On Monday, May 11, 2020, our office re-opens!
Before I talk about the road ahead, I want to offer you a little background on why I closed the office in the first place. From the beginning of the lockdown, we were exempt from closing our office as we are deemed a life-sustaining business and in fact, 67.4% of our clients are themselves life-sustaining organizations. So why did I close the office especially since every member of my staff fought me tooth and nail on this decision and we were and are exempt?
At the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic, there were so many unknowns and the projected loss of life was incredible, and I could not justify to myself solid rationale to keep the physical office open. So, we pivoted to our Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plan and sent everyone home to work remotely.
I am proud to report that-
We never missed a beat. Every client need was met without delay and every SLA (service level agreement) was upheld.
There were no layoffs or salary cuts. Unlike many companies in our space, all of our staff are full-time and salaried, with no independent contractors or hourly employees. Though some of my fellow business owners and our accounting team suggested that we do make cuts given all of the unknowns I never considered it, not even for a minute. Why? We have a great team. They are smart, hard-working, devoted, talented, and demonstrate their care for the clients and our company every day. I believe that any cuts would have led to both short- and long-term negative consequences for our clients and our company.
Every day we produced videos with tips and techniques to work effectively and cyber safely whether you were virtual or in your office.
So why return now?
Guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are much clearer and more workable.
Our staff needs to return now for mental, emotional, and productivity reasons. While we work very effectively while remote, we are at the top of our game when we are all under the same roof.
Like virtually everything in life before the COIVID-19 Pandemic things will be different for us. In-office meetings with current and prospective clients will be greatly curtailed. Other potential visitors will be greatly encouraged to continue to meet with us virtually and when clients pick up equipment, we will no longer use paper forms, and instead, signatures and acknowledgments will be done electronically.
Some other important notes.
Everyone member of our team is returning voluntarily. They have all been given the option to continue to work remotely without consequence and all have laced up their running shoes to race back to the office.
We are well stocked with PPE equipment for our staff.
We’ve established safe distancing and other protective measures.
Our office was professionally sanitized and cleaned by our friends at Servpro and subsequent services will be deployed as needed.
We have hand sanitizer everywhere and a very good supply of antibacterial cleaning wipes for surface tops.
What makes our re-opening news a little different is the fact that on March 1st we had just moved into our newly constructed office and it seemed like it was 5 minutes later when we had to close and go virtual.
This was especially tough as the construction took 5 months and we were just finding our rhythm in our new work home. If you have not yet seen our new office click here for a simple and quick tour.
While we are very excited to move forward into the new normal, we also want to acknowledge what has happened locally, nationally, and throughout the world. While the loss of life thus far has been less than expected, every life lost is a heart breaking tragedy. I am sure like you every member of our team has experienced loss either directly or indirectly due to the Coronavirus. I remain hopeful that guided by God the medical experts and scientists will soon be able to offer us more effective treatments and eventually a vaccine.
Until then as we march forward we hope that you stay healthy and safe and remember that we are here for you 24x7 to answer any business information technology need that you may have.
Scott Gingold,
President and CVO
Lehigh Valley Technology Company
Komentar