Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Amandalina Letterio

COVID-19

Kamloops small businesses create COVID-19 contingency plans to protect employees

Jan 7, 2022 | 4:10 PM

KAMLOOPS — This week the province is ordering all B.C. businesses to implement their own COVID-19 safety plans, similar to what they had in place at the beginning of the pandemic.

“These safety plans are a measure to allow you to keep operating in the face of the significant portion of workers who may be unable to come in because they are ill themselves, now with COVID,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry at BC’s COVID-19 update on Friday (Jan. 7).

But for some small businesses, a reduction in staff would force them to reduce business hours or even close for a few days — and the result is a loss of revenue.

Rocky Hunter is preparing pizzas for a big order his shop just received. The owner of Pizza Now says he has a COVID-19 contingency plan to keep his employees safe. It’s simple: follow all provincial health orders, and lower the risk of transmission.

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“We have two pick up windows, we have a drive-through window, so that enables customers not to come in the store. So it makes it safer for all of us employees as well,” Hunter told CFJC News.

He has 10 employees. All are vaccinated, but if some are off sick, it could have a major impact on his operations.

“If we lost six of them, that would be bad. Then we’d probably have to have a skeleton crew and the service wouldn’t be the same as if you had the ten. So, just the service and going down, I mean, if we all got sick, then obviously, we’d have to close,” he said.

With the highly transmissible Omicran variant, staffing shortages are a possibility local businesses have to consider — and its a financial hit they might have to take.

“There will be some businesses that won’t be able to weather that storm,” said Acacia Pangilinan.

The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce says local businesses have already taken a hit to their bottom line throughout the pandemic.

Coming up with their own contingency plan, without government assistance, adds to the financial stress.

“The provincial government just introduced the five days paid sick leave, so we also have additional costs there. The rise of minimum wage, along with employer health tax,” Pangilinan explained.

“We’re going to continue monitor the situation and see how many businesses are impacted,” said Ravi Khalon, Minister of Jobs and Economic Recovery and Innovation.

He says closing or reducing hours during an outbreak is up to the owner, but the turn around time is expected to be shorter than it was during previous waves of the pandemic.

“Businesses that have a small amount of employees that maybe have a lot of them get sick will have to make a decision. But the new variant that we have, the turn around time or the recovery time is much shorter,” explained Minister Khalon.

Summit Gourmet Meats is only allowing 4 customers inside at a time. It’s a business of 12 employees — even a few off with COVID would result in a cut-back of hours or closure for a few days to support the staff that are still working.

“That would be very important, not to overwork the people that are left here,” said Cole Mayse, Manager at Summit Gourmet Meats.

But the result is not just a loss in revenue, it’s also a waste of inventory.

“On some product, it would just have to be disposed of. Other products, a lot of product being fresh we can freeze it, and that holds it, so that would be our saving grace,” he said.