Almost Back to the Office
Whether any of us is ready or not, the “new normal” is almost here, as states like Georgia and Florida transition out of lockdown and gradually lift coronavirus restrictions. Every leader will have to put plans in place soon for going back to the office, restaurant, store or manufacturing plant.
At Marcum, we held a telephonic Town Hall meeting on Tuesday for our team to discuss our plans for re-opening, and it gave me a burst of energy to contemplate getting out of my house and seeing everyone in person again, even if it’s a few weeks off. As we announced earlier, most of our locations will remain closed until at least May 26, but we will be reopening some offices earlier on a case-by-case basis, depending on where they are located.
Our office in Ohio will be the first to re-open, on May 11, unless there’s a new development. Please keep an eye on our website for updates. In the meantime, our team continues to work remotely and is available to help you with all of your accounting needs.
While we’re seeing many positive signs that efforts to flatten the curve have worked, transitioning back to work requires very careful planning. The health and safety of our team – and how they feel about coming to work – are paramount to us.
As we’ve all learned, social distancing is very important to prevent the spread of COVID-19, so we’re looking at having some of our teams work in shifts during the transition to reduce the density of people working under one roof. All Marcum cafes and lunchrooms will be closed, and we’ll be reducing the capacity in our conference rooms by half. We are also looking at integrating some new protocols into our office routine using masks and providing individual hand sanitizers, just to name a few.
For the safety of our team, there will be no social events of any kind at Marcum offices through the end of the year and no networking events. This is really a foreign concept for us because our business is ordinarily very event-driven, from industry forums to lunch ‘n learns and everything in between. And as much as we’ve all missed our usual office camaraderie, not to mention the all-important face-time with our clients (the old fashioned, in-person kind), we will maintain practical health and safety protocols for everyone’s benefit for as long as it makes sense.
With schools still closed and a possibility that camps will not open this summer, some of our team members expressed concerns about childcare challenges during our Town Hall. Fortunately, Marcum was an early adopter of flextime, and we’re well prepared to help our team find creative solutions. We’ve encouraged everyone to speak with their supervisors or HR professional about any challenges they face.
Of course, flexibility is a two-way street. There may be some days where we need our associates in the office, and I’m confident everyone will do their best to make it happen.
If your Paycheck Protection Program or Economic Injury Disaster Loan application got stalled when funding ran out – or you need advice on compliance (still a moving target, with new information coming daily from the federal government) – please keep in touch with your Marcum professional. Our experts on SBA lending are staying on top of the latest developments, and we’re posting frequent updates to our Coronavirus Resource Center.
In the meantime, warmer weather is coming and it’ll be summer soon. Many of us will have to change our summer routines a bit and we may have to enjoy the months of July and August in masks – but we’ll still have a lot to look forward to after this long quarantine.
Remember, stay safe, stay healthy, and we are all in this together.
