AMERICAN FORK — Public and private entities across Utah are teeing up plans to allow employees, where tenable, to work remotely should COVID-19 issues evolve to the point that mandatory or voluntary quarantines become a necessity.
On Tuesday, Utah tech firm Domo staged a test to see how effective it would be to have its entire global workforce stay at home and perform their work duties remotely. Domo Communications Director Julie Kehoe said the efforts are motivated by the company’s desire to make the best health decisions in light of fast-evolving issues related to COVID-19.
“This is just another step in the plan to do all that we can to keep our employees and our community safe,” Kehoe said.
The one-day exercise, Kehoe said, was aimed at evaluating how well Domo could keep its workflow moving both from individual and collective standpoints.
“I think the biggest challenge is two things,” Kehoe said. “Making sure everyone has the right equipment at home and coordinating best practices for meetings and collaboration, like web conferencing capabilities.
“We’d like to maintain that connected, face-to-face part of work and allow everyone to keep their meetings schedule and do what they need to, just from remote locations.”
The business analytics innovator has already been rolling with the punches thrown by coronavirus concerns in recent weeks, having morphed its annual Domopalooza user summit into an online-only event and placing strict limits on employee travel.
Keeping critical work moving forward is on the minds of state leaders who are also laying the groundwork for plans, should they become necessary, to keep public employees at home for work to avoid COVID-19 exposure.
A spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who is leading the state’s COVID-19 Community Task Force, told the Deseret News state employees themselves have not been asked to telework. However, Cox has asked agency directors to have detailed conversations with their respective leadership teams about what going all-remote would look like for them, including ensuring that workers will have the appropriate equipment, internet access, etc., to do their jobs. The goal, she said, is to be prepared so that if the time comes, state employees will be ready to make the switch to remote working.
An email sent last week to state agency leaders outlining human resources guidelines for COVID-19 related issues noted that if a state employee who has no risk factors for COVID-19 (i.e., no travel to a Level 3 area, no exposure to someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19) chooses to voluntarily isolate themselves from the workplace, management will allow the employee to telework if that is an option. According to the communique, if teleworking is not an option, management will require the employee to use their own leave or go on leave without pay.
One of the state’s largest employers, the University of Utah/U. Health System, is also fine-tuning teleworking protocols in preparation for potential changes spurred by public health considerations.
U. Communications Director Chris Nelson noted the institution and associated health care system is a large and complex organization, and creating telecommuting options for employees will differ depending on the needs of a specific area.
Leaders in the U.’s academic programs have been asked to begin considering how telecommuting could be implemented within individual schools and colleges for nonpublic-facing employees. And, a telecommuting contract has been created that outlines an agreement between the U. and employees for how telecommuting will be accommodated.
Those contracts stipulate that telecommuting U. employees must:
- Remain accessible by phone or electronically during the telecommute work schedule.
- Be responsible for establishing effective communication among co-workers and customers and to check in with the supervisor to discuss status and open issues.
- Be available for teleconferences, scheduled on an as-needed basis.
- Request supervisor approval in advance of working any overtime hours (if employee is nonexempt).
Besides the 600-plus Utah-based Domo employees who stayed home from work Tuesday, Kehoe said company staffers in Seattle, New York, Tokyo, London, Sydney and Melbourne also participated in the remote working exercise.
Kehoe said the drill was being conducted as a way to prepare for what might be an eventuality, but Domo employees, overall, have not been significantly impacted by COVID-19. As of Tuesday afternoon, still only had two cases had been confirmed in Utah.
She also lauded the current efforts among private and public sector employers to plan carefully for potential escalation of coronavirus concerns.
“There’s definitely no sense of panic among our staff,” Kehoe said. “I think people are being smart. And it really is encouraging to see how businesses and state leaders are taking responsibility in terms of doing their part.
“Hopefully this will just be a test, but we’ll see.”