Quote:
Originally Posted by IA_Chiefs_fan
There are 31 of us on the payroll at my company, all working out of the same office/warehouse. Working from home isn't an option for most of us because we handle physical goods and ship around 150-200 orders per day on average. Last Wednesday evening I couldn't sleep and was thinking what I could do to mitigate the risk of our company temporarily shutting down.
Thursday morning I purchased a small four bedroom house for the company. Thursday afternoon we began running Ethernet, purchasing desks, and determining which six employees to relocate to the remote site. Last night we moved the sixth employee.
We also started running a night shift until midnight five days a week so we didn't have so many employees in the building at one time. It was a logistics nightmare to basically send our staff three different directions and make sure all areas were covered.
We've also had someone in charge of disinfecting door handles etc. everyday but now we're doing it a LOT. I purchased Merv 13 furnace filters and we set the thermostats to cycle so the fan runs a minimum of 30% of the time. We turned our dehumidifiers up from 40% to 45%. 43% or higher makes it tougher on viruses to spread.
I've bought an insane amount of inventory the past three weeks. I'm gambling that the supply chain is more likely to close than our ability to ship product out. None of our stuff has an expiration date and it will eventually sell no matter what. And we are an "Essential business".
I have told my employees that if it comes down to it I'll work for free for awhile before I lay anyone off. My goal here is to not let a single employee miss a paycheck. Time will tell if that's possible but I'm sure as hell trying. Almost all my employees are bending over backwards to be accommodating. Most of them are friends and family so that adds a ton of pressure in a situation like this.
If we did have to shut down for awhile, my business could survive for a year or more if there was a zero payroll. We have plenty of cash reserves to cover all of our fixed costs.
The last three days have been the worst three days of sales in a very long time. Not encouraging.
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Do you mind if I ask what type of goods you buy / sell / distribute? OK if answer is no....
Also, in an earlier thread, I mentioned that I'm a small business consultant, and we have laid out plans with each of our clients to protect three things: people, integrity of your business, and liquidity. Sounds like, from your post, that you've done a great job in all those aspects.
Along with those items, I've been telling my client that the single most important aspect of this is the owner being the leader. As scared / concerned as you may be, I guarantee your people are much worse. It's good that you are taking care of them, and leading by example here, because that will have a calming effect on them. But make sure you have specific actions for each of the three areas, and execute, execute, execute every day. This will also calm your people (knowing there are plans).
With all that said: Make sure you review your plans periodically. If liquidity starts becoming an issue, then you have to be real about the situation. Call your banks defer notes, mortgages, or revert to interest only for next 3 months. Call your health care broker, defer premium payments. Keep an eye on Family First Act regarding your people v. UI (may be better to lay off sooner rather than later - as much as nobody wants to do that). Get into the SBA application process, even if today you don't want or think you need the funds....you don't have to take funds even if approve, but leave yourself the options. Also now that CARES has been signed, inquire through your bank about those funds. Be prepared!
And finally, let's figure out how to "raise the bridge"...My general feeling is that most business owners are taking same approach to selling or haven't adapted to the "new reality" we are going through....often time just waiting for phone to ring or customers to place orders that may not even know you're open for business. May not be you by any means, just what I'm seeing (hence the question of what do you sell...."