As the pandemic nature of the Coronavirus becomes real, we wanted to quickly share our approach to support your business needs while protecting the safety and well being of our employees working at your facility.  Our approach is being informed by our close monitoring of communications from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and more specifically the advisory for King County.

PACE has a long history of embracing virtual work models,  but now, for the protection of our staff, are  limiting all physical contacts with candidates to only those contacts we consider absolutely necessary. Candidate interviews will be conducted either by phone or by Skype and we are encouraging clients to consider similar virtual options.

Here is a short list of the current guidance we are providing our employees, anticipating how these guidelines might impact you……

• We are asking that they stay aware of any changes in your workforce policies related to coronavirus and make sure they act in accordance with the guidelines you have set for employees working at your location.    Please keep us aware of any significant changes so that we can respond to any questions we field.

 

• If you allow work from home we are encouraging our employees to take advantage of that option (if possible) particularly if they are over 60 or have an underlying health condition.

 

• If you are closing your office and our employee cannot work from home, please suggest they contact us to see what options we might have available to them. In this circumstance some of our clients have agreed to pay our employees as a way to ensure their return when a mandated office closure is over.  We are offering this “retention service” at a significantly reduced per hour bill rate, so please inquire if you are facing a facility closure.

 

• If our employee is sick, we are requiring that they not go to work. We trust you will support that policy and likely have similar policies in place.

 

• For your awareness, all PACE field employees accrue paid time off benefits to use for personal illness or to care for a child whose school has been closed in accordance with Washington State regulations. This benefit is available to them after 90 days.  If one of our employees expresses concern over their eligibility for paid sick leave, please direct them to call our Employee Services team at employeeservices@pacestaffing.com .

 

• We are aware that an increased use of sick and child care benefits could impact your business. Please contact us asap so that we can explore options for handling your business needs on an interim basis.  Despite corona our business is still busy, actually enjoying an uptick in the number of people looking for work, and much more readily available (at home, rather than out and about).

 

• In the meantime, please approve all hours worked by each employee we have assigned to you in the usual way.  All PACE services, including payroll, can be done remotely so you or our employee will NOT BE IMPACTED by any changes in logistics on our end.

 

• Call us to set up a virtual interface for meetings and interviews that you would otherwise have in person. Even if you’re working remote, we can actively support hiring projects already in play!

 

As we learn more about the challenges in front of us, the care and support for your business needs along with the health and safety of our employees are our most important priorities.  As always we want to support you with good advice and creative ideas as we all work thru these uncharted waters.   The most important thing to do right now is to say connected.

Please let us know if you have questions or concerns or feel free to contact any of us on the Partner Services and Solutions team – 425-637-3312.

Jeanne Knutzen, President, PACE Staffing Network