COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Business Continuity Plan

A 7-step guide to creating a business continuity plan for dealing with COVID-19.

Updated on June 25th, 2023

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A business continuity plan (BCP) is a strategic plan a business would follow to prevent and recover from major disruptions to business. Typically, businesses establish a continuity plan for natural disasters, such as floods, arson, and terrorism.

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak presented businesses with many unforeseen challenges due to its fast spread, global reach, and resulting lockdowns. This guide was created to help businesses modify and improve their business continuity plans during this time to be better prepared for the effects of the pandemic.

COVID-19 Business Continuity Plan Template

Use our general business continuity plan in Word format to help stay on task.

How to Prepare for COVID-19:

1. prioritize your employees' safety..

The well-being and health of your employees should be your top priority. Start by addressing the needs of employees who display COVID-19 symptoms. To keep your entire team safe, send any employees with flu-like symptoms home. In this scenario, ensure you maintain transparent communication with all your employees, as this will go a long way in reassuring them.

Look into remote working solutions. To do this, you'll need to determine if you have the tools, technology, and capacity to support a small or large remote team. In addition, you might need to consider introducing or expanding flexible work arrangements. Depending on your type of business and industry, businesses may also need to reorganize teams and reallocate resources.

One of the adjustments businesses have to make is to implement infection protection measures. You need to create a strategy that enables employees to continue to work without endangering them. You can do this by establishing employee well-being programs and policies that support a safe working environment.

2. Identify the risks and impact of COVID-19.

As a business, it's vital that you stay updated on the latest news and regulations put into place by government officials. This also provides you with more information to help identify the risks and overall impact COVID-19 will have on your business.

The following are possible impacts that businesses should consider:

Employees may be unable to travel to work due to travel restrictions put into place . For employees that make use of public transport, the risk of infection is much higher due to close contact with other individuals. Additionally, since schools are officially closed, many parents may be unable to attend work due to childcare issues.

Employees may be prohibited from attending work . In the case of national shutdowns, employees will be unable to enter workspaces.

A visible slowdown in sales. During a national shutdown, customers will be unable to purchase services and products, which will lead to a rapid decrease in sales.

Additional costs for hiring temporary employees . Depending on the type of business or industry you're based in, you may need to continue work during a national shutdown. This will generally require essential employees only and if essential employees are diagnosed with COVID-19, you will need to consider hiring temporary employees.

Diminished workforce performance. If your employees are forced to work remotely but do not have access to the same quality of resources and technology, you could see a decrease in productivity.

Additional cost of establishing a remote workforce. As mentioned above, you may need to put resources in place to help employees maintain the same level of functionality. However, this will cost your business as employees might require special equipment, communication devices, and software.

Your business might be forced to close down. If your business does not provide essential services and cannot afford a remote workforce, you will have to close down during lockdowns. This could result in unpaid time off, especially for businesses like restaurants, salons, and bars.

3. Establish open and transparent communication.

Employees will look towards their community leaders, government officials, and employers for guidance during these uncertain times. Therefore, it's important that you encourage open dialogue with your employees and be as transparent as possible.

Leave as little to interpretation as possible . Employees will expect clear and straightforward steps that they can follow. When setting up your continuity plan, consider the diverse perspectives of your employees and which communication platforms will best suit their needs. This will help you determine how detailed your plan should be.

Establish a communications plan that provides employees, senior management, customers, suppliers, and government regulators with regular updates . Make sure your updates stem from verifiable news sources, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

4. Reshape your business plans for continuity purposes.

As the impact of COVID-19 continues to reshape the way businesses operate, it's critical that you review existing business plans, including your current business continuity plan and business disaster recovery plan.

To help address the COVID-19 challenges, businesses should:

Monitor direct cost escalations . This should also include the COVID-19 impact on overall product margins, which may require businesses to renegotiate terms and conditions where necessary. Businesses may be vulnerable to financial stress and long-term implications if they are slow to react.

Consider alternative supply chain options. If your business needs to source products or materials but the supplier is based in areas significantly affected by COVID-19, consider looking for alternative options. Remember to maintain active communication with all suppliers.

Identify how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts budgets and business plans. Start by conducting assessments with multiple scenarios to understand the potential impact on your business's overall performance. After detailing how long the impact is expected to last, and how it affects suppliers and budget predictions, revise your business's plans.

Look into alternative funding. Many businesses will face the issue of short-term capital demands. Based on your findings from the business plans assessment, you might need to look at near-term capital raising, short-term liquidity, debt refinancing, or additional credit support from banks, partners, or investors.

5. Prioritize key business functions and processes.

Start by identifying the key products and services your business provides, as well as the customers they're delivered to. This will help determine which high-risk areas are vulnerable, outline dependencies, and estimate the potential financial losses your business may face. Then, prioritize which business functions require additional attention.

6. Make use of support policies and funding.

Across the U.S., local governments and organizations have implemented several financial, social insurance, and tax-related policies to help support small businesses during this time. It is important to note that government support may differ based on your location and industry.

Monitor nationwide government and business opportunities that could support your business during this period. For example, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is providing low-interest working capital loans to small businesses and non-profit organizations.

7. Review and revise your business strategy.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled, you should consider reshaping your entire business strategy. This should include an assessment of all plans, including marketing, communications, and BCP. Your current revision will be done quickly and somewhat under duress as the situation continues to change dramatically.

If your assessment reveals any deficiencies, you will need to identify:

  • Root causes.
  • Timeliness of action.
  • Lack of infrastructure.
  • Labor shortages.
  • External environment issues.

Once this is complete, consider putting new internal guidelines, plans, and policies in place based on the lessons learned. This will help you better respond to future crises and pandemics.

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Mar 4, 2022

What is included in a COVID-19 business continuity plan?

  • Policies that address various types of natural disasters.
  • Processes that must be followed during this time.
  • Guidelines that detail the business processes, assets, human resources, business partners, and more.
  • An outline of the risks the business faces and how it will impact operations.
  • Safeguards and processes to help mitigate the risks.

How do I prepare my business for COVID-19?

  • Prioritize your employees' safety .
  • Identify the risks and impact of COVID-19 .
  • Establish open and transparent communication .
  • Reshape your business plans for continuity purposes .
  • Prioritize key business functions and processes .
  • Make use of support policies and funding .
  • Review and revise your business strategy .

Where can I find a COVID-19 business continuity plan template?

Download our COVID-19 business continuity plan template for free.

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Control and Prevention

Given the evolving nature of the pandemic, OSHA is in the process of reviewing and updating this document. These materials may no longer represent current OSHA recommendations and guidance. For the most up-to-date information, consult Protecting Workers Guidance .

Coronavirus Illustration | Photo: CDC

Measures for protecting workers from exposure to and infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), depends on exposure risk. That risk varies based on the type of work being performed, the potential for interaction (prolonged or otherwise) with people, and contamination of the work environment. Employers should adopt infection prevention and control strategies based on a thorough workplace hazard assessment , using appropriate combinations of engineering and administrative controls, safe work practices, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent worker exposures. Some OSHA standards that apply to preventing occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 also require employers to train workers on elements of infection prevention and control, including PPE.

The general guidance below is meant to inform all U.S. workers and employers, but does not alter compliance responsibilities for any particular industry. Depending on where their operations fall in OSHA's exposure risk pyramid , workers and employers should also consult additional, specific guidance for those at either lower (i.e., caution) or increased (i.e., medium, high, or very high) risk of exposure. The exposure risk pyramid and a workplace hazard assessment , can help workers and employers identify exposure risk levels commonly associated with various sectors.

All employers should remain alert to and informed about changing outbreak conditions, including as they relate to community spread of the virus and testing availability, and implement infection prevention and control measures accordingly.

For the most up-to-date information on OSHA’s guidance see Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace .

hands under water | Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Defense

Interim General Guidance for All Workers and Employers

For all workers, regardless of specific exposure risks, it is always a good practice to:

  • Wear cloth face coverings , at a minimum, at all times when around coworkers or the general public. If a respirator, such as an N95 respirator or better, is needed for conducting work activities, then that respirator should be used, and the worker should use their cloth face covering when they are not using the respirator (such as during breaks or while commuting).
  • Frequently wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. When soap and running water are not immediately available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol as active ingredients and rub hands together until they are dry. Always wash hands that are visibly soiled.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Practice good respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes or coughing/sneezing into your elbow/upper sleeve.
  • Avoid close contact (within 6 feet for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period) with people who are visibly sick and practice physical distancing with coworkers and the public.
  • Stay home if sick.
  • Recognize personal risk factors. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , certain people, including older adults and those with underlying conditions such as heart or lung disease, chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis, liver disease, diabetes, immune deficiencies, or obesity, are at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19.

The CDC has also developed interim COVID-19 guidance for businesses and employers . The interim guidance is intended to help prevent workplace exposure to acute respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. The guidance also addresses considerations that may help employers as community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 evolves. The guidance is intended for non-healthcare settings. Healthcare workers and employers should consult guidance specific to them, including the information below and on the CDC coronavirus webpage . Additional guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and other federal agencies may be relevant to both workers and employers.

Interim Guidance for Job Tasks Associated with Lower Exposure Risk

Workers whose jobs do not require contact with people known to have or suspected of having COVID-19, nor frequent close contact with (within 6 feet for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period) the general public or other workers, are at lower risk of occupational exposure.

Worker in gown, gloves | Photo Credit: CDC/Kimberly Smith, Christine Ford

As the Hazard Recognition page explains, workers' job duties affect their level of occupational risk and such risk may change as workers conduct different tasks or circumstances change.

Employers and workers in operations associated with a lower risk of exposure should remain aware of evolving trends in community transmission. Changes in community transmission, or work activities that move employees into higher risk categories, may warrant additional precautions in some workplaces or for some workers.

Employers should monitor public health communications about COVID-19 recommendations, ensure that workers have access to that information, and collaborate with workers to designate effective means of communicating important COVID-19 information. Frequently check the OSHA and CDC COVID-19 websites for updates.

Interim Guidance for Job Tasks Associated with Increased Risk of Exposure to SARS-CoV-2

Certain workers are likely to perform job duties that involve medium, high, or very high occupational exposure risks in areas with community transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Many critical sectors depend on these workers to continue their operations. Examples of workers in these exposure risk groups include, but are not limited to, those in healthcare, emergency response, meat and poultry processing, retail stores (e.g., grocery stores, pharmacies), childcare and schools, and other critical infrastructure or essential operations. These workers and their employers should remain aware of the evolving community transmission risk .

As the Hazard Recognition page explains, workers' job duties affect their level of occupational risk. Employers should assess the hazards to which their workers may be exposed; evaluate the risk of exposure; and, select, implement, and ensure workers use controls to prevent exposure. Control measures may include a combination of engineering and administrative controls, safe work practices, and PPE.

