How to reopen safely

If you collect any sort of health information from your employees, you’ll need to make sure their privacy is protected according to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. For example, if your employee screening includes temperature-taking, will that information be stored? If so, how will you do it in a HIPAA-compliant way?

Upon returning, employees will be extra careful about following safety guidelines because everything feels new. But once the novelty subsides, it’s important to review your protocols regularly. For example, people might watch their meeting sizes when they’re first back to work, but may slip into familiar routines over time. Consider new approaches, such as instituting outdoor walking meetings.

If you have a worker who refuses to wear a mask when serving customers, for example, you could offer a backup plan (e.g., have that worker stock shelves in the back), or you might have a zero-tolerance policy, where employees simply must comply. The important thing is to have clear and fair expectations – and to prioritize the health and safety of all employees.

For many Americans, COVID-19 has made a bigger impact on their finances than their health. And families are struggling to balance work with childcare and schooling. If your employees have access to an employee assistance plan (EAP), be sure they understand the resources available to them, and normalize conversations in the workplace about need and assistance.

Even if you take all necessary safety precautions, it's likely you will have some employees who won't want to return to work because they feel unsafe. Consider how you'll handle operations if many people still want to work from home and how you'll treat all employees fairly in this case.