10 Jan Be Smart and Be Safe
We wanted the new year to be different. The year 2020 was the year the world shut down. Last year was supposed to be the year we ended a global pandemic with a vaccine. So when the calendar told us 2021 was coming to end, it just felt like 2022 was our year. The year we turn on the news and the lead story is not the virus. Yet here we are in January of 2022, partying like it’s 2020 all over again.
This is a frustrating time as a business owner or leader. You have a budget, and if you are smart you have a marketing plan. So what are you to make of the rising Covid cases? I think the best advice is to be smart and be safe.
It is tempting to ignore the trends and go about your business as normal, whatever normal looks like these days. But we are the leaders in our organizations, and it is our job to protect our staff and protect our clients.
It is tempting to ignore the trends and go about your business as normal, whatever normal looks like these days. But we are the leaders in our organizations, and it is our job to protect our staff and protect our clients. Does that mean we need to shut the doors and shelter in place? No, I think we learned a lot in 2020. Sheltering in place did not stop the spread of the virus, and it created a mental health crisis in our nation. But there are things we can do to help fight the virus and still grow our business.
When I looked at our business, the first thing I did was move all in-person interviews to virtual interviews. We love to interview people about their business. It helps them get exposure for their companies and gives them content they can push out online and on social media. Now more than ever local businesses need our support. But the interview looks just as good via Zoom as it does in person. By moving the interviews online, we did our part as a company to help slow the spread of the virus. What goods or services can you offer online? I realize the answer is different depending on your industry.
The second thing we did was roll out a policy for staff members who work in the office. If they feel sick, they are required to work from home or take a sick day. If they test positive for COVID or a family member tests positive for COVID, they are required to work from home for five days and have a negative test result to come back to the office.
Is this policy easy? No. Others will have to pick up work that can only be done in the office, like our production team. Is this policy perfect? No. We will no doubt have to tweak this policy as we go along. The point is, we are doing something. We are being smart and being safe.
We don’t require our staff to be vaccinated. I don’t feel like that is something an employer should require. We are also headquartered in Texas, where our state government has made it clear that it is illegal to make that requirement.
There will be debate, and legal cases will continue. But don’t wait to make decisions with the safety of your team and your clients in mind. Your policy might look different than ours, but doing nothing is not an option.
Scott Miller is the CEO of Centerpost Media, host of the Create. Build. Manage. Show (seen on BizTV, heard on BizTalkRadio, and available wherever you listen to podcasts,) and a member of the Forbes Agency Council, Entrepreneur Leadership Network, and Dallas Business Journal Leadership Trust. You can find Scott on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via “@scottmillerceo” or on LinkedIn via “@scottmillermedia.” Centerpost Media is a content marketing agency with a vision to help every business they encounter with their media needs by providing outstanding quality, service and value. Centerpost Media is the parent company to BizTV, BizTalkRadio, BizTalkPodcasts and Bizvod.