All employers should consider developing COVID-19 response plans that use the hierarchy of controls and other tools to address protecting workers who remain in, or will return to, their workplaces during the COVID-19 public health emergency—including as outbreak conditions evolve. This section provides general information about protecting workers whose job tasks are associated with medium, high, and very high risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic and is intended to be used in tandem with other industry-specific resources linked above. In addition to considerations discussed in those resources, COVID-19 response plans may need to address:

Protect Workers Performing Screening Duties

As part of screening programs, ensure that personnel performing screening activities, including temperature checks, are appropriately protected from exposure to potentially infectious workers entering the workplace:

  • Implement engineering controls, such as physical barriers or dividers or rope and stanchion systems, to maintain at least 6 feet of distance between screeners and workers being screened.
  • Ensure that screening is conducted in a safe area by, for example, directing parking lot or delivery traffic elsewhere.
  • Such PPE may include gloves, a gown, a face shield, and, at a minimum, a medical-grade face mask.
  • Train employees on how to properly put on, take off, and dispose of all PPE.
  • OSHA video: Putting on and Taking off a Mask ( Spanish )
  • OSHA poster: Seven Steps to Correctly Wear a Respirator at Work ( available in 16 languages )

Worker Screening

Screening workers for COVID-19 signs and/or symptoms (such as through temperature checks) is a strategy that employers may choose to implement as part of their efforts to maintain or resume operations and reopen physical work sites. Employers may consider developing and implementing a screening and monitoring strategy aimed at preventing the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into the work site.* Those who may be infected with SARS-CoV-2 may not show any signs or symptoms, thus screening and monitoring may have limitations. The complexity of screening will depend on the type of work site and the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak among staff, but, if implemented, should include:

  • Protocols for screening workers before entry into the workplace (which may entail asking workers to take their own temperatures or otherwise perform self-screening measures before reporting to work).
  • Criteria for the exclusion of sick workers (including asymptomatic workers who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and have not yet been cleared to discontinue isolation).
  • Criteria for return to work of exposed and recovered employees (those who have had signs or symptoms of COVID-19 but have gotten better).

Because people infected with SARS-CoV-2 can spread the virus even if they do not have signs/symptoms of infection, screening may play a part in a comprehensive program to monitor worker health during the pandemic but may have limited utility on its own. In many workplaces, screening efforts are likely to be most beneficial when conducted at home by individual workers. Employers' temperature screening plans may rely on workers self-monitoring, rather than employers directly measuring, temperatures. Consider implementing such programs in conjunction with sick leave policies that encourage sick workers, including those whose self-monitoring efforts reveal a fever, to stay at home. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19, eligible for 100% reimbursement through employer tax credits.

* Protocols for worker screening must be applied equally, without discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, age, disability, or other protected characteristics.

If employers choose to implement on-site screening or monitoring programs, they may need to be coordinated, as appropriate, with local public health authorities and occupational medicine and health and safety professionals.

Employers implementing on-site screening programs may need to plan for:

  • Providing verbal screening in appropriate languages to determine whether workers have had new or unexpected symptoms of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
  • Checking temperatures of workers at the start of each shift to identify anyone with a fever of 100.4°F or greater (or reported feelings of feverishness). 1
  • Measures for testing workers for SARS-CoV-2 and responding to positive test results.
  • Encourage workers to self-isolate and contact a healthcare provider;
  • Provide information on the employer's return-to-work policies and procedures; and
  • Inform human resources, employer health unit (if applicable), bargaining unit representation (if applicable), and supervisor (so the worker can be moved off schedule during illness and a replacement can be assigned, if needed).
  • Conduct contact tracing to identify and inform coworkers or others that may have had exposure.
  • Measures to ensure worker privacy and confidentiality during any screening.
  • Regardless of how employers ultimately decide to implement temperature checks or other health screening measures, they should act cautiously on results. Employers should not presume that individuals who do not have a fever or other symptoms of COVID-19 do not have the virus.
  • Similarly, because of the limitations of current testing capabilities, employers who implement workplace testing strategies should act cautiously on COVID-19 test results. Employers should not presume that individuals who test negative for SARS-CoV-2 infection (i.e., COVID-19) present no hazard to others in the workplace.
  • Employers should ensure that screening protocols are consistent with other labor and disability laws , and with collective bargaining agreements where applicable.

Employers should continue to implement universal cloth face coverings , basic hygiene, physical distancing , workplace controls, flexibilities (e.g. sick leave, telework), and employee training described in this and other OSHA and CDC guidance in ways that reflect the risk of community spread of SARS-CoV-2 from the geographical area where the workplace is located.

Identify and Isolate Suspected Cases

In workplaces where exposure to SARS-CoV-2 may occur, prompt identification and isolation of potentially infectious individuals is a critical step in protecting workers, visitors, and others at the work site.

  • Wherever feasible, keep infectious people out of the workplace, including through the use of a system for employees to report if they are sick or have symptoms of COVID-19 or through the use of screening measures, as described above.
  • If a worker develops signs or symptoms of COVID-19 at the workplace, send the person home or to seek medical care. (Similarly, consider asking customers and visitors who develop signs and/or symptoms of COVID-19 at the workplace to leave to avoid infecting others.)
  • If the person cannot immediately leave the workplace, isolate the individual in a location away from workers, customers, and other visitors and with a closed door (e.g., in a single occupancy restroom), if possible, until they can go home or leave to seek medical care.

Implement the Hierarchy of Controls

Employers' COVID-19 response plans should utilize the hierarchy of controls , which generally labels and prioritizes controls in the following order from most to least effective: elimination/substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and safe work practices, and PPE.

Efforts to exclude potentially infectious individuals from the workplace are consistent with the aim of eliminating the hazard.

Engineering controls typically require a physical change to the workplace to isolate workers from a hazard. Examples of engineering controls that employers may find useful for protecting workers from SARS-CoV-2 include:

  • Installing plexiglass, stainless steel, or other barriers between workers, such as on assembly lines, or between workers and customers, such as at points of sale.
  • Using rope and stanchion systems to keep customers/visitors from queueing within 6 feet of work areas.
  • Adjusting ventilation systems to introduce additional outside air and/or increase air exchange to introduce fresh air. Consult a qualified technician if necessary.
  • Modifying physical workspaces to increase the distance between employees.

Administrative controls and safe work practices change policies and procedures for how workers perform job duties to ensure work activities are conducted safely. Examples of administrative controls that employers may find useful for protecting workers from SARS-CoV-2 include:

  • Limiting the number of workers assigned to a particular shift in a facility and ensuring workstations are spaced at least 6 feet apart.
  • Posting signage, in languages the workers understand, to remind workers, customers, and visitors to maintain a distance of at least 6 feet between one another and to practice regular hand hygiene.
  • Providing training and information in languages the workers understand.
  • Increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfection within the work site.
  • Encouraging or permitting workers to wear cloth face coverings, if appropriate, to help contain potentially infectious respiratory droplets.

PPE protects workers from hazards when engineering and administrative controls are insufficient on their own. The types of PPE that workers may need for protection from exposures to SARS-CoV-2 in areas with community transmission will vary based on work activities, exposure risks, and the results of the employer's hazard assessment . The Additional Considerations for PPE section provides additional details about PPE selection and use for all employers whose workers have increased risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic. Because of PPE supply chain concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic, employers should consider whether operations that require PPE can be delayed either until PPE is not needed (e.g., because the COVID-19 hazard diminishes) or until PPE supply chains stabilize. Employers should consider accommodations for religious exercise for those employees who, for instance, have or cannot trim facial hair due to religious belief, or provide reasonable modifications for persons with disabilities.

Additional Considerations for PPE

Interim guidance for specific types of workers and employers includes recommended PPE ensembles for various types of activities that workers may perform. In general:

  • PPE may be needed when engineering and administrative controls are insufficient to protect workers from exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or other workplace hazards and essential work operations must continue.
  • PPE should be selected based on the results of an employer's hazard assessment and workers' specific job duties.
  • PPE ensembles should reflect the types of exposures identified in an employer's hazard assessment. Most workers' exposure to SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be through the contact or droplet routes, although some workers, including those in healthcare, postmortem care, and laboratories, may have exposure to aerosols for which higher level PPE (including N95 respirator with an assigned protection factor of 10 or better) is needed.
  • When disposable gloves are used, workers should typically use a single pair of nitrile exam gloves (unless other gloving protocols are necessary for the work setting or task). Change gloves if they become torn or visibly contaminated with blood or body fluids.
  • Personal eyeglasses are not considered adequate eye protection.
  • Cloth face coverings are not acceptable substitutes for PPE intended to prevent worker exposure to droplets or other splashes or sprays of liquids.
  • Surgical masks are not respirators and do not provide the same level of protection to workers as properly-fitted respirators. Cloth face coverings are also not acceptable substitutes for respirators.
  • An OSHA poster ( available in 16 languages ) and video ( Spanish ) provide information about how to properly wear and dispose of filtering facepiece respirators.
  • Workers need respiratory protection when performing or while present for aerosol-generating procedures, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and intubation.
  • Workers must be protected against exposure to human blood, body fluids, other potentially infectious materials as well as hazardous chemicals and contaminated environmental surfaces.
  • These guidelines are intended for use in healthcare but may help employers in other sectors optimize their PPE supplies as well.
  • After removing PPE, always wash hands with soap and water, if available, for at least 20 seconds. Ensure that hand hygiene facilities (e.g., sink or alcohol-based hand sanitizer) are readily available at the point of use (e.g., at or adjacent to the PPE removal area).
  • Employers should establish, and ensure workers follow, standard operating procedures for cleaning (including laundering) PPE and items such as uniforms or laboratory coats, as well as for maintaining, storing, and disposing of PPE. When PPE is contaminated with human blood, body fluids, or other potentially infectious materials, employers must follow applicable requirements of the Bloodborne Pathogens standard ( 29 CFR 1910.1030 ) with respect to laundering. OSHA's Enforcement Procedures for the Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens ( CPL 02-02-069 ) provide additional information.

Employers in all sectors may experience shortages of PPE, including gowns, face shields, face masks, and respirators, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although employers are always responsible for complying with OSHA's PPE standards (in general industry, 29 CFR 1910 Subpart I , and, in construction, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart E ), including the Respiratory Protection standard ( 29 CFR 1910.134 ), whenever they apply, OSHA is providing temporary enforcement flexibility for certain requirements under these and other health standards.

See the Enforcement Memoranda section of the Standards page for further information.

Additional Considerations for Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection

When people touch a surface or object contaminated with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and then touch their own eyes, noses, or mouths, they may expose themselves to the virus.

Early information from the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and other study partners suggests that SARS-CoV-2 can survive on certain types of surfaces, such as plastic and stainless steel, for 2-3 days. However, because the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 from contaminated environmental surfaces and objects is still not fully understood, employers should carefully evaluate whether or not work areas occupied by people suspected to have the virus may have been contaminated and whether or not they need to be disinfected in response.

