To help combat the spread of COVID-19, many offices are allowing employees to work from home. But few companies can shut down completely and must have at least some workers coming to the office each day. Here are some recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help keep COVID-19 from spreading in your workplace, even with reduced staffing levels:

Encourage good hygiene. Send hand washing reminders by e-mail and encourage all employees to wash their hands immediately after reporting to work. Post hand-washing reminders in the bathroom. Make hand sanitizer freely available wherever employees are. Remind employees to avoid touching their faces and cover coughs and sneezes.

Stop hand shaking. Use other non-contact methods of greeting. Try to keep employees who are in the office separated as much as possible.

Step up cleaning efforts. Surfaces like doorknobs, tables, desks, and handrails should be disinfected more frequently.

Use videoconferencing for meetings when possible. When not possible, hold meetings in open, well-ventilated spaces. Consider postponing large meetings or gatherings.

Encourage sick workers to stay home. Studies show that many employees nationwide come to work even if they have a cold or flu. In some offices, it’s a badge of honor to come to work even if you aren’t feeling well. Make sure employees know that if they aren’t feeling well, have been tested for COVID-19 or have a member of their household with COVID-19, they should stay home. The coronavirus can incubate from anywhere between 2-14 days. In the early stages, it doesn’t always present symptoms and some people who have it do not have significant symptoms.

Assist employees who are at higher risk. Some employees, such as older adults and those with chronic medical conditions, may be at higher risk for serious illness. Employers may want to consider minimizing face-to-face contact between these employees and other employees or customers and/or assigning work tasks that allow them to maintain a distance of six feet from other colleagues and customers.

Don’t forget about mental health. The coronavirus pandemic is having wide-reaching effects on almost every aspect of American life. Understandably, many people report feeling anxious, afraid and unsure about what’s next. You can’t predict the future, but you can encourage your employees to care for their mental health — whether they are at home or at the office.

It’s estimated that on-the-job stress costs U.S. companies more than $300 billion annually in increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, increased health care costs and employee turnover. Stress, however, is a very individualized phenomenon — what causes stress in one person may not cause stress in another. The good news is that research has identified a number of stressors that often affect large groups of employees — and the ways employers can help address them.

Surveys show that probably the biggest source of stress for workers is balancing work and family demands. That’s why telecommuting and flextime are sought-after options for a growing number of workers nationwide. Studies show allowing workers the option of working just one day of each week at home can dramatically reduce their stress levels. Telecommuting isn’t the only answer, however. Ask your employees how you can help them meet the demands of work and family life. A bit of flexibility in how they get their job done can make all the difference.

Some other ways to reduce stress at the office:

Let the sick stay home. At many companies, it’s a badge of honor to go into work sick. Leaders often set the example by doing it themselves. Create a culture where people do not feel guilty staying home when they are ill. Even more important, encourage your employees to take all of their vacation days each year. One study showed that 52 percent of American workers did not use all of their allotted vacation time last year.

Create an after-hours work policy. Another big stressor? After-hours e-mails. Studies show that many employees feel like they have to answer e-mails and solve client problems after-hours. Simply put, it is stressing workers out. France even passed a law addressing the issue.

Be a good communicator. When was the last time you simply talked with your employees about the changes happening in your company? Sometimes not knowing what is happening or why changes are being made can affect stress levels. It doesn’t mean your employees need to know the sensitive information; but basic information can calm their nerves.

Offer food. Do you order in food for your employees occasionally? How about breakfast during a morning meeting and offering some bagels, fruit, yogurt and coffee? Need to have a training meeting? How about incorporating it over the lunch hour and have lunch catered? It’s a proven way to raise morale at the office.

Have a sense of humor. Humor can be a powerful tool for relieving stress. Share a laugh with your employees. It’s a great way to help diffuse a stressful situation.

Do you need to hire a new employee? The process of advertising a job, screening applicants, scheduling interviews and making the final selection of a new employee creates a level of risk. As a small business owner, you have many legal responsibilities under federal employment anti-discrimination laws.

That’s why we have assembled a detailed, multi-part education program for our clients called “Work Smart,” that’s filled with documented smart business practices in every area, including hiring. Companies can use this information to build more risk-proof activities and procedures, avoiding potential business risks such as asking prohibited questions during the application process.

