A student desk and reading nook is part of a classroom set up at Communities First Association Management, Apollo Beach, Friday, August 21, 2020. The company will have an office for employees' children to do e-learning and be supervised by a University of South Florida student.
After many sleepless nights, Christie
Trimmer came up with a solution.
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Those who must work
in-person do, but leaders at other companies say they will
continue to keep their employees at home and adjust when
things look safe.
“The pandemic is still driving that decision,” said Danny
Rice, with commercial real estate management company
Colliers International.
Trimmer said only three of her eight employees have returned
to her Apollo Beach office, where the company helps manage
homeowners associations. She’s trying to prepare for any
contingency.
As school districts debated whether or not to bring kids
back this fall, Clearwater-based cybersecurity education
firm KnowBe4 gave parents the option to work remotely
through the end of the school year, if they wanted their
kids to do online schooling. The company also offered to
talk with parents if they wanted help making a decision and
allows its employees to work flexible schedules around their
family needs.
“If you can accommodate (employees) in any way, they’re much
more likely to want to stay part of your organization,” said
Erika Lance, the company’s senior vice president of people
operations.
On Sept. 15, KnowBe4 will evaluate its reopening plans. But
Lance said the company may not fully bring all employees to
the office until sometime in mid-2021 and the school
districts have not influenced its decisions.
Tech Data, the Largo-based technology distribution company,
won’t be reopening with the schools either.
“We think it’s too fluid to even set a specific date where
people will return,” chief human resources officer Beth
Simonetti said.
The company has said that at the very earliest, it would
return Jan. 4. While Tech Data hasn’t been focusing on
parents specifically, it’s been surveying employees and
working to accommodate them on an individual basis.
“We’re continuing to ask them what they need,” Simonetti
said.
That approach may be common among office-based companies
now, said Rice, a managing director at Colliers
International. In general, employers have to figure out how
to meet the needs of workers, from parents to those with
vulnerable older relatives or those who are vulnerable to
coronavirus themselves.
“It’s more of a broader scope focus,” he said.
And some businesses require in-person interaction with
customers or clients.
Susie Brush, director of agent care for Century 21 Beggins,
said she plans to take advantage of the company’s
flexibility when caring for her two children, ages five and
nine. As they head back to school, Brush plans to spend
mornings in the office and work from home when kids get out
of school in the afternoons.
“They’re very flexible and happy to work with the people in
the company who are parents,” Brush said.
Esther Eugene, CEO of All Administrative Solutions, a St.
Petersburg-based business support company, said there are
several best practices for companies to support working
parents.
In addition to offering flexible schedules, she said it’s
important for companies to make it clear to parents they
won’t be penalized for their needs. Eugene also said it’s
important for human resource teams to explain workers’
rights with regards to leave in clear, layman’s terms.
Whether writing out the company policy or offering
information sessions, companies should also ensure employees
know there are no dumb questions about company policy, she
said.
“The more information, the better,” Eugene said.
For some smaller, blue-collar businesses, not much has
shifted. They’ve long had to accommodate working parents,
and the pandemic hasn’t changed that.
Ed DePaul, head of El-Cheapo Tree Service, said one of his
recent employees was a single dad who had a son with autism.
As long as the employee communicated his availability in
advance, DePaul said, he was able to be flexible with his
schedule, and would pay him for the full day, even if he
occasionally needed to show up late.
“We’re basically a family-oriented company,” DePaul said.
He said that arrangement began before COVID-19 shutdowns
came to Florida.
Advanced Nationwide Security Corp., a security guard
company, works with parents — often moms — who need to work
part-time or take time off to care for their kids.
“The supervisor usually works with them to the best of their
ability,” said the company’s president Anthony Ilesanmi.
Until there’s a vaccine, many companies may not head back to
the office, said Rice. In the meantime, he said, he’s
focusing on the word “flexibility.”