The CDC provides instructions for environmental cleaning and disinfection for various types of workplaces, including:

  • Healthcare facilities , as part of CDC healthcare infection control recommendations
  • Postmortem care facilities , such as autopsy suites
  • Laboratories
  • Other, non-healthcare facilities

Employers operating workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic should continue routine cleaning and other housekeeping practices in any facilities that remain open to workers or others. Employers who need to clean and disinfect environments potentially contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 should use EPA-registered disinfectants with label claims to be effective against SARS-CoV-2. Routine cleaning and disinfection procedures (e.g., using cleaners and water to pre-clean surfaces before applying an EPA-registered disinfectant to frequently touched surfaces or objects for appropriate contact times as indicated on the product's label) are appropriate for SARS-CoV-2, including in patient care areas in healthcare settings in which aerosol-generating procedures are performed.

Workers who conduct cleaning tasks must be protected from exposure to hazardous chemicals used in these tasks. In these cases, the PPE (in general industry, 29 CFR 1910 Subpart I , and, in construction, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart E ) and Hazard Communication ( 29 CFR 1910.1200 ) standards may apply, and workers may need appropriate PPE to prevent exposure to the chemicals. If workers need respirators, they must be used in the context of a comprehensive respiratory protection program that meets the requirements of OSHA's Respiratory Protection standard ( 29 CFR 1910.134 ) and includes medical exams, fit testing, and training.

Cleaning chemicals' Safety Data Sheets and other manufacturer instructions can provide additional guidance about whether workers need PPE to use the chemicals safely.

Do not use compressed air or water sprays to clean potentially contaminated surfaces, as these techniques may aerosolize infectious material. More information about protecting environmental services workers is included in the worker-specific section, below.

Additional Considerations for Worker Training

Train all workers with occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 (as described in this document) about the sources of exposure to the virus, the hazards associated with that exposure, and appropriate workplace protocols in place to prevent or reduce the likelihood of exposure. Training should include information about how to isolate individuals with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 or other infectious diseases, and how to report possible cases. Training must be offered during scheduled work times and at no cost to the employee.

Workers required to use PPE must be trained. This training includes when to use PPE; what PPE is necessary; how to properly don (put on), use, and doff (take off) PPE; how to properly dispose of or disinfect, inspect for damage, and maintain PPE; and the limitations of PPE. Applicable standards include the PPE ( 29 CFR 1910.132 ), Eye and Face Protection ( 29 CFR 1910.133 ), Hand Protection ( 29 CFR 1910.138 ), and Respiratory Protection ( 29 CFR 1910.134 ) standards. OSHA's website offers a variety of training videos about respiratory protection.

When the potential exists for exposure to human blood, certain body fluids, or other potentially infectious materials , workers must receive the training required by the Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP) standard ( 29 CFR 1910.1030 ), including information about how to recognize tasks that may involve exposure and the methods, such as engineering controls, work practices, and PPE, to reduce exposure. Further information on OSHA's BBP training regulations and policies is available for employers and workers on the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention Safety and Health Topics page.

OSHA's Training and Reference Materials Library contains training and reference materials developed by the OSHA Directorate of Training and Education as well as links to other related sites. The materials listed for Bloodborne Pathogens, PPE, Respiratory Protection, and SARS may provide additional material for employers to use in preparing training for their workers.

OSHA's Personal Protective Equipment Safety and Health Topics page also provides information on training in the use of PPE.

Additional Considerations for Workers with Increased Susceptibility for SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Complications

Consider offering workers who may be at increased susceptibility for SARS-CoV-2 infection or complications from COVID-19 adjustments to their work responsibilities or locations to minimize exposure. Other flexibilities, if feasible, can help prevent potential exposures among workers who have heart or lung disease, chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis, liver disease, diabetes, severe obesity, or immunocompromising health conditions. Employers should be cognizant of the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The EEOC has issued guidance about COVID-19 and equal employment opportunity laws.

Additional Considerations for Return-to-Work Planning

OSHA's guidance on returning to work assists employers in reopening non-essential businesses and their employees returning to work during the evolving coronavirus pandemic. The CDC has issued specific guidelines for returning to work, including after recovering from COVID-19 or having exposure to someone who has COVID-19, for certain sectors (e.g., healthcare and other critical infrastructure ). Return to work guidance for non-healthcare workers may be based on criteria for ending home isolation . The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and the National Safety Council (NSC) also provide recommendations to help employers and workers safely return to work.

1 Note that 29 CFR 1910.1020 may apply to temperature records. Employers should evaluate the burdens and benefits of maintaining temperature records or asking workers to complete written questionnaires, as both will qualify as medical records if made or maintained by a physician, nurse, or other health care personnel, or technician. If employers do not record workers' temperatures, or if workers' temperatures are recorded but not made or maintained by a physician, nurse, or other health care personnel or technician, the mere taking of a temperature would not amount to a record that must be retained.

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President   Biden Announces American Rescue   Plan

Emergency Legislative Package to Fund Vaccinations, Provide Immediate, Direct Relief to Families Bearing the Brunt of the COVID-19 Crisis, and Support Struggling Communities

The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding economic crisis are devastating families across the country. More than 20 million Americans have contracted COVID-19, and at least 370,000 have died. From big cities to small towns, too many Americans are barely scraping by, or not scraping by at all. And the pandemic has shined a light on the persistence of racial injustice in our healthcare system and our economy. The need to act is clear in the lines at food banks, the small businesses that are closed or closing, and the growing number of Americans experiencing housing insecurity. After nearly a year of the public health crisis, our nation remains in this dark winter of the pandemic and facing a deep economic crisis.

President Biden is laying out the first step of an aggressive, two-step plan for rescue, from the depths of this crisis, and recovery, by investing in America, creating millions of additional good-paying jobs, combatting the climate crisis, advancing racial equity, and building back better than before.

While Congress’s bipartisan action in December was a step in the right direction, it was only a down payment. It fell far short of the resources needed to tackle the immediate crisis. We are in a race against time, and absent additional government assistance, the economic and public health crises could worsen in the months ahead; schools will not be able to safely reopen; and vaccinations will remain far too slow.

As last month’s jobs report underscored, the virus and our economy are intertwined. We cannot rescue our economy without containing this virus.

Today, President Biden is announcing the American Rescue Plan to change the course of the pandemic, build a bridge towards economic recovery, and invest in racial justice. The American Rescue Plan will address the stark, intergenerational inequities that have worsened in the wake of COVID-19. Researchers at Columbia University estimate that these proposals will cut child poverty in half.

covid response plan for small business

How will the American Rescue Plan Help   You?

Specifically, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan will:

  • Mount a national vaccination program, contain COVID-19, and safely reopen schools , including by setting up community vaccination sites nationwide, scaling up testing and tracing, eliminating supply shortage problems, investing in high-quality treatments, providing paid sick leave to contain spread of the virus, addressing health disparities, and making the necessary investments to meet the president’s goal of safely reopening a majority of K-8 schools in the first 100 days.
  • Deliver immediate relief to working families bearing the brunt of this crisis bysending $1,400 per-person checks to households across America, providing direct housing and nutrition assistance, expanding access to safe and reliable childcare and affordable healthcare, increasing the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance, and giving families with kids and childless workers an emergency boost this year.
  • Support communities that are struggling in the wake of COVID-19 by providing support for the hardest-hit small businesses, especially small businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color, and protecting the jobs of the first responders, transit workers, and other essential workers we depend on.

In addition to addressing the public health and economic crises head on, the President’s plan will provide emergency funding to upgrade federal information technology infrastructure and address the recent breaches of federal government data systems. This is an urgent national security issue that cannot wait.

President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is ambitious, but achievable, and will rescue the American economy and start beating the virus. Congress should act expeditiously to help working families, communities, and small businesses persevere through the pandemic.

This legislative package is needed now to address the immediate crises. In the coming weeks, President Biden will lay out his economic recovery plan to invest in America, create millions of additional good-paying jobs, combat the climate crisis, and build back better than before.

Mount a national vaccination program, contain COVID-19, and safely reopen schools

The pandemic is raging, with record high infection and death rates. A new strain of the virus that is even more contagious is appearing in communities across the country. Meanwhile, Americans are waiting to get their vaccines, even while doses are sitting on shelves. More than ten months into the pandemic, we still lack necessary testing capacity and are suffering from shortages of supplies like basic protective equipment for those on the front lines. Americans of color are being infected and are dying from COVID-19 at greater rates because of lasting systemic racism in our health care system. And, older Americans continue to suffer at disproportionate rates.

We can’t wait to slow the spread of this virus. And, we can’t fight this pandemic in fits and starts. President Biden is putting forward a comprehensive plan to deal with this crisis and launch a whole-of-government COVID-19 response plan that will change the course of the pandemic by ensuring we have necessary supplies and protective gear, increasing testing to mitigate spread, vaccinating the US population, safely reopening schools, and addressing COVID-19 health disparities.

To support this plan, President Biden is calling on Congress to provide the $160 billion in funding necessary to save American lives and execute on his plan to mount a national vaccination program, expand testing, mobilize a public health jobs program, and take other necessary steps to build capacity to fight the virus. He is also calling on Congress to ensure our schools have everything they need to safely reopen and to provide emergency paid leave so people can stay home when needed to help contain the spread of the virus. Altogether, this would put over $400 billion toward these critical measures for addressing COVID-19.

President Biden’s rescue proposal will:

Mount a national vaccination program. Current vaccination efforts are not sufficient to quickly and equitably vaccinate the vast majority of the U.S. population. We must ensure that those on the ground have what they need to get vaccinations into people’s arms. The president’s proposal will invest $20 billion in a national vaccination program in partnership with states, localities, Tribes and territories. This will include launching community vaccination centers around the country and deploying mobile vaccination units to hard-to-reach areas. The Biden Administration will take action to ensure all people in the United States–regardless of their immigration status–can access the vaccine free-of-charge and without cost-sharing. To help states ensure that all Medicaid enrollees will be vaccinated, President Biden will also work with Congress to expand the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) to 100% for the administration of vaccines.

Scale up testing to stop the spread of COVID, safely reopen schools, and protect at-risk populations. While we are working to vaccinate the population, we need to focus on what we know works. Testing is a critical strategy for controlling the spread of COVID-19, yet the U.S. is still not using it effectively. Despite innovations to improve testing, tests are still not widely available . The president’s plan invests $50 billion in a massive expansion of testing, providing funds for the purchase of rapid tests, investments to expand lab capacity, and support to help schools and local governments implement regular testing protocols. Expanded testing will ensure that schools can implement regular testing to support safe reopening; that vulnerable settings like prisons and long-term care facilities can regularly test their populations; and that any American can get a test for free when they need one.

Mobilize a public health jobs program to support COVID-19 response. The president’s plan includes an historic investment in expanding the public health workforce. This proposal will fund 100,000 public health workers, nearly tripling the country’s community health roles. These individuals will be hired to work in their local communities to perform vital tasks like vaccine outreach and contact tracing in the near term, and to transition into community health roles to build our long-term public health capacity that will help improve quality of care and reduce hospitalization for low-income and underserved communities.

