Dear Employee Owners of McCreary Modern,
Since announcing our planned return to work for next week, we have understandably been asked by many how we know it is safe to come back to work? The authority on this subject is not Facebook, your neighbor, MSNBC or Fox News. The authority on this subject is the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and we are strictly following their guidelines.
In both making the decision to close, as well as the decision to open, the welfare of our Employee Owners is our primary concern. Welfare is a combination of job security and health. Even in normal times we have had a major focus on health and safety, and we have even made this a greater priority this year with initiatives like the no-accident lotteries. Usually, this focus on health does not interfere with job security and production schedules.
But these are not normal times. On March 27, we decided that without a self-quarantine, safety could not be assured, and the health of our employees was more important than our orders, so we suspended operations for two weeks with full pay and benefits. In return, all we asked was that every Employee Owner approach those two weeks as if they expected they had the virus. According to the CDC, this meant self-quarantine, social distancing, and constant monitoring for symptoms of the virus. By the time we return to work, you should have had almost three weeks to practice these CDC guidelines, more than enough for symptoms to show (again, according to the CDC). Obviously, there is no way we could have done this if we had stayed open, so it was the right thing to do.
So, what do we do to return to work safely? Again, we turn to the CDC, not Facebook, for the answers. Here, we decided to follow the MOST STRICT return-to-work guidance from the CDC, designed for people who have had direct exposure to COVID-19. Remember, we asked that you all act during our closure as if this was the case! We encourage everyone to read the CDC’s guidance on this, attached. But, to summarize, the CDC recommends that asymptomatic workers should adhere to the following work practices:
Now that we have taken these CDC recommended measures, we believe that safety can be maintained. We must now focus on the job security portion of Employee Owner welfare, which means coming back to work, but WORKING SMART! As you know, the situation is constantly changing. One day, things look worse; the next, they look better. Rest assured, if things get worse than expected, we will take the appropriate action. And, as things get better, we will gradually lift these restrictions, BUT ONLY AFTER THE CDC ADVISES US TO DO SO.
Rick Coffey