3 Things Franchise Owners Get Wrong About Employee Health

When the year began, the biggest issues that franchisees were dealing with on the subject of employee health were infrequent hand-washing practices or staff coming into work slightly under the weather. But now, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, these issues have been amplified to an unprecedented degree.

Moving forward, employee health is going to be under a microscope indefinitely, so franchisees need to make sure they’re staying on top of it. 1851 Franchise spoke with Roslyn Stone, MPH, the founder behind Zedic, an app that connects restaurateurs and hoteliers directly to medical professionals, to highlight the three things that franchise owners often get wrong about employee health.

Monitoring Employee Temperatures

Temperature is one of the key indicators that brands are using to determine whether or not their employees are healthy enough to work. While this seems simple, according to Stone, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

“There’s so much focus on the news about taking employee temperatures, and it’s a very complicated issue on so many levels,” said Stone. “Many may be implementing this strategy wrong by not using body thermometers. Food thermometers, for example, are not accurate tools when it comes to measuring body temperature.” 

Stone added that it’s also important to consider the person taking employee temperatures and provide them with protective equipment. “This is something business owners have gotten wrong, and they need to get it right,” Stone continued. “This trend might be here to stay—it could likely be something we need to do to win back customers.” 

Employee Wellness Checks

Monitoring temperature isn’t the only way to track employees’ health. It’s also important for franchisees to implement overall wellness checks before their employees come in for a shift.

“Employee wellness checks are hard to get right and do well,” said Stone. “It’s important to be asking employees every day if they’ve had a fever, are short of breath or are showing signs of other symptoms. Wellness checks also need to be supported by the corporate team. For example, we’ve introduced online wellness checks for our clients’ employees where the worker fills out a form online before they go to work. If they see a green checkmark, they can show their manager and head into work. If they see a big red X on the other hand, they’ll call their manager to let them know they aren’t able to come in.”

The Role of Masks

When employees are able to come into their place of work, there’s another part of their uniform that needs to be considered now: masks. While it’s still unclear how permanent the use of masks will be on the other side of COVID-19, it is a mandatory safety precaution at the moment.

“The industry is having an ongoing debate regarding masks, and it’s not going to be resolved any time soon,” Stone said. “The CDC is now recommending all U.S. citizens wear fabric masks, and many states are requiring employees to do the same. There are several issues surrounding that, including whether or not employees can be heard or safely communicate with customers.”

While there are a lot of challenges making themselves known during the coronavirus crisis, Stone notes that this pandemic has also highlighted the responsiveness of business owners. “We’ve seen incredible innovation and flexibility,” she said. “The change in mindset from where we were six months ago to where we are today is remarkable.”