With coronavirus spreading, so is working from home
For years, futurists have been predicting that widespread web access, easily portable computing power and virtual meeting apps would free most American workers from the office. It hasn’t happened.
Now the new coronavirus may be ushering in that future, even if just temporarily.
Across South Florida, as the severity and inevitability of a COVID-19 epidemic becomes clearer by the day, businesses large and small are updating emergency plans, adopting virtual communication and work platforms on the fly, and testing out work-from-home strategies for their employees.
Health experts say keeping people apart, including by sending them home to work, will be key to slowing an epidemic and blunting its impact. Even if it’s not necessarily good for business in the short term.
Already, amid cancellation of at least some travel, face-to-face meetings and business events, some offices are asking or strongly encouraging employees to work from home — a trend that experts say may well accelerate as the number of confirmed cases across Florida and the region rises rapidly.
But that flexibility does not extend to hourly employees in service jobs.
Businesses across South Florida are sending employees home to work to curb coronavirus spread. Some are already working remotely, while others test virtual work programs or conduct events online.
Hotel workers or restaurant servers may face loss of hours because of falling tourism, canceled business events or because homebound office workers aren’t going out for lunch or ordering takeout. For those service workers, getting sent home may mean no pay and, if they even have it, a potential loss of health-care coverage as well.
On Friday, the University of Miami told non-U-Health employees to work from home as the school tested the viability of a remote work system. The university has already canceled athletic activities and extended spring break and will go to onlineonly classes after its holiday.
The smaller Schwartz Media Strategies public relations firm in Brickell was running its business through the Slack web app on Friday as a test while it considered a work-from home mandate or option for its staff, said principal Tadd Schwarz.
The Miami office of the global Publicis/Sapient agency, meanwhile, was “encouraging” all employees to work from home, a spokesman said. At Hard Rock Stadium, “nonessential” employees were told to work from home starting on Friday for an indefinite period.
One small Miami nonprofit focused on technology and innovation was already ahead of the curve.
The seven-person staff of Venture Cafe, which provides support and guidance for local tech startups, already did much of its work remotely before COVID-19, said executive director Leigh-Ann Buchanan. Its “office hours” program, in which experts provide guidance to up-and-comers, was already conducted virtually, she said.
But starting Thursday, the organization moved its popular weekly gathering of techies, investors and entrepreneurs to Zoom, a web conferencing platform. The cafe’s Thursday Gathering would normally draw as many as 300 people for face-toface seminars, meetings and socializing. Venture Cafe staff spent two days — some of that time inevitably in face-to-face meetings in a conference room — to set that up, Buchanan said. About 125 people participated in this week’s initial virtual gathering, she said.
The gathering will remain online “until the relevant authorities, such as the CDC and the federal and state governments, make it clear that large, in-person convening does not undermine people’s health and safety,” Buchanan said.
Taking the weekly meeting online does have one advantage, she added: “No one has to be afraid that they can’t take advantage of our content. To be honest, the real benefit is Venture Cafe is part of a global network, so now you can tap into content all over the world. There is a silver lining.”
The Miami chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, too, moved a forum this week to an online virtual-meeting site.
Some South Florida employers said they are ready to go virtual with their workforce if need be, but are still assessing.
Chamber South, whose membership extends from South Miami to the Homestead area, has canceled the two monthly networking events it hosts “until further notice,” said marketing director Paula Simonetti. Its four staffers, meanwhile, continue coming to the office, she said. It’s the same for most of its members, she added.
“So far, from what we know, they are proceeding the same way we are, and taking the proper precautions,” Simonetti said. “Thankfully, we’re very conscious of taking precautions and nobody has been ill or felt ill.”
A spokesman for Coral Gablesbased Bacardi said the company is following advice from health authorities while its 380 Miami employees continue reporting to work at the office. But the company stands ready to allow those with children the opportunity to work from home now that schools have been shut down.
Miami-based legal giant Greenberg Traurig said it has readied plans to continue providing essential services, such as representing and advising clients, even if it needs to close offices or ask employees to work from home or an alternate location. For now, though, the firm is still allowing face-to-face business and consultations, though it reminded staff that it has video-conferencing options available for virtual meetings if those are preferable.