Address health disparities and COVID-19. While COVID-19 has devastated the entire country, it has hit some groups and communities of color much harder than others. President Biden is committed to addressing the disparities evident in the pandemic at every step, from ensuring equitable distribution of vaccines and supplies to expanding health care services for underserved communities. His proposal includes funding to provide health services for underserved populations, including expanding Community Health Centers and investing in health services on tribal lands. These funds will support the expansion of COVID treatment and care, as well as our ability to provide vaccination to underserved populations.

Protect vulnerable populations in congregate settings. Long-term care residents and workers account for almost 40% of all U.S. COVID-19 deaths. Further, African-American and Latina women, who have borne the brunt of the pandemic, are overrepresented among long-term care workers . The president’s proposal provides critical funding for states to deploy strike teams to long-term care facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks–which may impede vaccination of residents and workers–and to conduct better infection control oversight.

1 in 5 state and federal prisoners in the U.S. has had COVID-19, and African Americans and Latinos are overrepresented among incarcerated individuals . The proposal also supports COVID-19 safety in federal, state, and local prisons, jails, and detention centers by providing funding for COVID-19 mitigation strategies, including supplies and physical distancing; safe re-entry for the formerly incarcerated; and the vaccination of both incarcerated people and staff.

Identify and address emerging strains of COVID-19. The identification of new strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom and South Africa highlight a key vulnerability in our nation’s COVID response: we simply do not have the kind of robust surveillance capabilities that we need to track outbreaks and mutations. Tracking the way the virus is changing and moving through the population is essential to understanding outbreaks, generating treatments and vaccines, and controlling the pandemic. The president’s proposal includes funding to dramatically increase our country’s sequencing, surveillance, and outbreak analytics capacity at the levels demanded by the crisis.

Provide emergency relief and purchase critical supplies and deploy National Guard. Persistent supply shortages – from gloves and masks to glass vials and test reagents – are inhibiting our ability to provide testing and vaccination and putting frontline workers at risk. The president’s plan will invest $30 billion into the Disaster Relief Fund to ensure sufficient supplies and protective gear, and to provide 100% federal reimbursement for critical emergency response resources to states, local governments, and Tribes, including deployment of the National Guard. The president will call for an additional $10 billion investment in expanding domestic manufacturing for pandemic supplies. These funds will support President Biden in fulfilling his commitment to fully use the Defense Production Act and to safeguard the country by producing more pandemic supplies in the U.S.

Invest in treatments for COVID-19. Months into this pandemic, we still do not have reliable and accessible treatments. The federal government urgently needs to invest to support development, manufacturing, and purchase of therapies to ensure wide availability and affordability of effective treatments, as well as invest in studies of the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 and potential therapies to address them.

Protect workers against COVID-19. Millions of Americans, many of whom are people of color, immigrants, and low-wage workers, continue to put their lives on the line to keep the country functioning through the pandemic. They should not have to lie awake at night wondering if they’ll make it home from work safely the next day, or if they’ll bring home the virus to their loved ones and communities. The president is calling on Congress to authorize the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a COVID-19 Protection Standard that covers a broad set of workers, so that workers not typically covered by OSHA, like many public workers on the frontlines, also receive protection from unsafe working conditions and retaliation. And, President Biden is calling on Congress to provide additional funding for OSHA enforcement and grant funding, including for the Susan Harwood grant program, for organizations to help keep vulnerable workers healthy and safe from COVID-19. These steps will help keep more workers healthy, reopen more businesses safely, and beat the virus.

Restore U.S. leadership globally and build better preparedness. Protecting the United States from COVID-19 requires a global response, and the pandemic is a grave reminder that biological threats can pose catastrophic consequences to the United States and the world. The president’s plan will provide $11 billion including to support to the international health and humanitarian response; mitigate the pandemic’s devastating impact on global health, food security, and gender-based violence; support international efforts to develop and distribute medical countermeasures for COVID-19; and build the capacity required to fight COVID-19, its variants, and emerging biological threats.

Provide schools the resources they need to reopen safely. A critical plank of President Biden’s COVID-19 plan is to safely reopen schools as soon as possible – so kids and educators can get back in class and parents can go back to work. This will require immediate, urgent action by Congress. The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education, and the students and parents they serve. School closures have disproportionately impacted the learning of Black and Hispanic students , as well as students with disabilities and English language learners . While the December down payment for schools and higher education institutions was a start, it is not sufficient to address the crisis. President Biden is calling on Congress to provide $170 billion — supplemented by additional state and local relief resources — for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. These resources will help schools serve all students, no matter where they are learning, and help achieve President Biden’s goal to open the majority of K-8 schools within the first 100 days of his Administration.

  • Provide $130 billion to help schools to safely reopen. Schools need flexible resources to safely reopen and operate and/or facilitate remote learning. The president’s plan will provide $130 billion to support schools in safely reopening. These funds can be used to reduce class sizes and modify spaces so students and teachers can socially distance; improve ventilation; hire more janitors and implement mitigation measures; provide personal protective equipment; ensure every school has access to a nurse; increase transportation capacity to facilitate social distancing on the bus; hire counselors to support students as they transition back to the classroom; close the digital divide that is exacerbating inequities during the pandemic; provide summer school or other support for students that will help make up lost learning time this year; create and expand community schools; and cover other costs needed to support safely reopening and support students. These funds will also include provisions to ensure states adequately fund education and protect students in low-income communities that have been hardest hit by COVID-19. Districts must ensure that funds are used to not only reopen schools, but also to meet students’ academic, mental health and social, and emotional needs in response to COVID-19, (e.g. through extended learning time, tutoring, and counselors), wherever they are learning. Funding can be used to prevent cuts to state pre-k programs. A portion of funding will be reserved for a COVID-19 Educational Equity Challenge Grant, which will support state, local and tribal governments in partnering with teachers, parents, and other stakeholders to advance equity- and evidence-based policies to respond to COVID-related educational challenges and give all students the support they need to succeed. In addition to this funding, schools will be able to access FEMA Disaster Relief Fund resources to get reimbursed for certain COVID-19 related expenses and will receive support to implement regular testing protocols.
  • Expand the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. The president’s plan will ensure colleges have critical resources to implement public health protocols, execute distance learning plans, and provide emergency grants to students in need. This $35 billion in funding will be directed to public institutions, including community colleges, as well as, public and private Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions. This funding will provide millions of students up to an additional $1,700 in financial assistance from their college.
  • Hardest Hit Education Fund. Provide $5 billion in funds for governors to use to support educational programs and the learning needs of students significantly impacted by COVID-19, whether K-12, higher education, or early childhood education programs.

Provide emergency paid leave to 106 million more Americans to reduce the spread of the virus. No American should have to choose between putting food on the table and quarantining to prevent further spread of COVID-19. And yet, nearly 1 in 4 workers and close to half of low-income workers lack access to paid sick leave, disproportionately burdening Americans of color. Lack of paid leave is threatening the financial security of working families and increasing the risk of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. Congress did the right thing last year when it created an emergency paid leave program through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. That action decreased daily infections by 400 cases per state per day in states that previously had no paid sick leave requirement. While the December down payment extended the Families First employer tax credits through March 2021, it did not renew the requirement that employers provide leave. President Biden is calling on Congress to:

  • Put the requirement back in place and eliminate exemptions for employers with more than 500 and less than 50 employees. He will also make it clear that healthcare workers and first responders get these benefits, too. Closing these loopholes in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act will extend emergency paid leave to up to 106 million additional workers.
  • Provide expanded paid sick and family and medical leave. The president will provide over 14 weeks of paid sick and family and medical leave to help parents with additional caregiving responsibilities when a child or loved one’s school or care center is closed; for people who have or are caring for people with COVID-19 symptoms, or who are quarantining due to exposure; and for people needing to take time to get the vaccine.
  • Expand emergency paid leave to include federal workers. This measure will provide paid leave protections to approximately 2 million Americans who work for the federal government.
  • Provide a maximum paid leave benefit of $1,400 per-week for eligible workers. This will provide full wage replacement to workers earning up to $73,000 annually, more than three-quarters of all workers .
  • Reimburse employers with less than 500 employees for the cost of this leave. Extending the refundable tax credit will reimburse employers for 100 percent of the cost of this leave.
  • Reimburse state and local government for the cost of this leave.
  • Extend emergency paid leave measures until September 30, 2021. With so much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, extending paid leave until the end of September will help to limit the spread of COVID-19 and provide economic security to millions of working families.

Deliver Immediate, Direct Relief to Families Bearing the Brunt of the Crisis.

As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, millions of Americans are hurting through no fault of their own. More than 10 million Americans are unemployed, and 4 million have been out of work for half a year or longer. The jobs crisis is particularly severe in communities of color, where 1 in 10 Black workers and 1 in 11 Latino workers are unemployed. Large numbers of families are struggling to pay rent or their mortgages and put food on the table. And, last month, it only got worse: we lost 140,000 jobs in December , including 20,000 public educators, and nearly 400,000 jobs at restaurants and bars.

President Biden is calling on Congress to take urgent action to deliver immediate, direct relief to Americans bearing the brunt of this crisis. Altogether, this would devote about $1 trillion towards building a bridge to economic recovery for working families and, according to researchers at Columbia University, cut child poverty in half.

President Biden’s plan will:

Give working families a $1,400 per-person check to help pay their bills , bringing their total relief payment from this and the December down payment to $2,000. More than 1 in 3 households — and half of Black and Latino households — are struggling to pay for usual household expenses like rent and groceries during the pandemic. In this crisis, working families need more than the $600 per person that Congress passed last year. President Biden is calling on Congress to increase that direct financial assistance to $2,000. An additional $1,400 per person in direct checks will help hard-hit households cover expenses, spend money at local businesses in their communities, and stimulate the economy. President Biden’s plan will also expand eligibility to adult dependents who have been left out of previous rounds of relief and all mixed status households. And, his plan will ensure that the Treasury Department has the flexibility and resources it needs to deliver stimulus checks to the families that need them most, including the millions of families that still haven’t received the $1,200 checks they are entitled to under the CARES Act.

Extend and expand unemployment insurance benefits so American workers can pay their bills. Around 18 million Americans rely on the unemployment insurance program. Congress did the right thing by continuing expanded eligibility and extending the number of weeks unemployed workers can receive benefits. One study estimates that extending pandemic unemployment insurance programs through 2021 could create or save over five million jobs. But these benefits are set to expire in weeks — even as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens. Millions of Americans are receiving benefits through unemployment insurance programs that will no longer serve new beneficiaries starting in mid-March.

President Biden is calling on Congress to extend these and other programs, providing millions of hard-hit workers with the financial security and peace of mind they need and deserve. And, he believes Congress should provide a $400 per-week unemployment insurance supplement to help hard-hit workers cover household expenses. The president is committed to providing these emergency supports to families for as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues and employment opportunities remain limited. The president is proposing to extend these emergency unemployment insurance programs through September 2021, and will work with Congress on ways to automatically adjust the length and amount of relief depending on health and economic conditions so future legislative delay doesn’t undermine the recovery and families’ access to benefits they need.

