people who are suspected to have the virus or have contacted it, providing home care or services that are domestic to people who have contracted Covid-19 (WHO, 2020). After the risk assessment is conducted, the employer or manager must decide whether the workplace needs to re-open, close, be suspended or work activities needs to be downscaled. There are also a number of key measures that all workplaces must implement to prevent the transmission of the virus. All employees, customers and other stakeholders of an organization must frequently wash their hands, carry out disinfection with hand sanitizer which are alcohol based, maintain a minimum of 1 meter physical distancing, cover when they cough or sneeze, wear a mask if the distancing aspect cannot be carried out effectively, limiting travel that is unnecessary and regularly disinfecting and cleaning the environment. It is vital for executives and senior staff or the organization to have clear procedures and policies in place, educate and train staff via meetings, emails and workshops to increase the awareness pertaining to the virus. It is important for the management to implement a transparency policy where staff needs to be open about suspicious employees who may be infected. The employees who may develop Covid-19 symptoms need to be advised to stay at home, contact a medical professional or authority and conduct self-isolation. Another aspect that Covid-19 had accelerated was the switching to remote working or work from home. Remote working will enable This migration was known to be handled reasonably well with many organizations. There are a number of benefits to working from home. The first and foremost novel change that remote working brought to many workers was that it created a new normal. It created a new version of balancing and blending work with the rest of life activities. Other clear and documented benefits included, reducing stress levels, reducing the carbon footprint, reducing facilities costs since companies can have big savings pertaining to infrastructure and utilities such as water, electricity and internet. Most companies are known to pass those savings to the wages and salaries of employees thus, creating a more satisfied and productive work environment. Workers or employees are also able to save up on work-related expenses such as cost of fuel that would otherwise be expended to travel to work, purchasing of costly work attire as well food expenses. Flexible work timings, and not having to get dressed to work early in the morning which produced a casual atmosphere played a big role in reducing stress levels of the work force. Employers are also exploring the potential of hiring people from all over the world due to restrictions of physically being present being removed and employers are also able to employ people who may find it difficult to juggle family responsibilities with paid work. The most beneficial aspect of remote working during these trying covid times is that people are not exposed to the virus and thereby curbing the spread of the virus. (Bourdin, 2020) To ensure the overall efficiency of the operations that need to be implemented in the midst of Covid-19, there are number of key elements of a successful and effective health and safety management system. Firstly, the manager must prepare an occupational health and safety policy programme as a part of the Section 20 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. Efficient health and safety procedures should be clearly set with consequences if not adhered to. The safety and health policies will also contribute to effective business performances as a part towards demonstratable commitment to enhance continuous work place improvement. The next step is for the manager to formulate a plan that will fulfil the health and safety procedures and policy. To deliver the policy effective structures and arrangements pertaining to management must be set in place. Health and safety objectives must be implemented and set for not only the employees but the managers as well. Thereafter, it is vital to implement the policy and procedures to the business operations. For a successful implementation, all internal stakeholders in an organization namely, business partners, board members, employees, consultants and other external stakeholders such as suppliers need to be motivated, encouraged and empowered to protect their health on the short-term as well as long-term, to work safely and to avoid accidents as much as possible. To ensure that all staff are aware of the policy, it must be successfully communicated. It is also of significant importance that all employees and representatives are able to provide informed and responsible contributions to the health and safety effort. The manager should then measure, monitor as well as evaluate the performance pertaining to health and safety. Performance once evaluated can bring rise to places where improvement is needed. (HSA, 2020) The action plans as well as the measures taken for preventative actions should be monitored on a regular basis and must be updated regularly as well. It is also vital to monitor the compliance of the visitors, clients, workers, sub-contractors and supplier pertaining to the measures. If someone who has Covid-19 is suspected then the plans need to be updated. Covid-19 is also famously associated with a number of concerns such as fear of falling sick, fear or dying, fear of placed in quarantine, fear of being excluded socially and fear of unemployment. Reactions include depression, high stress levels and anxiety. Therefore, it is important that psychosocial and mental health support is provided to all employees at the work place. Therefore, it is vital that managers implement clear measures to ensure the stability of the mental health of the employees and to boost productivity even in the midst of a devastating pandemic.

References

Bourdin, M.C (2020), ‘Working from home during the crisis’, CPA, viewed 23 October 2020 https://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Managing_Health_and_Safety/Safety_and_Health_Management_Systems < https://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Managing_Health_and_Safety/Safety_and_Health_Management_Systems/> Ji, T., Tybur, J. M., & Van Vugt, M. (2019). Generalized or origin-specific out-group prejudice?: the role of temporary and chronic pathogen-avoidance motivation in intergroup relations. Evolutionary Psychology, 17(1), 1474704919826851. WHO (2020), ‘Coronavirus disease (Covid-19): Health and safety in the workplace’, World Health Organization, viewed 22 October 2020, < https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-tips-for-health-and-safety-at-the-workplace-in-the-context-of-covid-19>