Michael Kirkland of Family Ministries joins the HFI team to discuss how to overcome stress and turn toward your family. While you may feel the need to get away, Michael shares ways that you can change your mindset and make the most of this moment.
This week the Governor of Georgia announced that he would be rolling back some of the restrictions on businesses. While the “reopening” has drawn a lot of criticism, VP of Policy, Buzz Brockway discusses the details that many may have overlooked.
Watch Buzz’s weekly update:
PRESS RELEASE
Today, the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) released the following recommendations for governments and schools to adopt to safely return to normal during the COVID-19 crisis. These recommendations come on the heels of President Trump’s announcement that states should begin reopening the economy at their own pace beginning May 1st. GCO will be releasing further recommendations in the near future.
We encourage state leaders to put together a task force on reopening the economy. This task force will invite business leaders to submit industry-specific guidelines on how they will operate safely in a restrictive environment until the threat is over, such as when a vaccine is found. These business leaders will receive guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Georgia’s Commissioner of Public Health. Gov. Kemp can then use these guidelines to loosen restrictions in a safe manner. In addition, GCO recommends that the governor consider modifications to his shelter-in-place order to allow people to shop, a vital step for businesses to rebound successfully.
Second, we recommend another task force providing advice to families and school districts on facilitating remote learning. This task force should also create a plan and timetable for the safe return to brick-and-mortar schools in a restrictive environment. We also recommend that school systems develop a plan to ensure students are caught up on schoolwork they might have missed. Additionally, school systems should prepare for COVID-19 outbreaks during the 2020-2021 school year and be ready to return to remote learning when and if that occurs, including a plan to assist students with limited internet access and limited access to appropriate technology.
Now is the time for civil society to work with government to plan out the reopening of our economy. Workers are being hurt because of forced closures, and we must focus particularly on individuals in vulnerable sectors of our society who could be working now but are unable. Our small businesses are hurting, too. A recent survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported that one-in-four small businesses are on the brink of closure and half are considering a temporary shutdown.
In this environment, civil society is more important than ever through nonprofits, community organizations, and churches. We recommend the state of Georgia tap into these resources through coalitions such as GCO’s Hiring Well, Doing Good initiative that matches local businesses with workers.
We are seeing positive examples of other states forming regional coalitions to fight the coronavirus. The Georgia government should consider working with neighboring states. For example, the Port of Savannah is close to the South Carolina border, and many people work at the Port and live in the Palmetto State. It would make sense for these two state governments to coordinate reopening this area at the same time.
“We are in unprecedented times, and we recognize the suffering from those affected directly by the disease, but also by those impacted by the mass closure of our economy, schools, and way of life. The time has come to create actionable items for reopening Georgia. No recovery plan is without risk, but we must weigh the risk and rely on health and business professionals to do so. Now is the time for everyone to come together to explore solutions that protect our neighborhoods and respond to community needs.”
We need distribute healthy messages in our home not only to our spouse, but to our children, pets, friends, etc. Here are some techniques you can begin using today and continue throughout a lifetime in order to help keep a healthy home and family.
Give the people you love an endearing touch.
Model the behavior you want the people you love to see in the future.
Come to the center and do something together.
We learned this week that Gov. Kemp was extending the shelter-in-place mandate for all Georgians and that the election was being postponed. Buzz shares all of the changes happening in the state, as well as some good news.
Watch Buzz’s weekly update:
Our nation and the world have been thrust into a new lifestyle by the Coronavirus pandemic. Unlike many, my daily routine under the “shelter-in-place” order hasn’t changed much, since I’ve split my 16 year career working in fast-paced offices and more recently, from a corner in my home. I’ve learned there are some major differences in both environments and some key best practices to being successful working in both places.
While I work very hard to maintain a high level of professionalism, there are some days I have to chuckle and understand life happens – especially when you add children and spouses into the work-from-home mix.
Since much of the American workforce has been catapulted into a work-from-home pace, I’ve been asked several times for some of my best tips for making business days successful. Here are some tips that work for me:
Having your own workspace helps with organization and establishes a consistent working cadence. Not everyone can have a home office, but making even a small corner in a quiet room your space makes for easier conference calls and concentration. If you regularly participate on video calls, make sure you have space with an appropriate background for your web calls.
Having a stable, high-speed internet connection in your home will be the magic that keeps you from wanting to rip your hair out. You’ll be able to perform video calls with ease, upload and download large files with no hiccups, and have no interference if family members are home and also using streaming devices.
If you think you might be working from home for the long-haul, don’t hesitate to invest in the right tools to make you comfortable throughout your day. The majority of my communications work is done on a computer and on the phone which means I’m pretty stationary throughout my day. In order to promote better overall health, I sit on a yoga ball at my desk and also utilize a standing or sitting rolling desk. The small rolling desk allows me to move my workspace to various locations in my home as needed. Having a young child at home, I can often be found working from my front porch while she’s riding her bike or roller skating. I also have a timer that reminds me to stand up and walk around so I don’t get into the habit of sitting for extra long periods of time. Although having kids at home often forces one up prior to any timer alerts.
If you have children at home this is key. My day has some flexibility, but for the most part I keep normal office hours. During that time, my little one also has a schedule of learning time, play time, scheduled meal times, and nap. As a mom, I don’t want to miss my daughter growing up right before my eyes, so I like to incorporate her into my day. She can often be found helping me make coffee, doing small office tasks, or working at her “desk” next to mine. As I mentioned above, I often work from outside with my portable desk so she can play outside and just be a kid.
Having a to-do list written down is key to productivity. Check items off as you make your way through the project list. There is a sense of accomplishment in making that little tick mark throughout the day.
If you work with your team through a chat feature like Google Hangouts or Slack, take a little time each day to pause the notifications and focus strictly on getting your actual tasks done. Just make sure your team knows the time of day you “unplug” to work.
If your position will allow for it, create your office hours and turn off work in the evenings to be with your family. During the day (especially now while families are together all day) allow for times during the day you might need to support your family. Lead by example, and understand that your colleagues are going through the same thing. They may not be able to respond to your project requests immediately. Be clear with your team what projects and tasks have hard deadlines. Figure out what you can do asynchronously with your team. This actually creates greater flexibility and reduces questions and confusion from your team members. Your colleagues will be able to access information themselves and digest information and determine next steps. Also, when you can automate for your team do it! Go ahead and schedule a calendar invitation with reminders.
