Businesses should spread out the workforce
Spread out your workforce. That advice was given to Milwaukee-area employers Monday as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.
“Given your business conditions, figure out quickly the most effective way to spread your people out,” Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said Monday afternoon.
The number of active coronavirus cases in Wisconsin increased to 46, with 13 in Milwaukee County, as of a Monday briefing. Officials believe there is evidence of “likely” community spread of the virus.
“We need to do more social distancing, and we need to get companies to react even faster than they are today,” Sheehy said.
The MMAC board convened Monday for its regular meeting. For the first time in the group’s history, the meeting took place virtually.
Around 70 CEOs of Milwaukee-area companies were on the call, representing more than 100,000 employees in the region, Sheehy said. Mayor Tom Barrett, the city’s health commissioner, the CEO of the Medical College of Wisconsin and others spoke to the employers.
MMAC wants to lead by example. The MMAC is open for business. Its office is not. All of its employees — around 50 — will work remotely.
Many employers in the area have slimmed down the workforce coming into the office or gone entirely remote. Sheehy mentioned Milwaukee-based Manpower, which employs more than 700 people in its downtown office.
“Probably 30 are there,” he said. Other companies are still operating at normal in-office staffing levels.
“If you think you’re doing enough, you’re not,” Sheehy said.
He wants to see faster movement from companies in the area. Practices such as social distancing can slow the spread of the coronavirus because there will be fewer opportunities for transmission. It will decrease the likelihood that health systems will become overwhelmed with sick patients.
“If we want to delay this curve and flatten it, we have to spread out,” he said. “That means your workplace and the social places we gather.”
There is still friction with a Milwaukee stubbornness that the city can just tough it out, he said. During the board meeting, Sheehy said he received messages asking where he was going to be for St. Patrick’s Day Tuesday.
“Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in a crowded bar is missing the whole point,” he said.
Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com/bemke.