What can you do as a small business owner to make people feel safe

What can you do as a small business owner to make people feel safe

As a small business owner, you are greatly impacted by the coronavirus. Your activities have suffered and so has your turnover. However, much like the sun pops up after a storm, things can only get better from here. Everything is progressively reopening and it’s time for you to get back into action as well. But what can you do as a small business owner to make people feel safe ?

Be a great leader

Now is a time of great uncertainty and it is therefore logical to feel stressed in such times. 

However, if negativity starts taking up all the space, you might discourage your employees, as they are probably equally worried and fear losing their job as well. Staying motivated or upbeat must seem like an impossible task at times. However, you must keep your head up for yourself but also for the sake of your team. 

Do not despair! It may be a good time to change things up and reorganise your business. Since two heads are better than one, involve your team! They might have some great ideas and the extra engagement will definitely motivate them! Brainstorm, analyse your weaknesses and find out how to overcome them.

Now is the time to seize Coronavirus opportunities:

  • Start that long pushed back “spring” cleaning
  • Change your menu, offer more single-serving dishes instead of shared platters. 
  • Implement a more thorough cleaning routine. Make it fun even!
  • Boost team spirit with coordinated face masks personalised with your logo! It will also make spotting staff easier for customers.
  • Boost visibility by advertising your reopening! You can use posters, roller banners, stickers… check out our selection here!

Securing your customers and employees

The first step to reopening is to make your employees feel safe at work. Their health and safety comes first. Moreover, they are your team, essential to the well being of your business. They need to know you take things seriously and have a plan to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus.  

Hand washing 

One of the most important things at the moment is hand-washing. You will touch a number of things all along the day and so will other people. Regular disinfection of both your office and your hands will lower infection risks. Furthermore, sanitisers contain a high concentration of alcohol, for up to 99,99% of germs and bacteria killed.

Sneeze guards

If you have direct contact with customers, at the cash register, for example, you might want to consider sneeze guards. A transparent screen between individuals is a good way to prevent the spread of bacteria through the air, especially if one sneezes. Hence the word sneeze guard right?

Securing your premises

Securing your premises is as important as securing your employees. They may be wearing a mask and washing hands regularly but if distancing is not respected they are still at risk. 

You can implement some new rules for visitors and employees such as :

Respect safety distances

Are there many narrow areas where people may be bumping into each other? Or maybe high traffic zones? Try to manage the flow of people. Here are a couple ideas to get you started.

  • Limit the number of visitors

A too crowded business makes it difficult to respect safety distances. Try to limit the number of people to around half its maximum capacity. If you are a hospitality business, you can rearrange tables to make it easier for customers to keep their distances with other tables as well.

  • Implementing walking directions

You can temporarily use one staircase only to go up, and the other one only to go down for example. Print arrow stickers and make it easy to respect the rules!

  • Make people queue safely

If your customers often need to queue for the cashier, the bar, the changing room, the reception etc, you might want to make sure they stay safe. With floor stickers placed 1,5m from each other, it makes it easier for visitors to visualise where to stand without compromising their safety. 

This was our input on what you can do as a small business owner to make people feel safe. What did you think? Are there still some things you are uncertain of? What worked for you? Let us know in the comments!