When hiring, there’s also the risk, of course, that you will select an employee that isn’t a good fit for your business. That’s why we wanted to share with you four qualities that studies show can help you make a successful hire, whatever your industry:

Initiative. Does the job applicant have a history of volunteering for whatever work needs to be done, not just the jobs that are the easiest or that will earn kudos? This is a good measure of the applicant’s initiative.

Adaptability. Do they view failures as opportunities to grow and succeed or are they afraid to take risks? Do they manage change or do they seem to avoid it? Are they annoyed by day-to-day hassles or do they approach them with a cheerful attitude? No one wants to work with someone who can’t adapt to changing conditions or has a dour attitude.

Empathy. People who regularly seek out opportunities to help other people can be valuable additions to most any team.

A positive attitude. Positive people view challenges as opportunities to learn, adapt, and succeed. Positive attitudes can be contagious among co-workers. As managers, people with great attitudes often are more apt to demonstrate to their workers that they have faith in their abilities to handle challenges and make important decisions. Who wouldn’t want to work with that type of person?

When it comes to business insurance, there’s a lot to know. Just like your business itself, there are a lot of pieces. That’s why it pays to partner with an expert insurance firm to answer your questions and make sure all your insurance coverage needs are met.

Here are some of the most common business insurance questions to help get you started on what you should know.

• Is there a difference between hired and non-owned auto liability insurance? The short answer is yes. With certain exceptions, the term “hired autos” refers to autos the named insured leases, hires, rents, or borrows. The term does not include any auto the named insured leases, hires, rents, or borrows from any of its employees, partners, limited liability members, or members of their households. As respects the motor carrier, the exception applies to private passenger type autos only. By contrast, the term “non-owned auto” applies to vehicles owned by employees and used for company business. It applies only if such autos are private passenger vehicles.
• What is the difference between general liability and professional liability? General liability protects against any financial loss as the result of bodily injury, property damage, medical expenses, libel, slander, defending lawsuits, and settlement bonds or judgments. For instance, this coverage would apply to someone suing your business for medical damage after walking into your store and slipping on a recently mopped floor. Professional liability is meant to protect your business against bad advice or guidance. If someone acts on your professional business opinion and it results in something harmful or negative, this insurance will protect your company from professional liability claims.
• Why does it take longer to get a business insurance proposal than a personal insurance quote? We work hard to make sure that your proposal is delivered to you as quickly as possible, but there are a lot of considerations that have to be taken into account, including business type, location, and the number of employees. When an expert insurance broker is reviewing your information, it takes some time to compile all the relevant details and create your unique policy. This not only ensures that you get the best rate, but also that you have accurate coverage.

Still have questions? We can help. Give us a call today so we can start the process of helping you build your best policy and get the protection your business needs.

Winter always seems to be a busy season, which is odd considering how strong the urge can be to just hibernate through it and skip the whole thing. From a worker safety standpoint, we’re not exactly crazy about the season, but the fact is, it rolls around each year like clockwork, bringing its own work-related challenges.

Like any other period of serious weather, winter brings about some unique safety challenges that demand our consideration. Just on its own, the winter chill is clearly a potential safety issue to those who work beyond a temperature-controlled environment. Cold stress can sneak up on an individual and sap their energy before they realize it’s high time to warm up. Even if it doesn’t progress to more serious exposure-related conditions, cold stress can sap productivity and present its own set of health hazards. When winter falls, work that can be done inside should be promptly moved indoors.

For those still exposed to low temperatures, it’s important to be aware of the signs of cold stress and look for symptoms of the conditions it causes. Dressing for low temperatures goes a long way — layer your clothing to better regulate heat, and stay as dry as possible. To cut the risk of slips and falls, take care of snow and ice as quickly as you can after it falls.

To workers, one of the biggest risks of winter is right underfoot. Slips and falls are a major safety issue regardless of season, but the risk of falling on the job can be seriously compounded by winter ice and snow. The injuries caused by slipping on ice range in severity, as you’d expect. With that said, 2013 data pulled from five Midwestern states found slips and falls on snow and ice to be responsible for about one-third of all workers’ compensation claims that resulted in lost time from work. Tackling the winter slip risk in a work setting is much the same as anywhere else — shovel away ice and snow as soon as possible, apply some de-icing agent when appropriate, and proceed with caution.