  • Extend financial assistance for workers who have exhausted their regular unemployment compensation benefits. Extending and increasing the additional weeks provided under the emergency unemployment insurance program will ensure that approximately 5 million Americans continue to receive assistance in the months ahead.
  • Extend financial assistance for unemployed workers who do not typically qualify for unemployment compensation benefits. The president believes Congress should extend unemployment support for self-employed workers, like ride-share drivers and many grocery delivery workers, who do not typically qualify for regular unemployment compensation. And, he supports increasing the number of weeks these workers can receive the benefit to provide long-term financial security to the program’s approximately 8 million beneficiaries .
  • Fully fund states’ short-time compensation programs and additional weeks of benefits. Short-time compensation programs, also known as work sharing, help small businesses stay afloat and economically vulnerable workers make ends meet by enabling workers to stay on the job at reduced hours, while making up the difference in pay. These programs avoid layoffs and pave the way for rapid rehiring and an accelerated recovery.

Help struggling households keep a roof over their heads. The economic fallout of COVID-19 has made it more difficult for working families, especially families of color, to cover their housing expenses. Across the country, 1 in 5 renters and 1 in 10 homeowners with a mortgage are behind on payments. Congress took an important step in the right direction by securing $25 billion in rental assistance and extending the federal eviction moratorium until January 31. However, American families already owe $25 billion in back rent, and the threat of widespread evictions will still exist at the end of January. Further, more than 10 million homeowners have fallen behind on mortgage payments. Failing to take additional action will lead to a wave of evictions and foreclosures in the coming months, overwhelming emergency shelter capacity and increasing the likelihood of COVID-19 infections. And Americans of color, who have on average a fraction of the wealth available to white families, face higher risks of eviction and housing loss without critical assistance.

President Biden is calling on Congress to take immediate action to forestall a coming wave of COVID-related evictions and foreclosures.

  • Ensure that families hit hard by the economic crisis won’t face eviction or foreclosure. The president is calling on Congress to extend the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums and continue applications for forbearance on federally-guaranteed mortgages until September 30, 2021. These measures will prevent untold economic hardship for homeowners, while limiting the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. The president is also calling on Congress to provide funds for legal assistance for households facing eviction or foreclosure.
  • Help renters and small landlords make ends meet by providing an additional $30 billion in rental and critical energy and water assistance for hard-hit individuals and families. While the $25 billion allocated by Congress was an important down payment on the back rent accrued during this crisis, it is insufficient to meet the scale of the need. That’s why President Biden is proposing an additional $25 billion in rental assistance to provide much-needed rental relief, especially for low- and moderate-income households who have lost jobs or are out of the labor market. The president is also proposing $5 billion to cover home energy and water costs and arrears through programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, for struggling renters. These funds will ensure that the hardest-hit renters and small landlords, including those in disadvantaged communities that have suffered disproportionately in terms of pollution and other environmental harms, aren’t put in the position where they can’t cover their own housing expenses. This program includes a competitive set-aside of funding for states to invest in clean energy and energy efficiency projects that reduce electricity bills for families in disadvantaged communities.
  • Deliver $5 billion in emergency assistance to help secure housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This funding will allow states and localities to help approximately 200,000 individuals and families obtain stable housing, while providing a downpayment on the president’s comprehensive approach to ending homelesness and making housing a right for all Americans. Specifically, these funds will provide flexibility for both congregate and non-congregate housing options, help jurisdictions purchase and convert hotels and motels into permanent housing, and give homeless services providers the resources they need to hire and retain staff, maintain outreach programs, and provide essential services.

Address the growing hunger crisis in America. About 1 in 7 households nationwide, including more than 1 in 5 Black and Latino households and many Asian American and Pacific Islander households, are struggling to secure the food they need. While the December down payment provided $13 billion to strengthen and expand federal nutrition programs, it will not solve the hunger crisis in America. President Biden is calling on Congress to ensure all Americans, regardless of background, have access to healthy, affordable groceries. The president’s plan will:

  • Extend the 15 percent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit increase. Maintaining the increase through the summer – when childhood hunger spikes due to a lack of school meals – is a critical backstop against rising food insecurity. This change will help keep hunger at bay for around 40 million Americans . The president is calling for this to be extended through September 2021. He is also committed to providing this boost for as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues, and will work with Congress on ways to automatically adjust the length and amount of relief depending on health and economic conditions so future legislative delay doesn’t undermine the recovery and families’ access to benefits they need.
  • Invest $3 billion to help women, infants and children get the food they need. This multi-year investment in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is needed to account for increased enrollment due to growing hunger and to increase outreach to ensure that low-income families have access to high-quality nutritious food and nutrition education.
  • Partner with restaurants to feed American families and keep restaurant workers on the job at the same time. The FEMA Empowering Essential Deliveries (FEED) Actwill leverage the resources and expertise of the restaurant industry to help get food to families who need it, and help get laid-off restaurant workers across the country back on the job.
  • Support SNAP by temporarily cutting the state match. The president is calling for a one time emergency infusion of administrative support for state anti-hunger and nutrition programs to ensure that benefits get to the kids and families that need it most.
  • Provide U.S. Territories with $1 billion in additional nutrition assistance for their residents. Bolstering the Nutrition Assistance Program block grant will help thousands of working families in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands put food on the table for the duration of the pandemic.

Raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Throughout the pandemic, millions of American workers have put their lives on the line to keep their communities and country functioning, including the 40 percent of frontline workers who are people of color. As President Biden has said, let’s not just praise them, let’s pay them. Hard working Americans deserve sufficient wages to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, without having to keep multiple jobs. But millions of working families are struggling to get by. This is why the president is calling on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, and end the tipped minimum wage and sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities so that workers across the country can live a middle class life and provide opportunity for their families.

Call on employers to meet their obligations to frontline essential workers and provide back hazard pay. Essential workers — who are disproportionately Black, Latino, and Asian American and Pacific Islander– have risked their lives to stock shelves, harvest crops, and care for the sick during this crisis. They have kept the country running even during the darkest days of the pandemic. A number of large employers, especially in the retail and grocery sectors, have seen bumper profitability in 2020 and yet done little or nothing at all to compensate their workers for the risks they took. The president believes these employers have a duty to do right by their frontline essential workers and acknowledge their sacrifices with generous back hazard pay for the risks they took across 2020 and up to today. He and the Vice President will call on CEOs and other business leaders to take action to meet these obligations.

Expand access to high-quality, affordable child care. We are facing an acute, immediate child care crisis in America, which is exacerbating our economic crisis. Due to increased costs and lower enrollment, a recent survey of child care providers showed that most child care providers expect that they will close within a few months without relief or are uncertain how long they can stay open. If left unaddressed, many child care providers will close — some permanently — and millions of children could go without necessary care, and millions of parents could be left to make devastating choices this winter between caring for their children and working to put food on the table. Early childcare providers are almost entirely women, among whom 40 percent are people of color, and so these closures could devastate engines of opportunity for minority- and women-owned businesses. President Biden is calling on Congress to take immediate actions to address this crisis by helping child care centers reopen and remain open safely, and by making that care affordable to families who need it.

In addition, too many families are unable to afford child care, while early educators earn wages so low that they can’t support their own families. This challenge existed before COVID-19 , and the pandemic has exacerbated it. President Biden is calling on Congress to ease the financial burden of care for families, expand financial support for child care providers so that this critical sector can stay afloat during the pandemic and beyond, and make critical investments to improve wages and benefits for the essential child care sector. President Biden’s plan will:

  • Help hard-hit child care providers, including family child care homes, cover their costs and operate safely by creating a $25 billion emergency stabilization fund. This Emergency Stabilization Fund will help hard-hit child care providers that are in danger of closing and provide support to nearly half of all child care providers. It will also assist those that have had to shut down meet their financial obligations during the pandemic, so that they can reopen. It will help providers pay for rent, utilities, and payroll, as well as increased costs associated with the pandemic including personal protective equipment, ventilation supplies, smaller group sizes, and modifications to make the physical environment safer for children and workers.
  • Expand child care assistance to help millions of families and help parents return to work. Millions of parents are risking their lives as essential workers, while at the same time struggling to obtain care for their children. Others have become 24/7 caregivers while simultaneously working remotely. Still more are unemployed, caring for their children full-time, and worrying about how they will make ends meet or afford child care when they do find a job. And, the limited access to child care during the pandemic has caused more women to leave the workforce. While the December down payment provides $10 billion in funding through the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, the president’s proposal expands this investment with an additional $15 billion in funding, including for those who experienced a job interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic and are struggling to afford child care. This additional assistance with child care costs will help the disproportionate number of women who left the labor force to take on caregiving duties reenter the workforce. And, this expanded investment will also help rebuild the supply of child care providers, and encourage states to take meaningful steps towards increasing the pay and benefits of child care workers.
  • Increase tax credits to help cover the cost of childcare. To help address the childcare affordability crisis, President Biden is calling on Congress to expand child care tax credits on an emergency basis for one year to help working families cover the cost of childcare. Families will get back as a tax credit as much as half of their spending on child care for children under age 13, so that they can receive a total of up to $4,000 for one child or $8,000 for two or more children. The tax credit will be refundable, meaning that families who don’t owe a lot in taxes will still benefit. The full 50 percent reimbursement will be available to families making less than $125,000 a year. And, all families making between $125,000 and $400,000 will receive a partial credit so they receive benefits at least as generous as those they can receive today.

Bolster financial security for families and essential workers in the midst of the pandemic. The lowest income families are particularly vulnerable in the midst of the pandemic, and President Biden is calling for one year expansions of key supports for families on an emergency basis. The Child Tax Credit should be made fully refundable for the year. Currently, 27 million children live in families with household incomes low enough that they didn’t qualify for the full value of the Child Tax Credit, and this measure would give these children and their families additional needed resources. The president is also calling to increase the credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for a child under age 6) and make 17 year-olds qualifying children for the year.

He is also calling for an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit for the year to ensure that the lowest income workers get critical support including millions of essential workers. He is proposing to raise the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit for childless adults from roughly $530 to close to $1,500, raise the income limit for the credit from about $16,000 to about $21,000, and expand the age range that is eligible including by eliminating the age cap for older workers and expanding eligibility for younger workers so that they can claim the credit they deserve. Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for childless adults would give a needed boost to the earnings of several million workers, including cashiers, home health aides, delivery people, and other people working in essential occupations. The president  also is committed to making sure that Americans who see their earnings fall in 2021 due to the pandemic don’t see the Earned Income Tax Credit reduced as a result.

Lastly, the president is calling for an additional $1 billion for states to cover the additional cash assistance that Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients needed as a result of the pandemic crisis. The pandemic has led to increased TANF caseloads , generated higher costs for many TANF recipients – from higher utility costs to the need for internet access for remote schooling – and longer periods of joblessness given high unemployment. These funds will provide sorely needed relief.

