Hope you’re all doing well and are safe.
As we enter the phase of commercial realities hitting all of our customers and suppliers, it’s had me thinking about our role as an employer to keep our team, suppliers and customers all safe, healthy and most importantly not strained personally. Your time and health are very important to us, and I want to make sure it’s treated as well as it can be.
With offices in Adelaide and Melbourne, and being a digital agency we already have levels of remote interactions that have been put into effect within the business. However, it’s paramount that our plans are flexible, that our staff have a chance to provide feedback if something isn’t working for them and that everyone is clear on what this means for Neon Treehouse.
Some major points I’d like to stress:
- Workload and capacity are very much business as usual
- There are no cases of COVID-19 in the team at this point in time
- We are still very much ready and able to tackle the economic landscape as it progresses resulting in this Pandemic
We have some things working in our favour now:
– the government are already putting into effect some major national scale measures to flatten to curve
– our team in Adelaide and Melbourne aren’t working with concern around public transport and high density office buildings, and so have a reduced risk
In terms of our response to the pandemic, please see below the measures we will have in place in the office, effective immediately.
- Staff have the option to work from home for up to 4 days a week. There is not enough foot traffic in this space for full lock-down to be necessary, though I want to make sure we are putting it to a minimum.
- Monday’s are a compulsory day in the office to check-in, the rest is up to them.
- If staff are uncomfortable for whatever reason coming into the office, we have other flexible alternatives in place
- If staff are even slightly sick, stay home. If staff have symptoms of acute respiratory illness are recommended to stay home and not come to work until they are free of fever, signs of a fever, and any other symptoms for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing or other symptom-altering medicines. Staff should notify their supervisor and stay home if they are sick.
- If staff are short on sick leave to cover these circumstances, Neon Treehouse will cover the days needed to allow for these timelines. But, if staff are also feeling well enough to work then you can do so from home until the above requirements are met.
- If staff come to work feeling unwell, we’ll be sending them home.
- We’ve taken extra measures to ensure our office space is clean at all times, and staff have capacity to keep their hands and selves clean whilst at the office.
- We’ll be increase performance of routine environmental cleaning with a cleaner coming in weekly, as well as a requirement for all staff to clean their desks with spray and wipe each week.
- Anyone going overseas at any point, or in contact with people who have been, know to notify management of this so that we can put forward the appropriate preventative measures.
- If staff are unwell, we strongly encourage them to be tested if you are showing symptoms, and if you are tested positive then they’ll be asked to stay at home for up to 2 weeks forced sick leave, and 2 weeks working from home after they’re better and feeling up to working.
If you’d like to know more about our response, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!