Due to the spread of the Corona Virus, businesses all around the world have changed how they operate. Some businesses have remained open, while others have allowed workers to work from home. Corona Virus started in March 2020 and is still in effect.

“For me personally nothing changed,” said Charlotte Little, “My company continued as normal. But we set up new guidelines for hand cleaning for extra care.” 

For companies outside the tech sector and those not yet ordered by health officials to enact social-distancing protocols, mandating work at home has been more complicated according to www.shrm.org

“For my office, we have more hand washing, social distance, and hand sanitizer is used more. People that enter our building for business are required to wear face masks,” said Little, “We clean our front entrance and door handles a lot more frequently.” 

Workers who believe that their employer provides a safe and healthy workplace are more likely to report for work during a pandemic according to https://www.osha.gov.

“Because we do go into residential and commercial buildings. Many closed and many residents did not want us in their homes. Some were frightened that Covid would be brought into their homes or businesses,” said Charlotte Little, “So our business slowed a little. But our company took extra precautions to care about our customers so that we were able to continue to work. None of our employees worked from home.” 

To help prevent the spread of Corona Virus among essential workers, some of the biggest employers in the country, including Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot and Starbucks have begun taking the temperatures of their employees before they are allowed to work according to www.cnbc.com.

“Since Covid is very easy to catch, the CEO decided it would be best if people were to work from home,” said Mike Ward, “It is safer than working with a lot of people in close quarters.” 

However, there is a concern about the risk of being exposed to the virus at work because of the big crowds of co workers that can form according to the CDC.

“I access work remotely using my work laptop. It’s much different than being in person. No one to talk to. I never used my laptop except for business trips. Now I use it daily,” said Ward, “Meetings are also held remotely using Microsoft teams software.” 

In 2017-2018, only about 25 percent of U.S. workers worked at home at least occasionally and only 15 percent had days on which they only worked at home, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

“Yes, we use video for teleconferencing. Microsoft teams lets you do face to face meetings with staff and peers,” said Ward, “No we did none of this before Covid.” 

 It didn’t take more than a few days for Zoom to become as synonymous with videoconferencing as Kleenex has become with blowing one’s nose according to www.forbes.com

“I miss talking to the people I work with. I used to get out of the office to talk to my coworkers. I also miss my Friday lunches with Jim,” said Ward, “I get more work done since I don’t have as many meetings as I used to. I also don’t get disturbed by people anymore.”