Webinar | How to Reopen Successfully

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — As companies reopen, business and community leaders are urging business owners to take necessary precautions to keep employees and customers safe.

That includes emotional and physical safety, says John Schuler, director of marketing and communications for Sodexo | Roth. Schuler says employers should help employees cope with emotional responses to the coronavirus pandemic and advises employers to ensure their employees stay informed of the most accurate information on the virus, but to manage how much news and social media they take in.

“There’s so much content happening right now,” he said. “We just encourage people to make sure that you’re spending the appropriate amount of time for you with those kinds of things. It’s easy to obsess over that sort of stuff.”

The Business Journal hosted a webinar with representatives from Sodexo | Roth to review some of the company’s offerings to help companies reopen successfully.

Founded in 1923, Sodexo | Roth has developed a catalog of services including HVAC, roofing, electrical and plumbing, says its vice president of national sales and business development, Barry Wardle. It also specializes in setting up building automation systems, which include people-counting capabilities. This is a benefit for companies that need to track the number of customers in their store at any given time during the pandemic, Wardle said.

“As people leave and people enter, we have addition and subtraction to the count that’s in the facility,” Wardle said. “We’ve all been to stores locally where you walk in and they have spacing on the floor and they have an attendant at the door.”

The people-counting systems allow retailers to track the current customer headcount in real time to ensure they are in compliance with state guidelines, he said. It also shows customers “that you’re taking that extra step, taking that precaution to keep them safe,” he said.

To help its customers keep their employees safe, Sodexo | Roth is leveraging its experience to create new offerings to help businesses meet CDC guidelines. Services begin with collecting a real-time assessment of what’s important and analyzing relevant data and metrics, Schuler said.

That data allows the company to develop action plans and responses “on how to adjust your operating model,” he said. It also assists with communicating important information to company management and ownership, as well as government entities who request the data.

Building automation systems can play an important role in that data gathering. They also can help track individual body temperatures and UVC modifications to HVAC systems, all of which can be monitored via WiFi connections.

For more on the offerings by Sodexo | Roth during the pandemic, watch the webinar above.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.