Protecting your business and employment during the coronavirus pandemic (ep 104)

We, like everyone around the world, have been avidly watching and listening to all of the updates on the spread and actions being taken to limit effects of the coronavirus.  As of 20 March – 5 days after we recorded this episode, Australia has gone from 250 declared cases to over 800. Restrictions are tightening daily.  Understandably, anxiety levels are increasing. Business owners are worried about staying in business, and employees are worried about keeping their jobs.  As an employment lawyer, Jo Alilovic has been fielding a lot of the calls from worried people, and Lucy Dickens has been busy as part of her firm’s leadership team establishing business continuity strategies.  Together, they speak about and answer some of the common questions arising such as:  * How to maintain safety and health in active workplaces (eg. Hygiene standards and communication policies); * What directions an employer can make to employees regarding travel, attendance at conferences, events etc; * How and when to implement working from home requirements; * What employees must be paid when self-isolating, sick or caring for others or when directed to work from home; * What happens if there is a downturn in business reducing workload and increasing the need for changes to conditions or redundancies;  Overall, the most important thing for business owners and employees is to continue to communicate on a regular basis. We all need to work together to survive this time and be poised to thrive when it is over.  If you are a business owner or manager with more questions, then join Jo’s facebook group – Coronavirus Employer Support – Australia where business owners can share innovative ideas about seeing out this crisis and get information they need.  Our thoughts are with all of you struggling during this time.  Links mentioned in this episode:   * The Juggle Community, our online Facebook group * Subscribe to The Juggle Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or Android  * Find us on Instagram and Facebook * The Juggle website, where you can find all episodes of The Juggle and sign up to be notified when a new episode is released * Other episode links: * www.health.gov.au *