Managing Casual Workers During the COVID-19 Outbreak

During the outbreak, retailers have more on their plate than ever before. One facet of staying afloat during these circumstances is maintaining casual workers.

For casual workers who are keeping themselves in isolation are finding it harder to stay connected with their employers during these times. Huanforce’s new tool aims to change this.

The Employee Trace Tool provides retail employers with ‘enhanced visibility’ over their casual workforce during any period. This includes the places where COVID-19 may be present in the community.

The tool works in conjunction with any source of timesheet or roster data. It enables businesses to quickly and easily ascertain which employees worked on what day and time, in what location, and with who.

“Identifying the presence of COVID-19 and who has been exposed to a known carrier will be critical in helping limit the impact of the virus. Retail businesses have a duty of care to not only their patrons and customers, but also staff to ensure that they can rapidly notify personnel of any exposure so that they can take appropriate action, including self-isolating if needed,” Bruce Mackenzie tells Power Retail. “Our aim with this new Employee Trace Tool is to assist all businesses that employ casual workers to make informed decisions in these critical days, weeks and months ahead.”

Retailers that employ thousands of casual workers run the risk of being exposed to COVID-19 at any moment. The Employee Trace Tool aims to assist those who use these workers and ensure safety.

Ai Group found that in 2018 2.6 million people out of 12.5 million total people working in Australia were employed on a casual basis. And the nature of casual work means that an employee could come in to contact with a very high number of community members and co-workers during a shift or across the course of a week.

The Employee Trace Tool provides a more natural and quicker process for retailers to track and trace its employees that have a positive COVID-19 diagnosis or for those who have worked with someone with a positive diagnosis.

“Humanforce has made the Employee Trace Tool available for free to any business, anywhere in the world, to support responsible COVID-19 responses, keep casual employees
and patrons safe, and minimise the business impacts of this crisis,” Mackenzie says. “As COVID-19 spreads, employers of casual workers need to have adaptable processes – facilitating flexible working and shift-swapping, to ensure that they are properly staffed no matter the circumstances.”

“Should casual workers find themselves in isolation, having to stay at home to look after schoolchildren or fall ill – this can have a significant impact on their employer. Businesses need to have systems in place that enable easy shift swapping to limit normal business disruption,” Mackenzie adds. “The Humanforce App processes shift-swaps easily online, lessening the burden on employers to scramble to find cover when staff are unable to attend work.”

Find out more about the Humanforce Employee Trace Tool by clicking here.

Like this story? Sign-up for the free Pulse Weekly Newsletter for more essential online retail content.