Preserving and expanding health coverage. Roughly two to three million people lost employer sponsored health insurance between March and September, and even families who have maintained coverage may struggle to pay premiums and afford care. Further, going into this crisis, 30 million people were without coverage, limiting their access to the health care system in the middle of a pandemic. To ensure access to health coverage,President Biden is calling on Congress to subsidize continuation health coverage (COBRA) through the end of September. He is also asking Congress to expand and increase the value of the Premium Tax Credit to lower or eliminate health insurance premiums and ensure enrollees – including those who never had coverage through their jobs – will not pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for coverage. Together, these policies would reduce premiums for more than ten million people and reduce the ranks of the uninsured by millions more.

Expanding access to behavioral health services. The pandemic has made access to mental health and substance use disorder services more essential than ever. The president is calling on Congress to appropriate $4 billion to enable the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand access to these vital services.

Ensure adequate funding for veterans’ health. COVID-19 has put enormous pressure on America’s veterans and on the Veterans Health Administration that is charged with providing and facilitating top-notch care for them. The president is committed to ensuring America delivers on its promise to the people who have served our country. To account for increased usage as many veterans have lost access to private health insurance, higher overall costs, and other pandemic-related impacts, the president is immediately requesting an additional $20 billion to make sure that veterans’ health care needs can be met through this crisis.

Combat increased risk of gender-based violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated domestic violence and sexual assault, creating a “ shadow pandemic ” for many women and girls who are largely confined to their home with their abuser and facing economic insecurity that makes escape more difficult. President Biden is calling for at least $800 million in supplemental funding for key federal programs that protect survivors. 

Provide Critical Support to Struggling Communities.

COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis has devastated communities across the country. Schools remain closed, with students struggling with remote learning and parents – 1.6 million mothers this fall – leaving the workforce. Small businesses, the backbones of their communities that employ nearly half of American workers, are unable to keep their doors open. And, some state and local essential workers are seeing their wages reduced or their jobs disappear. President Biden is calling on Congress to send a lifeline to small businesses; protect educators, public transit workers, and first responders from lay-offs; and keep critical services running at full strength. Altogether, his plan would provide approximately $440 billion in critical support to struggling communities. This is in addition to funds that President Biden is requesting for safely reopening schools throughout the country.

Provide small businesses with the funding they need to reopen and rebuild. Small businesses sustain half of the private sector jobs in America, and they have struggled in the wake of COVID-19. Black- and Brown-owned small businesses , and those in hard-hit industries like restaurants, hotels, and the arts, have suffered disproportionately. Nationally, small business revenue is down 32 percent , and at least 400,000 firms have permanently closed. To help hard-hit firms survive the pandemic and fully recover, President Biden is calling on Congress to:

  • Provide grants to more than 1 million of the hardest hit small businesses. This $15 billion in flexible, equitably distributed grants will help small businesses get back on their feet, put the current disaster behind them, and build back better.
  • Leverage $35 billion in government funds into $175 billion in additional small business lending and investment. With a $35 billion investment in successful state, local, tribal, and non-profit small business financing programs, Congress can generate as much as $175 billion in low-interest loans and venture capital to help entrepreneurs — including those in the clean energy sector — innovate, create and maintain jobs, build wealth, and provide the essential goods and services that communities depend on.

In addition, the president wants to work with Congress to make sure that restaurants, bars, and other businesses that have suffered disproportionately have sufficient support to bridge to the recovery, including through the Community Credit Corporation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Provide support for first responders and other essential workers. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, first responders, frontline public health workers, and countless other essential workers have risked their lives to keep our communities safe and functioning. Educators have worked tirelessly to keep our children learning and growing, coming up with new ways to reach and engage their students, often while balancing caring for their own children. Without these front line workers, we will not be able to effectively respond to the pandemic, administer the vaccine, or safely reopen our schools. President Biden is calling on Congress to provide $350 billion in emergency funding for state, local, and territorial governments to ensure that they are in a position to keep front line public workers on the job and paid, while also effectively distributing the vaccine, scaling testing, reopening schools, and maintaining other vital services. The president is also calling on Congress to allocate $3 billion of this funding to the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Grants from EDA provide resources directly to state and local government entities, tribal institutions, institutions of higher education, and non-profits to fund initiatives that support bottom’s up economic development and enable good-paying jobs. This funding – double the amount provided by the CARES Act – will support communities nationwide with a broad range of financial needs as they respond to and recover from COVID-19.

Protect the future of public transit. Safe and dependable public transit systems are critical for a robust and equitable economy recovery. The president is calling for $20 billion in relief for the hardest hit public transit agencies. This relief will keep agencies from laying off transit workers and cutting the routes that essential workers rely on every day while making these transit systems more resilient and ensuring that communities of color maintain the access to opportunity that public transportation provides.

Support Tribal governments’ response to COVID-19. COVID-19 has exacted an especially high toll in Indian Country. People living on reservations are four times more likely to have COVID-19 and American Indian and Alaska Natives are nearly twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white Americans. While the December down payment had many beneficial provisions, it included little direct funding to help Tribal governments respond to COVID-19. President Biden is calling on Congress to give Tribes the resources they need to obtain sufficient personal protective equipment, increase access to clean water and electricity, and expand internet access so that children can learn remotely and more families can obtain basic health care through telemedicine. President Biden’s plan would invest $20 billion in Indian Country to support Tribal governments’ response to the pandemic.These resources will help to reduce stark and persistent inequities in COVID-19 transmission, hospitalization, and death, while improving economic conditions and opportunity.

Modernize federal information technology to protect against future cyber attacks.

In addition to the COVID-19 crisis, we also face a crisis when it comes to the nation’s cybersecurity. The recent cybersecurity breaches of federal government data systems underscore the importance and urgency of strengthening U.S. cybersecurity capabilities. President Biden is calling on Congress to launch the most ambitious effort ever to modernize and secure federal IT and networks. To remediate the SolarWinds breach and boost U.S. defenses, including of the COVID-19 vaccine process, President Biden is calling on Congress to:

  • Expand and improve the Technology Modernization Fund. A $9 billion investment will help the U.S. launch major new IT and cybersecurity shared services at the Cyber Security and Information Security Agency (CISA) and the General Services Administration and complete modernization projects at federal agencies. In addition, the president is calling on Congress to change the fund’s reimbursement structure in order to fund more innovative and impactful projects.
  • Surge cybersecurity technology and engineering expert hiring . Providing the Information Technology Oversight and Reform fund with $200 million will allow for the rapid hiring of hundreds of experts to support the federal Chief Information Security Officer and U.S. Digital Service.
  • Build shared, secure services to drive transformational projects. Investing $300 million in no-year funding for Technology Transformation Services in the General Services Administration will drive secure IT projects forward without the need of reimbursement from agencies.
  • Improving security monitoring and incident response activities. An additional $690M for CISA will bolster cybersecurity across federal civilian networks, and support the piloting of new shared security and cloud computing services.

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How to Prepare Your Workplace for a Pandemic: Preparedness Plan Best Practices

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As the coronavirus spread across the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020 (“pan” is the Greek prefix for “all” or “everything”). 1

We are still in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic, with many of the effects still unknown.

The question is – how do you prepare your business, operations, and employees for a health crisis of this magnitude?

Keep reading to learn more.

Pandemic Planning for Business Continuity (and Worker Safety)

The most important consideration during any pandemic is to keep people safe and stop the spread of the virus. If your business requires on-site staff to function, begin practicing interoffice hygiene to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.

These steps can include:

  • Wearing a cloth mask that covers the mouth and nose when around colleagues, while continuing to maintain social distancing (at least six feet apart)
  • Spacing employees farther apart – and discouraging unnecessary contact (such as handshaking)
  • Mandatory (and frequent) handwashing with soap and water – for at least 20 seconds each time
  • Placing hand sanitizer, tissues, and no-touch trash bins throughout the office
  • Regularly disinfecting any surfaces that employees touch – including elevator buttons, doorknobs, coffeemakers, and even keyboards and computer mouses
  • Replacing, servicing, or cleaning air-conditioning and ventilation systems throughout the office

The CDC coordinated a library of free resources available for download. Simply print them out on any standard printer and post around the office.

These steps can help reduce the transmission of coronavirus, but the most efficient way to limit exposure is to encourage your employees to work remotely.

Unfortunately, many businesses aren’t automatically set up for this type of flexible working arrangement. If your company falls into this category, keep reading.

Pandemic Plans for Businesses

Every business is unique, making it difficult to outline a workplace pandemic preparedness plan that applies in every situation. Below are some best practices that health experts recommend companies follow.

1. Set Up a Response Team

The first step involves choosing a pandemic coordinator and team responsible for:

  • Analyzing your operations to identify essential roles and functions necessary for business continuity
  • Designing workarounds and redundancies in the event of major supply chain disruptions or a sudden spike in employee absenteeism
  • Deciding when to shut down, how to contact fellow employees, and what steps everyone should take (while in isolation)

It’s also a good idea to regularly follow trusted sources, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) workplace preparedness page .

2. Migrate More of Your Operations Online

Moving more of your business into the cloud will allow employees to telecommute from the safety of their homes.

Again, such a migration isn’t possible for every business. That said, you’d be surprised how many tasks can be done remotely using computers, smartphones, and other connected devices. It’s worth carefully examining your operations to see which aspects truly need an on-site presence – and which ones don’t.

3. Diversify Your Supply Chain

If you’re sourcing all the materials you need from one country, you’re unnecessarily putting operations at risk. The current pandemic is a good example of this. 2

Building redundancy into your supply chain will allow you to weather this and future storms with greater resilience.

4. Diversify Employee Responsibilities

If, for example, there is only one person in your company who can balance the books, this could cause some disruption if that person needs to take time off.

The same is true for all essential tasks and responsibilities. That’s why you should have multiple people assigned to the same roles – complete with templates, checklists, and instructions to help newcomers get up to speed as quickly as possible.

With employee absenteeism on the rise, being able to run your business with a skeleton crew is imperative.

These redundancies should also extend to resources such as servers, files, and anything else you need to operate your business. Storing this information in the cloud provides your teams with anytime, anywhere access – even if the main office is officially closed.

5. Make Sick Leave Preparations

It’s more important than ever to offer paid sick leave to employees. That’s because many infected team members might still come to work if they don’t have a financial safety net in place. This increases the risk of everyone else becoming infected.

Paid leave should also be extended to those who need to stay home and take care of sick family members or children who don’t have school during the pandemic.

6. Prepare for a Major Contraction

Even if you follow the pandemic planning business continuity guidelines above, it’s possible you won’t be able to generate any sales for the foreseeable future. Restaurants, movie theaters, and cruise ships are all learning this the hard way, with many venues potentially closing indefinitely.

It’s important your pandemic coordination team factors this into planning. More specifically, you need to know how long your business can continue meeting costs if all income sources suddenly diminish.

7. Share Your Workplace Pandemic Preparedness Plan

For any pandemic preparedness plan to work, everyone on your team must be on the same page. It’s a good idea to run through the steps, complete with tests and drills, to ensure all employees understand their roles.

All suppliers, vendors, and other external stakeholders should also be brought into the loop. Doing so is essential for pandemic planning business continuity.

What does a good pandemic preparedness plan look like?

