My shop is fairly small too. We have 7 employees and were in the process of hiring 2 new employees when Covid hit. Needless to say, the additional hires are on hold. We have continued to operate though.
We applied with our state to be declared an essential service, but they have been too bogged down to give us a ruling. I would definitely consider our services essential. Since this began, our local hospital and health clinics have ordered 50+ message boards and dozens of banners and lawn signs with instructions for patients. Not to mention signage for nearby town administrators and many local restaurants and our city's food shelf. There are a few other jobs that trickle in, but nothing like it was before. We are priority Covid. Always same or next day turnaround on all crisis related projects. We are also in the process of starting a Covid-19 education program with our city's mayor. Producing hundreds of lawn signs, banners etc with different tips and advice to place throughout the city. For all the cynics, this is a zero profit project.
We have all our applications ready and are applying for the paycheck protection plan through our local lender. Great program where wages and some other operating expenses are loaned and forgiven for 8 weeks.
I have also changed everyone's schedule to try to spread our staff out as much as possible. Weekends are pretty relative at this point, so 3 employees have taken weekend shifts and 2 other employees work exclusively from home. The max number we have in house at any time is 4, but more often only 3. We have also gone to (4) 10hr days for a few employees. Also staggering start/stop times to further limit contact. Everyone keeps their distance and every two hours, I have them all disinfect their tools, equipment, cell phones, keyboards, etc, as well as requiring mandatory hand washing. I even went so far as making them all watch a proper hand washing video.
All customer handoffs are curbside. Any vehicles that come in for graphics are pre-paid online or over the phone, keys are left in the vehicle, gloves are used when moving the vehicle, then they are parked back outside with the keys in them when install is complete. Deliveries are left outside as well. Nobody comes in our doors and no direct contact is made with customers, vendors or delivery people.
Any installs or site visits are done at a distance. We have been coning off a perimeter around our work areas and trying to only do off hours installs.
Most importantly, I am in constant contact (at 6' +) with my employees. We have had weekly meetings and I ask for them to voice their concerns and suggestions. I make it very clear that nobody comes to work if they even have a sniffle. I also make it very very clear that if at any point, anyone feels unsafe at work, they do not have to come in. Their jobs will be there when this clears and no ill will for anybody who makes that decision.
My heart goes out to your neighbors rjssigns. It truly does. This is a horrible time and we are all faced with impossible decisions every day. But, at least in my opinion, our services are essential. Are we 100% safe when we come in to work? Absolutely not, but we try. It may reach a point where I feel the acceptable risk is too high, but for now, we soldier on and do the best that we can.
If anyone else has workplace practices that would be useful in these times, I would love to hear them. We are trying to stay on top of this, but there is always room for improvement.
