Auto Manufacturers Lead COVID-19 Return to Work Plans with Employee Guidebooks

According to the scientific community’s current consensus, there will be no foolproof way to work in close proximity with others until COVID-19 can be managed with a vaccine. Fortunately for some, a few aspects of modern working life – like banking or podcasting, for example – are able to continue without interruption despite social distancing guidelines. But others – like retailing and assembly lines, of course – simply cannot exist unless employees are working on site.

Throughout this pandemic-of-a-century, many businesses have had no choice but to attempt to maintain at least some of their normal business routines and adopt a learn-as-we-go attitude toward work. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have established more proven methods for safety, employers have solidified their protocols and started bringing more employees back to their workplaces.

Some of the earliest, if not most thorough, return to work plans were created by some of the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers. Less than three months after the U.S. initiated COVID-19 shut down orders, Ford released 64-pages of safety guidelines in their “Return to Work Manufacturing Playbook,” while General Motors released a 40-page “Return to the Workplace with Confidence” plan, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles released just 11 pages like a “Let’s Keep Each Other Safe Return to Work Packet”.

The guidelines are varied, and at the times they were released, none included organized plans for on-site COVID-19 testing of workers. All three plans require daily temperature screenings of some kind, wearing of face masks, and physical distancing protocols like staggered shifts or protected/separated workstations.

One of the most effective practices going forward, though, may lie solely with the workers themselves. Going forward, as manufacturing businesses weigh their needs against a future that’s predicted to include a greater risk for pandemics than the world has ever seen before, the recruitment of job candidates who are conscientious and sensitive to the needs of their teammates will be a trait that keeps supply chains moving along.

ClearStar offers background checks for manufacturing companies that find the best possible candidates by meeting needs specific to the industry as well as the individual business. Efficient outcomes achieved via mobile candidate communications are designed to comply with privacy and security laws while boosting a client’s speed to hire while also saving time, money, and unnecessary risk throughout the recruiting process.

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