[Pandemic Guide] What to do when an employee tests positive for COVID-19?

What would you do if one of your employees tested positive for Covid-19? This is an extremely sensitive time that requires you to act quickly as a leader.

Witnessing a series of businesses having to close factories and suspend operations when an employee tests positive for Covid-19, any leader would surely feel worried. First, there’s concern for public health, and second, for the very survival of Vietnamese businesses in general and the company you manage in particular. As a boss of hundreds or thousands of people, what will you do when an employee in your company becomes a confirmed case?

This is a particularly complex challenge. This moment not only demands sensitivity and humanity but also requires you to act quickly and promptly. As a leader and the captain of hundreds of your valued employees, 1Office believes it’s necessary to have a plan, or a contingency solution, for a situation that could arise at any time. This requires you to take decisive action and have emotional intelligence. Below are suggestions on how to approach this situation, whether your employees are currently working in the office or from home.

From a business administrator’s perspective, you need to remain calm to assess the severity of the issue. In reality, this is not an overly serious problem; this challenge can absolutely be solved.

First of all, reassure and express sympathy, and show sincere concern for your employee. Even if it’s just a case involving the employee’s relative, the situation is still dangerous. Let the employee share their feelings. When you talk, make it clear that they can trust you and that the company will provide support.

For the employee themselves, you should take practical action instead of offering empty words. While each business has different policies and benefits for its employees, in special cases, we can still connect with employees emotionally through practical actions like providing financial support for living expenses or sending a care package…

Make an internal announcement and reassure employees.

Next is to connect with the rest of the company’s personnel. This means you need to act quickly to minimize the risk of the disease spreading. At this point, most departments will feel worried and insecure upon receiving the news. Therefore, as a leader, you must take action to guide them and stabilize their morale.

Regarding this issue, the first step is to make an internal announcement to the company and propose a reasonable solution. If everyone in your company has been working from home for more than 2 weeks, the spread of the disease within the company is unlikely. However, you should still directly notify employees via the internal newsfeed, email, or a general group chat to see if the infected person had contact with colleagues. After that, instruct employees to get tested at the nearest medical facility. Many businesses choose to register and encourage employees to get vaccinated to minimize the risk of coronavirus infection.

While you must regularly monitor the situation with your employee, you also cannot forget the workload and the tasks this employee is responsible for. This is because it directly affects the workflow between individuals and departments, as well as the overall business operations.

Distribute the work of the employee who tested positive to others with suitable expertise.

To ensure work is not interrupted, you must create a plan to redistribute the work to the remaining staff. If your business has already applied digital technology for work and project management, you can more easily reassign all tasks to other employees with the same expertise. Regarding each employee’s KPIs, we can be completely flexible in this situation, viewing it as part of the employee’s responsibility and loyal collaboration with the company. However, we can still offer an additional bonus based on work results to boost morale and as a thank you to the employees who have stood by the company.

When a business has an employee report a positive Covid-19 test, it requires the leadership to react quickly and sensitively. This is not an easy time for anyone, and reassuring employees is an extremely important task for a leader. This will help everyone who works for you feel more secure and able to focus better on their collective work, united in overcoming this difficult time.