Like other employers, Greenberg stressed that it’s following basic preventive recommendations from health experts
“When we do have in-person meetings, we will provide preventative products,” reads a statement to employees that was released to the media. “We are also continuing with preventative measures already in place, such as providing hand sanitizer in our offices and wiping down door handles and other surfaces daily. In light of current conditions, we will continue to use video conferencing where available and when that appears preferable to an in-person meeting.
“Should an office or offices need to close, we have a number of systems in place to allow our professionals to work from home or an alternate location, and have maximized GT’s ability to provide the best network and system performance in anticipation of any such closures,” the statement added.
Amid a fast-moving health crisis, it was impossible to tell how extensively work across the region might be moving out of offices. In other countries that have been heavily hit, such as Italy, authorities have mandated the closure of stores and businesses in epidemic hot spots.
The time to widely encourage stay-at-home work and other “social distancing” is now, when the virus is likely spreading but confirmed cases are not yet at alarming levels, experts say. By the time confirmed cases of infection spike, it’s too late, they say.
For businesses, readiness will be key in the coming few days, said Joseph Luzinski, managing director at the Fort Lauderdale office of Development Specialists, a national consulting group that assists businesses in distress.
Owners, managers and operators will face some consequential decisions to protect operations and keep the revenue flowing while protecting employees and clients, and following the directives of health authorities, he said.
“The situation is changing by the half-day, if not by the hour,” Luzinski said. “Many large organizations are establishing protocols and policies. I think everyone is scrambling to figure out the right answer to avoid massive crowds and have people continue to work and keep the business moving.”
For many companies already depending heavily on computers and online networks, a transition to stay-at-home work may not be too disruptive, Luzinski said. The pace of the transition could well pick up as companies see their peers and competitors go remote with their workforce.
“A lot of people are hovering. A lot of companies are having discussions but have not yet implemented. Everyone is very tentative,” he said. “Companies and employees are looking over their shoulder at the other guy.”
Given the speed of the outbreak’s progress, however, managers should be ready to change and adapt quickly Luzinski said.
“Flexibility is certainly the name of the game,” he said. “Every plan should be written in pencil.”
But for hotels, stores and restaurants that can’t simply send employees home to work, the dilemma posed by potential loss of business and revenue could be enormous.
“If you’re in a service business or in a hospitality business, that can put a company in a real quandary,” Luzinski said. “Do you lay people off or have them stand around waiting for customers to show up, if they show up?
“The hospitality industry here is going to be really, really stressed. The trickle-down effects on hotel rooms, on rental cars, on restaurants — in a month from now the cash flow lack and profitability is really going to put a crimp in their ability to survive.”
ROLANDO AEDO OF THE GREATER MIAMI CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU SAID HOTELS ARE TELLING HIM THEY’RE CUTTING HOURS BY 25%.
And the worst of it could fall on the employees who are sent home without work to do.
As group business dries up at the Fontainebleau and Diplomat hotels, hundreds of workers are being told to prepare for cuts in hours — if those hours haven’t been cut already, according to a representative for Unite Here, which represents workers at those hotels.
They aren’t alone. Rolando Aedo, chief operating officer of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, said hotels are telling him they’re already cutting hours by 25%.
The CVB is looking to reconstitute a program launched following a hurricane to help vulnerable hourly employees. He and hotel partners are trying to raise money and work with an established charity — in the past, United Way — to provide short-term cash support for workers in need.
“We think that’s where we can make biggest difference, to make sure workers are aware of community resources and provide them with the cash to make them as whole as we possibly can,” said Aedo. “It’s to the benefit of the employees, and to the benefit of the hotels that will need them back.”
That kind of assistance could make a world of difference to employees like Jelani Jacobs, 36. of Hallandale Beach, who says he has already been told he will miss at least one day of scheduled work at his job as a chef at The Diplomat. There, he earns $15 an hour, which he uses to support himself and his young daughter. He says a recent car accident has left him unable to fall back on his other source of income, driving for Uber. He says he’s been with The Diplomat for about nine months— not long enough to qualify for paid time off.
If he or his daughter gets the new coronavirus or any other illness, they could be in serious jeopardy, he added.
“Without that money, I can’t pay for [a] medical [emergency],” Jacobs said.
Miami Herald Business Editor Jane Wooldridge and staff writer Rob Wile contributed to this report.