Pandemic Business Continuity Plan Example

The challenges facing a restaurant owner are worlds apart from those that an at-home freelancer might experience. This makes it difficult to provide universally applicable advice.

However, the CDC already has an expansive checklist of do’s and don’ts for pandemics in general. It has since updated its guidelines specifically for COVID-19 preparedness in the workplace.

Moving forward, employers across the country should regularly visit these resources for the latest best practices and adjust these recommendations to their unique needs.

Need Business Support Throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic?

First Data is here to provide ongoing support for any businesses struggling with the current coronavirus pandemic. If you need help or advice during these difficult times, please visit:

COVID-19 Small Business Resource Center

Online Frontline: Enterprise Solutions for COVID-19

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, financial, or tax advice. Readers should contact their attorneys, financial advisors, or tax professionals to obtain advice with respect to any particular matter.

The external references were provided for informational purposes only. Please contact each company directly to obtain additional information, as First Data does not assume any responsibility or liability for any information and communications shown here and on any third party web links.

1 “Coronavirus: COVID-19 Is Now Officially A Pandemic, WHO Says,” NPR , 11 March 2020

2 “These are the top 10 manufacturing countries in the world,” World Economic Forum , 25 February 2020

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5 steps to reboot business in the COVID-19 era

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“Reflect, Recommit, Re-engage, Rethink and Reboot.” Image:  REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

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covid response plan for small business

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  • Deloitte says companies need to rethink their strategies as they move towards the ‘recovery’ phase of COVID-19.
  • The five actions it recommends are: Reflect, Recommit, Re-engage, Rethink and Reboot.
  • Staff should be at the heart of these changes and their needs and voices valued.
  • The World Economic Forum is calling on leaders to adopt new sustainable approaches to business.

“Reflect, Recommit, Re-engage, Rethink and Reboot.”

While many businesses continue to grapple with the first ‘response’ phase of the COVID-19 crisis, working through these five actions can provide a roadmap through the second ‘recovery’ stage, and onwards to the third ‘thrive’ phase, according to the professional services network, Deloitte.

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Big uk businesses predict a slow economic recovery, how digital investment can help the covid-19 recovery, can low-carbon investments help economies recover from coronavirus.

At the core of these steps is the idea that it’s important for leaders to take time to pause and listen to voices from across their organizations, as part of a more ‘human-centred’ approach to workforce management.

This idea, that businesses need to learn to emerge stronger , is advocated by management consultants including McKinsey, which urges leaders to find moments to “stop, reflect, and think ahead ”.

Deloitte’s recommendations reflect the ambition of the World Economic Forum’s own Sustainable Development Impact Summit and Great Reset initiative, encouraging leaders to think about creating more resilient societies and ecosystems – as well as businesses.

Fresh thinking is needed as organizations move from crisis response to recovery.

Pause and reflect

Of course, as businesses – like major retailers – make thousands of redundancies, it can be hard to find positives or a moment to pause. Even supermarkets which successfully adapted to lockdowns, pivoting to e-commerce, have found the costs of doing so have reduced the economic gains .

The COVID-19 global pandemic continues to disrupt manufacturing and supply chains, with severe consequences for society, businesses, consumers and the global economy.

As the effects of coronavirus unfold, companies are asking what short-term actions they need to take to ensure business continuity and protect their employees. How should they be preparing for the rebound and increasing their manufacturing and supply systems’ resilience?

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Kearney, brought together senior-level executives from various industry sectors to identify the best response to the COVID-19 crisis. Their recommendations have been published in a new white paper: How to rebound stronger from COVID-19: Resilience in manufacturing and supply systems.

covid response plan for small business

Read the full white paper, and more information in our Impact Story .

Companies are invited to join the Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production. Through the Platform’s work, companies can join with other leaders to help find solutions that support the reconfiguration of global value chains post-COVID-19.

However, management strategists say this is the time to step back and take stock of what has been learned, and achieved.

For example, the Harvard Business Review says people who have created rapid, innovative solutions during COVID-19 should take time to think about how they could become viable businesses – from Atlanta students delivering hospital meals , to Columbian engineers making ventilators from scratch .

Businesses need to continue using planning tools like McKinsey’s classic ‘three horizons’ framework despite the upheaval of COVID-19, says corporate sustainability consultant, Marco Albani, from albani.earth. This is because it is based on the principle that businesses that grow over long periods constantly rethink what they do – even in a time of crisis.

Deloitte’s advice

So what should businesses be thinking about? Deloitte says companies should embrace ideas like ‘purpose’ and ‘potential’, with the aim of creating a strong and resilient workplace culture. At the heart of its advice for the recovery phase are five actions:

This is about pausing to consider what has worked during the crisis, what has been missed and hearing from different perspectives. For example, while the majority of staff in some organizations have been working from home, people have very different experiences of what has worked well – and the shortcomings.

2. Recommit

Companies need to increase their focus on workforce wellbeing and purpose. These include physical, psychological and financial concerns – both in the workplace and at home (two areas which have increasingly blurred together). During the current period of upheaval there is a likelihood of workforce burnout , unless steps are taken to actively address it, warns The King’s Fund, a health policy think tank.

3. Re-engage

An ‘agile’ way of working has become the norm for many businesses – small teams or ‘scrums’ working hard on urgent problems was commonplace at the height of the crisis. Now to ignore this set-up “seems almost absurd” , reflects organizational consultant, Elizabeth Doty.

The task now is to make sure staff are comfortable with making this productive, but sometimes disruptive, way of working into the new normal.

4. Rethink work, workforces and workplaces

Can companies leverage the lessons of their COVID-19 crisis response and accelerate the future of work? That has been partly achieved already: the soaring stock market values of Big Tech companies reflects the speed of the pivot to virtual offices. “Changes that many of us predicted would happen over decades are instead taking place in the span of weeks,” says Anne-Marie Slaughter, President of the New America Foundation.

But Deloitte urges more fundamental rethinking, calling on organizations to “take risks”. These include reforming the physical structure of offices, questioning the idea of regular shifts and even reconsidering how career progression is judged.

Having a clear roadmap can make the journey out of the crisis easier.

5. Reboot – HR and People Operations Priorities

“The recovery process may not succeed if the HR function does not embrace a redefined role,” says Deloitte. This includes embracing the possibilities of ‘agile learning’ – helping staff learn how to use new tools quickly when required, for example, video conferencing.

As uncertainty continues and more people work remotely, HR will also have a crucial role in helping to “integrate the workforce’s need for individuality and belonging” with businesses’ needs for “security and invention”.

In other words – you need to work closely with staff and keep them on board if you are to get through a challenging time.

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License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Treasury, IRS and Labor announce plan to implement Coronavirus-related paid leave for workers and tax credits for small and midsize businesses to swiftly recover the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave

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IR-2020-57, March 20, 2020

WASHINGTON — Today the U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (Labor) announced that small and midsize employers can begin taking advantage of two new refundable payroll tax credits, designed to immediately and fully reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave to their employees. This relief to employees and small and midsize businesses is provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Act), signed by President Trump on March 18, 2020.

The Act will help the United States combat and defeat COVID-19 by giving all American businesses with fewer than 500 employees funds to provide employees with paid leave, either for the employee's own health needs or to care for family members. The legislation will enable employers to keep their workers on their payrolls, while at the same time ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus.

Key Takeaways

Paid sick leave for workers.

For COVID-19 related reasons, employees receive up to 80 hours of paid sick leave and expanded paid child care leave when employees' children's schools are closed or child care providers are unavailable.

Complete Coverage

Employers receive 100% reimbursement for paid leave pursuant to the Act.

  • Health insurance costs are also included in the credit.
  • Employers face no payroll tax liability.
  • Self-employed individuals receive an equivalent credit.

Reimbursement will be quick and easy to obtain.

  • An immediate dollar-for-dollar tax offset against payroll taxes will be provided
  • Where a refund is owed, the IRS will send the refund as quickly as possible.

Small Business Protection

Employers with fewer than 50 employees are eligible for an exemption from the requirements to provide leave to care for a child whose school is closed, or child care is unavailable in cases where the viability of the business is threatened.

Easing Compliance

  • Requirements subject to 30-day non-enforcement period for good faith compliance efforts.

To take immediate advantage of the paid leave credits, businesses can retain and access funds that they would otherwise pay to the IRS in payroll taxes. If those amounts are not sufficient to cover the cost of paid leave, employers can seek an expedited advance from the IRS by submitting a streamlined claim form that will be released next week.

The Act provided paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for COVID-19 related reasons and created the refundable paid sick leave credit and the paid child care leave credit for eligible employers. Eligible employers are businesses and tax-exempt organizations with fewer than 500 employees that are required to provide emergency paid sick leave and emergency paid family and medical leave under the Act. Eligible employers will be able to claim these credits based on qualifying leave they provide between the effective date and December 31, 2020. Equivalent credits are available to self-employed individuals based on similar circumstances.

The Act provides that employees of eligible employers can receive two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at 100% of the employee's pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined, and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, and seeking a medical diagnosis. An employee who is unable to work because of a need to care for an individual subject to quarantine, to care for a child whose school is closed or child care provider is unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, and/or the employee is experiencing substantially similar conditions as specified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can receive two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at 2/3 the employee's pay. An employee who is unable to work due to a need to care for a child whose school is closed, or child care provider is unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, may in some instances receive up to an additional ten weeks of expanded paid family and medical leave at 2/3 the employee's pay.

Paid Sick Leave Credit

For an employee who is unable to work because of Coronavirus quarantine or self-quarantine or has Coronavirus symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis, eligible employers may receive a refundable sick leave credit for sick leave at the employee's regular rate of pay, up to $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate, for a total of 10 days.

For an employee who is caring for someone with Coronavirus, or is caring for a child because the child's school or child care facility is closed, or the child care provider is unavailable due to the Coronavirus, eligible employers may claim a credit for two-thirds of the employee's regular rate of pay, up to $200 per day and $2,000 in the aggregate, for up to 10 days. Eligible employers are entitled to an additional tax credit determined based on costs to maintain health insurance coverage for the eligible employee during the leave period.

Child Care Leave Credit

In addition to the sick leave credit, for an employee who is unable to work because of a need to care for a child whose school or child care facility is closed or whose child care provider is unavailable due to the Coronavirus, eligible employers may receive a refundable child care leave credit. This credit is equal to two-thirds of the employee's regular pay, capped at $200 per day or $10,000 in the aggregate. Up to 10 weeks of qualifying leave can be counted towards the child care leave credit. Eligible employers are entitled to an additional tax credit determined based on costs to maintain health insurance coverage for the eligible employee during the leave period.

Prompt Payment for the Cost of Providing Leave

When employers pay their employees, they are required to withhold from their employees' paychecks federal income taxes and the employees' share of Social Security and Medicare taxes. The employers then are required to deposit these federal taxes, along with their share of Social Security and Medicare taxes, with the IRS and file quarterly payroll tax returns ( Form 941 series) with the IRS.

Under guidance that will be released next week, eligible employers who pay qualifying sick or child care leave will be able to retain an amount of the payroll taxes equal to the amount of qualifying sick and child care leave that they paid, rather than deposit them with the IRS.

The payroll taxes that are available for retention include withheld federal income taxes, the employee share of Social Security and Medicare taxes, and the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes with respect to all employees.

If there are not sufficient payroll taxes to cover the cost of qualified sick and child care leave paid, employers will be able file a request for an accelerated payment from the IRS. The IRS expects to process these requests in two weeks or less. The details of this new, expedited procedure will be announced next week.

If an eligible employer paid $5,000 in sick leave and is otherwise required to deposit $8,000 in payroll taxes, including taxes withheld from all its employees, the employer could use up to $5,000 of the $8,000 of taxes it was going to deposit for making qualified leave payments. The employer would only be required under the law to deposit the remaining $3,000 on its next regular deposit date.

If an eligible employer paid $10,000 in sick leave and was required to deposit $8,000 in taxes, the employer could use the entire $8,000 of taxes in order to make qualified leave payments and file a request for an accelerated credit for the remaining $2,000.

Equivalent child care leave and sick leave credit amounts are available to self-employed individuals under similar circumstances. These credits will be claimed on their income tax return and will reduce estimated tax payments.

Small Business Exemption

Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be eligible for an exemption from the leave requirements relating to school closings or child care unavailability where the requirements would jeopardize the ability of the business to continue. The exemption will be available on the basis of simple and clear criteria that make it available in circumstances involving jeopardy to the viability of an employer's business as a going concern. Labor will provide emergency guidance and rulemaking to clearly articulate this standard.

Non-Enforcement Period

Labor will be issuing a temporary non-enforcement policy that provides a period of time for employers to come into compliance with the Act. Under this policy, Labor will not bring an enforcement action against any employer for violations of the Act so long as the employer has acted reasonably and in good faith to comply with the Act. Labor will instead focus on compliance assistance during the 30-day period.

For More Information

For more information about these credits and other relief, visit Coronavirus Tax Relief on IRS.gov. Information regarding the process to receive an advance payment of the credit will be posted next week.        

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COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Action Plan

Get your free covid-19 action plan template.

Safety by Design is working hard to help you prevent a COVID-19 outbreak on your job site. That is why we have put together the following complimentary action plan to help you navigate these difficult times.

This interim guidance is based on what is currently known about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC will update their guidance as additional information becomes available.

Download Your FREE Action Plan

California Residents Download Your Action Plan Here

Simply switch out “COMPANY” with your company name, fill in the header, review the information thoroughly and adjust this as you see fit. This will be useful to share with your team and stakeholders.

COVID-19 Reopening Guide for Small Businesses

For “industry-specific reopening guidelines, as well as general reopening resources that should prove useful for all business owners,” click here to review the COVID-19 Reopening Guide for Small Businesses from Chamber of Commerce.

Please Contact Safety by Design Should You Require Further Assistance

We hope you are staying safe and healthy during these turbulent times.

Yours Truly, Lee Hart President

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Small business planning tool - COVID-19

Step 1 - what work can my small business do.

Start by finding out the rules and knowing your WHS duties.

covid response plan for small business

Check what I'm allowed to do

You must follow the  public health directions in your state or territory. Check what you are allowed to do for your type of business and make sure you can operate safely under these conditions.

Check I can keep my workers and customers safe

WHS laws require you to ensure the safety of your workers, yourself and any others in the workplace as much as you reasonably can.  Check advice from your WHS regulator .

Step 2 - Plan and prepare to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic

Take time to think about new health and safety risks in your business. What could go wrong ?

  • Have I done everything I reasonably can to keep people (workers, customers, visitors and myself) at my workplace physically and psychologically safe during the pandemic?
  • Have I consulted with my workers about the risks (new and existing) and how we can address them?
  • Have I talked to the other businesses I work with or share a premises with ?
  • Does everyone know what to do if they become unwell (e.g. when to stay away from the workplace) or where to get help when they are having problems (e.g. mental health)?
  • How have I kept myself, workers and customers safe in the past? And how has COVID-19 changed that (Are there any other new or changed risks I need to consider)?
  • Have I trained my workers on new processes and equipment?

covid response plan for small business

What will I do if someone gets COVID-19 ? What will I do if someone becomes unwell? Have I updated my risk assessment ?

covid response plan for small business

Talk to workers 

What do I need to talk to workers about ? (E.g. ways to control risks, staying away when sick, training on new procedures)

Are my staff trained in what they need to do?

covid response plan for small business

Prevent the spread

Distancing – how will I ensure  people can keep physically apart? Cleaning - How will I clean my workplace? Hygiene – how do I prevent germs spreading? 

covid response plan for small business

Tell customers & businesses we work with

Have I updated information and let customers know about new arrangements? Have I put signs up about what to do? 

covid response plan for small business

Look out for each other

How will you and your workers take care of each other? How will you let each other know if there's a problem (e.g. reporting)?

covid response plan for small business

Vulnerable people

Are workers or others (e.g. customers and visitors) in my workplace particularly vulnerable ? 

Step 3 - Monitor & review

covid response plan for small business

Don’t set and forget - you must continue to make sure workers are safe and that you keep talking to them.

Keep up to date and follow public health and WHS advice.

Check for new risks

Isolated work & less support.

Are staff now working alone or with less support? Are the ways we used to manage safety less effective? How will workers report issues/incidents? How will I proactively check they are ok?

Mental health

Is our work causing stress (or a risk to mental health )? What can we do to reduce the stress?

Physical risks

Do I need to update WHS plans due to to changed processes and work? E.g. plant, chemicals, SWMS.

Are there new risks? E.g. are there risks from misusing personal protective equipment  if not trained or of violence or aggression from customers?

For practical support and information on duties under other laws see  business.gov.au and the COVIDSafe plan

Can I meet my duties under other laws?

  • See the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission's small business tools  and business.gov.au
  • Pay and conditions
  • Insurance such as workers' compensation
  • Other laws in your state or territory such as emergency declarations. 

Is there anything else I need to plan for?

  • Have I talked to other business we with work with (e.g. suppliers) about how we can work safely together? Have I talked to other business in our building about keeping shared areas and facilities safe (e.g lifts and bathrooms)?  
  • Can my workers get to work safely? Can I support them to avoid congestion on public transport?
  • Am I able to provide my workers with flexible work arrangements?

Where can I find other WHS information and support?

See the resources and support section for your industry, as well as the state and territory regulator websites :

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  • Gyms & fitness centres
  • Hairdressing
  • Health care
  • Hospitality
  • In-home services
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  • Mobile consultants & client engagement services
  • Public transport
  • Private security
  • Real estate
  • Road freight
  • Snow & ski
  • Sport & recreation
  • Stevedores & ports
  • Taxi & ride share
  • Tertiary education
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  • Warehousing & logistics

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Last modified on Tuesday 12 January 2021 [ 3110 ]

Chicago Tribune

Businesses that opened during COVID eligible for state grants: ‘Small businesses across the state are the heart of our economy’

A fter spending 10 years as a fitness coach, the coronavirus pandemic imposed circumstances on Ivan Rogel of Waukegan where continuing to earn a living was a challenge, so he started a business — Energy Fire Fitness.

He opened Energy Fire in 2020, conducting Zumba and CrossFit classes, as well as offering one-on-one coaching to clients online. When the weather was appropriate, he found outdoor locations.

“I needed to work,” Rogel said. “I had to keep going, and I started the business.”

Now the state of Illinois is offering grants to entrepreneurs like Rogel, who had the courage to open a fitness business in the midst of a pandemic when some gyms were forced to close .

Businesses and nonprofits that launched in 2020 or 2021, and are still open today, are eligible for up to $30,000 from the state’s Back to Business NewBiz grant program.

The program is aimed at assisting businesses that were not operational prior to the pandemic, and were ineligible for other federal or state pandemic relief programs.

Applications for the grant program are open through Thursday. All eligible applicants will receive a grant if the business meets eligibility requirements and submits the proper documentation, the state’s news release stated.

Funded with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) program has $25 million in grants, ranging from $5,000 to $30,000, available for both home-based and brick-and-mortar businesses.

Starting with an online business offering the Zumba and CrossFit sessions, Rogel wanted to find a way to work with his clients face-to-face. He met them in Waukegan parks, including at the lakefront.

When pandemic-imposed restrictions started to ebb in August 2021, Rogel started to look for a location and then opened a gym on Washington Street in Waukegan. He found ways to attract new clients to support his expanded enterprise.

“It was not easy,” he said. “I used Facebook and Instagram to get more people.”

According to the U.S. Census’s Business Formation Statistics , nearly 200,000 new businesses were launched in Illinois in 2021, an increase from the 170,000 new companies formed in 2020.

To handle the volume of applications, DCEO enlisted Lendistry, a small business lending firm, to serve as a program manager and assist with application review, provide technical support for applicants, manage the development of the application portal and help to processing payments.

“It’s important now that we go back and make sure we recognize that, because the pandemic lasted so long there were businesses that were not able to benefit from some of the programs,” said the company’s CEO, Everett Sands. “We all thought the pandemic was going to be a sprint, but then it turned into a marathon.”

During the pandemic, Lendistry helped distribute more than $300 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

Sands said a number of businesses that closed at the start of the pandemic, and later reopened, could benefit from the grant program.

“There was obviously significant information in terms of women-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses, etc. closing,” Sands said. “What came out after that was that there were a number of businesses that were reestablished. So, whether the businesses were able to make a pivot, or whether they made a decision to start something new.”

As the grant program got underway, people like Rogel worked with DCEO-certified navigators like Eddie Soto. A technical business adviser in Waukegan, Soto said he has helped between 80 and 100 people register for funding in Lake County.

Soto said when the program opened in late November, it was slow at first, but then word-of-mouth from one small business owner to another produced a flood of entrepreneurs who started a business between January 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021.

“They’re really good to each other, and let each other know,” Soto said. “At first, it was landscapers and roofers. Then I started seeing IT entrepreneurs, and lots of other small businesses.”

Meeting with the business owners, he said he made sure they had all the necessary paperwork like tax returns, bank statements, proof of their business license or registration and more. Everyone who follows the rules will receive a grant.

With life back to pre-pandemic levels for many, Eliza Glezer, the deputy assistant director for communications of the DCEO said in an email while COVID-19 relief was available for businesses started before January 2020, companies opened later were not.

Glezer said to help businesses which were opened after the pandemic started but still needed a boost, the Illinois General Assembly approved $25 million to assist those operations.

“Businesses that launched in 2020 or 2021 in hard-hit sectors, such as the arts or indoor recreation, faced significant impacts during the pandemic, but they have not been eligible for other federal or state relief programming,” Glezer said.

DCEO Director Kristin Richards said in an email, “courageous entrepreneurs in Illinois (who) launched businesses in the height of the pandemic” deserved support, just like the ones who were operating before COVID-19 hit.

“Small businesses across the state are the heart of our economy,” Richards said.

[email protected]

©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Chicago

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