As the number of cases of Coronavirus (COVID 19) are increasing rapidly, the fight against the novel respiratory illness is no longer something we can simply ignore. Many organizations have started to put employees through work-from-home drills, dusted off emergency-response plans and ordered increasingly stringent safety measures to protect their workers. However, the coronavirus has moved faster than many could prepare for and unfortunately we cannot simply send home the factory workers that many of us depend on so heavily.

For plant managers, now is the time to communicate effectively which can help to maintain cohesiveness and keeping staff engaged and focused, rather than being distracted by external noise. On the one hand, you need to address concerns that may be raised by your employees about the safety of work and on the other hand, the business needs to continue to run smoothly and efficiently, regardless of the environment around it.

So how can you balance this and make sure you look after both sides?

Here are four tips to get you started and guide you as the situation develops:

1. Keep employee well-being at the core of your decision-making
   
2. Only use trusted sources for information and advice
3. Keep up to date on major developments
4. Communicate simply, factually and often

Crisis communication & a quick adoption of new work procedures are key

At the core, Yoho is a communication and work order solution to ensure that information about work procecures and company-wide communication flows freely. Many of the standard Yoho features can be helpful in times of crisis and ensure employees adhere to company procedures, such as:

• Factory news feeds dedicated to a particular location, team or channel
• A mobile workflow builder to quickly build and distribute digital instructions, work orders and training materials
• Private messaging and group chats so employees can ask questions and feel part of your organization
• Dedicated feedback channels to keep a pulse on how your people and processes are running
• Read function so you can make sure that crucial information has been read
• Push notifications for crucial company-wide announcements

Businesses that already communicate internally using digital tools that employees can access on their phones now have a marked advantage over companies still relying on old-fashioned methods of internal communication such as company magazines and whiteboards.

Yoho sends condolences to all those that may be affected by the COVID19 and to show our support, we temporarily provide a 90-day free trial to all new accounts for the first 5 users. For any help, contact us at help@yohoapp.io.

Stay safe,
Team Yoho

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