Corporate Corona Virus Guidelines

Even though there’s currently (March 8) no need to panic, we at Sponsoo just published the following Corona virus guidelines. Better be prepared than sorry!
I suppose lots of other businesses are currently thinking of setting up their own Corona virus policies as well, so I thought I’d share ours.

Sponsoo’s Corona Virus Guidelines

Updated March 13, 2020: We encourage everyone to work from home. Our usual policies on home office apply, i.e. please inform the others in the “#where_am_i” Slack channel when you start working, and as well when you’re away from your keyboard again. You don’t need to notify everyone when you just go to the kitchen to make a coffee, but please report longer absences. Why are we doing this? The idea is not to “control” you, but to keep the others up-to-date if you’re currently working, i.e. when they can expect to hear back from you if they have any inquiries.

We’ll also have a daily “Morning Briefing” video call to organize ourselves. Please share with the others what you’re currently working on, what you achieved since yesterday, and where you need help.

Normal meetings are not cancelled, but just switched to Google Hangouts or Slack video chat.

While we encourage everyone to work from home, you can still come to the office if you want. If you do, please avoid public transport and come by bike or car instead.

If you encounter any of the following symptoms, please stay at home and notify the others in the #where_am_i Slack channel:

dry cough (trockener Husten)
high temperature (Fieber)
fatigue (Abgeschlagenheit)
shortness of breath (Atemnot)
sore throat (Kratzen im Hals)

This is meant as a precautionary measure, i.e. unless you’re really sick, you’re still required to work from home. Please ensure that you’re able to work from home. If you need your Sponsoo laptop for work, please take it home with you in the evening.

Please do not go to a doctor if you have any of the above symptoms, or for whatever other reason think that you might have caught the Corona virus. You’re likely to meet other people there who are already sick or weak (e.g. from the common flu), and who’d be in serious medical risk if you actually are infected with Corona (which is unlikely at this point). Instead, please call your doctor or the service line of the medical emergency service (116 117).

Please do not travel into any of the following Corona Virus Risk areas: https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_Coronavirus/Risikogebiete.html

If you have been in personal contact with anyone who is confirmed to have the Corona virus, please stay at home as well, notify the others in the #where_am_i Slack channel, and call Andreas ASAP. Please immediately contact your responsible health office. You can find out here which office is responsible: https://tools.rki.de/plztool/

Please do not sneeze or cough into your hands. Instead, cough into your arm bend (Armbeuge) and use a tissue for sneezing. If you cough or sneeze, turn away from other persons and try to keep a distance of at least 1 meter.

If you sneeze or accidentally cough into your hands, please wash your hands and use the disinfectant afterwards. On the way to the bathroom or kitchen, please try to avoid touching the door knobs with the hand that you sneezed / coughed into.

Other than that, stay calm and healthy. As mentioned, there’s no need to worry at the moment. We created an internal Wiki page on our Corona Virus strategy, and will keep this page updated. We will inform everyone if the situation changes. Please feel free to share your thoughts on our Corona virus strategy in the comments.

Additional reading: