COVID-19 - CORONAVIRUS

Risks to consider

Throughout your organisation’s response to the COVID-19 global health emergency there will be people management risks that you will need to be aware of and take steps to address.

Business continuity and pressure on remaining staff

• The outbreak of the virus is very likely to affect employees in your organisation in different ways. It will disproportionately affect some people, for example if schools close and parents need to stay at home. Some employees may need to keep working while others self-isolate or stop working, and so think about how you can prevent perceptions of unfairness creeping in and keep everyone on board in these exceptional times.

• If workers are asked to work extra hours to cover for absent staff, make sure you comply with your obligations under the Working Time Regulations.

• Regularly communicate how much you value everyone’s contribution. If some people are taking on additional responsibilities to bridge gaps, make sure they feel appreciated and this is for a relatively short time. Emphasis that you can only succeed as an organisation and protect your people and the business if you all pull together.

• Make sure that you are not putting unacceptable levels of demands on people and that they have the support and resources in place to fulfill their tasks, particularly any additional duties.

• Line managers should be trained and confident to spot any early warning signs of people experiencing stress; make sure they have regular catch ups with people to ensure they are coping with any extra demands or workloads.

• Provide clear signposting to any internal and external support for people, such as counselling and an employee assistance programme.

Direct and indirect discrimination

• Despite the unprecedented nature of this situation, employers still have to remain aware of potential direct and indirect discrimination.

• The greatest risk in the current situation arises from any move to ban travel to certain areas (such as identified high-risk areas like parts of China, Iran and Italy) as this could disproportionately affect certain groups and be indirect race discrimination if it affects more staff of certain ethnicity than others.

• You may decide that your duty to protect staff is worth taking the risk of a potential discrimination claim as employers can defend indirect discrimination claims using the ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’ defence.

• Be aware that targeting certain staff specifically and requesting them not to travel or come to work, could lead to direct race discrimination claims (which would not be defensible). Any request to avoid travel and not attend work should apply to all staff regardless of nationality or ethnicity and be linked to potential exposure to the virus not racial origins.