Advisers should develop clear policies about interacting with clients in the event government implements its Covid plan B this winter.
Under plan B, announced earlier this month, the public would be urged to act more cautiously, mandatory vaccine passports for mass events could be introduced, face coverings could be legally mandated in some settings and guidance to work from home may also be reintroduced.
A survey of 181 senior HR, finance and payroll professionals by employee benefits consultancy Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing, revealed 53% expected new government restrictions to be imposed, while 43% conceded these restrictions were possible.
Commenting on what a Covid plan B would mean for advisers and their businesses, Rhona Darbyshire, partner and head of employment at Cripps Pemberton Greenish, told Health & Protection advisers need to be ready to issue clear guidance to staff on the do’s and do nots when interacting with clients or potential clients in person.
“Businesses may also need to ensure staff have ready access to face masks and if so, that it is made clear that a failure to use them will result in the taking of disciplinary action, subject to exemptions such as on medical grounds,” she added.
Darbyshire also underlined the importance of these policies being brought to the employee’s express attention due to the the genuine risk of oversight or misunderstanding by employees rather than any intentional flouting of the rules.
“Simply adding another revised policy to a staff handbook or employee forum without specifically flagging the changes to employees is not going to be helpful,” she continued.
“Most business who have already had to adapt to home working or some sort of hybrid working arrangement, have already introduced home working policies. If this is not the case then now would be the time to get that in place.”
Howden’s research also found while while 21% of those surveyed said their employees were entirely reliant on the NHS should they fall ill, 31% said they already offered all employees access to some form of private healthcare or treatments.
Steve Herbert, head of benefits strategy at Howden, strongly encouraged employees to take advantage of this offer to bypass NHS waiting lists, adding employers who do not have such benefits in place should consider exploring this as winter approaches.
“We would urge employees without such benefits in place to explore the full range of company-sponsored support available – some of which are very low-cost solutions – before the winter months,” he said.
“Options to consider include remote GP appointments, employee assistance plans, occupational health support, health cash plans and private medical insurance.”