The situation is highly dynamic in that it is changing daily and is different in different regions of world. The most important thing is to stay informed via reliable information sources as most information on COVID-19 is available in the public sphere. For the latest updates rely on the WHO, Centres For Disease Control (CDC), major international media outlets and your national health department. It is a good idea to follow a few of these organisations on social media to keep up to date as well as monitoring normal news channels.
If you would like to learn more there are a few online free courses available and regular updates via podcasts. Several organisations are also compiling coronavirus resources. Here are a few examples:
ā¢ Free course
ā¢ Free course
ā¢ Lancet resource list (more technical)
ā¢ Global Handwashing Partnership resource list (more practical)
ā¢ WHO resource list (mix of materials)
ā¢ LSHTM are hosting regular Q&A sessions online and recorded:
There is also quite a lot of existing guidance online for how COVID-19 could affect businesses and how to respond. The first port of call should be to check in with the guidance your national government is giving.
ā¢ CDCās advice
ā¢ Example of the UKās advice to businesses
It is So important. Obviously businesses will be thinking about their staff, and who they can keep on. But the extensive supply chains are critical. How can risk be shared across players in an entire value chain?
very nice to meet you finally. heard a lot about you
Business and Employers Organisations have a key role to play as representative voice of business in the design of policies addressing the economic and employment impact of COVID-19.
At AB InBev, we are 200,000 employees working in more than 50 countries and a large supply chain. The health and safety our AB InBevās colleagues is our priority as well as the support to groups of people of our value chain (small retailers, small suppliers, contractors).
We daily inform, provide guidelines and encourage these groups to observe preventive and self-quarantine measures.
We work with local public health and government officials and develop collective action between international, national and local efforts.
Agreed, Myriam. Facebook just announced a $100 grant program to assist small business. But we will need more than money. We need global supply chains to help get small business products DTC. Farmers in China have jumped on ecom platforms to desperately get their products to consumers. Small business needs alternative methods.
I agree Myriam. The corona shock is jump-starting creation of a āwellbeing economyā where the economy serves wellbeing of people, not vice versa. Itās a sad way to get there, but itās a big mindshift that we need to embrace.
I completely agree, Matthias. There is a real debate here on the next stimulus package - focus on individual Americans with direct payments, or keep companies afloat so there are paychecks on the other side of the crisis - or a bit of both.
Very valuable. Thank you for sharing
agree with you Matthias!To aid this collective effort, in collaboration with WHO, ICC will regularly send updated advice to its network of over 45 million businesses so that businesses everywhere can take informed and effective action to protect their workers, customers and local communities and contribute to the production and distribution of essential supplies.
ICC will also contribute to enhancing information flows on the coronavirus outbreak by surveying its global private sector network to map the global business response. This will both encourage businesses to adopt appropriate precautionary approaches and generate new data and insights to support efforts by WHO and by governments.
As an immediate priority, businesses should be developing or updating, readying or implementing business continuity plans. Business continuity plans should aim to reduce transmission, including by: promoting understanding of the disease, its symptoms and appropriate behaviour among employees; setting up a reporting system for any cases and contacts; preparing essentials; limiting travel and physical connectivity; and planning for measures such as teleworking when necessary.
Iād like to pick up on this, as I have not heard enough about āwhose voiceā. In UK, govt is talking to business and unions. But many gig and informal sector workers are not in unions. Many carers (mainly women) are shouldering extra burdens but are not in unions. Are we even hearing from the right people as responses are designed?
Hi, Iām Amanda Gardiner, currently a Senior Adviser at Business Fights Poverty, and formerly in CSR/sustainability at Verizon and Pearson. My question to companies is: given the significance of Covid19 across so many parts of the business, how are companies managing their responses internally to ensure alignment? For example, did you put together an internal rapid response team? Is there one particular function/team that has the lead? What is the role of the exec/board? Is this the same approach as taken for other āemergency scenariosā or have you had to do things differently?
Iād be interested in how this works at your companies.
Are there any lessons coming in from Asian markets that may already be on the āback in businessā side of the curve?
Such a good question Caroline and not one I have seen addressed elsewhere. One option I think is for governments to put in place guidance on small-scale markets. This may include changing opening hours and who can sell what and where. These localised supplies will be vital to keep afloat.
Companies care about the health of their staff and their customers. Many businesses have taken determined measures, such as changing their work organisation and turning to telework, providing access to equipment such as hand disinfectant gel, masks, and gloves as well as informing and advising them about precautious measures for them and their families beyond the work-time. However, the much bigger challenge will be to retain staff in times of massive liquidity constraints and decreasing business. Employers and Business Organisations as the representative voice of business Innovation is an important issue to overcome the crisis. Many businesses are adapting their products and services in line with the current needs.
I am seeing a completely polarised societal situation here where people are joining their local community together to help the vulnerable yet, at the other end of the spectrum, complete acts of selfishness and opportunistic criminality to exploit the vulnerable. Fear is very real.
This is great. Many clear course of action. We have seen the world mobilising itself and washing hands every where. what top lessons have we learned from emergencies and handwashing? although this scale has never happened before?
The impact on business will be tremendous in Kenya as 80% of businesses is in the informal economy. There are no stimulus packages and small business owners are already seeing impact
This is Jodie Thorpe from the Business and Development Centre of the Institute of Development Studies. Agree with Carolineās point about the creation of a different type of economy. There is a need even now to start thinking about this long term, even while resources are prioritised for short-term response.
I really urge businesses to not only think about how to maintain salaries, or a share of salaries, but to consult, talk, co-design innovative solutions with their stakeholders. Having more information, more input, more certainty, smoothing of shock, can really make a difference. ie the same financial shock can have less bad ways of hitting.