We're still up and running. We're a logistics provider, freight forwarder and US Customs broker. I have 32 full time employees. Salaries are by far our biggest expense. Any logistics operation connected to the ports, airports, cross border trade, is considered an essential business. And indeed we have some customers who import staple fiber (used for making sanitary products for hospitals and clinics), machines for grinding and forming pills and capsules, medications, hospital gowns and face masks, etc. (Along with many other products which are currently of no help).
For years, we've allowed our people to work 2 days a week from home. But for various reasons, it's just not feasible or practical to work more than two consecutive days away from the office. Already 3 weeks ago, we had a plan in place, common areas, such as copy machines, door handles, etc, were wiped down every hour. We shut down having any opened food in the kitchen, the water cooler, etc. (Under normal circumstances people will NEVER starve in this office). We tried to give people clear guidelines on washing their hands multiple times per day.
Two weeks ago, we realized where this was going and scrambled to get everybody who COULD work remotely, set up to do so. (We had restrictions that only employees who have been with us for more than a year could and we've dumped all those rules). And starting last week, we told everybody they SHOULD work from home, keeping in mind that they may have to come in from time to time for a variety of reasons and limitations of the system or our industry.
After last week, it seemed like people were still coming into the office, still chatting during breaks, etc. So over the weekend we put out some strict guidelines in place. They are only allowed to come into the office twice a week maximum, less if possible and are not allowed to stay more than 3 hours, tops: Scan, print, log, grab supplies, do what you need to and go back home. And we've tried to set up a system that no more than 5 people are in the office at any time. My partner and I are alternating days and probably staying inside longer than we should be, but mostly just to support the staff if they need something that can't be handled remotely.
It's not really possible for our finance/accounting to work remotely. Maybe one but not all three. So we have them come in alternating days, just for a few hours. And we're trying to encourage all of our customers to pay by wire transfer, paycargo (industry specific), etc, so that we cut down incoming checks. Hopefully we can get it down to having each of them only come in once per week. (We're still paying them full salary and will continue to do so as long as possible).
But it's tough to say where this will go. 2019 was a great year So far this year we've lost money both in January and February and we probably will this month as well. We hired 3 new people last year. At this point, we're clearly over-staffed but the last thing I want to do is lay people off. We're just struggling to find a rhythm operating like this. But better and luckier than most under the circumstances.
