As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches on, more and more organizations are making contact tracing part of their business resiliency plan. However, business leaders have indicated that mounting an effective contact tracing program is challenging.
On a webinar hosted by HR.com, “Contact tracing best practices for a safe return to work,” moderated by Liesl Perez, global head of corporate marketing at TTEC, Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Marco Ambrosio, transformation executive at LivePerson, shared tips on how businesses can quickly scale a contact tracing program with the right balance of human expertise and technology. Here are the key takeaways from their discussion.
Get ahead of the curve
Some of the best ways to minimize COVID-19’s impact on businesses is to “stay ahead of the curve before the outbreak happens,” Mina said. Just as companies have emergency plans and maps to exit a building during a fire, every company should have an emergency response and preparedness plan in the event that an employee contracts the coronavirus, he explained.
The first step is to decide whether the company will appoint employees as contact tracers and ensure they receive the right training or hire specialists. Companies should also consult their local health department to ensure they’re following the right protocols.
The next step is to create a social map of the organization with updated contact information for every individual so that contact tracers can quickly reach out to the people that an infected employee may have interacted with. Companies should also provide employees with information on where they can get tested. “Informing employees where and how they can get tested and what the next steps will be is a critical part of the plan,” Min said.
Contact Tracing Essentials
- General preparedness plan
- Social map of organization
- Department of Health contacts
- Communication protocols
- Testing plan and infastructure
- Contact tracing services ready to launch
The next step is to create a social map of the organization with updated contact information for every individual so that contact tracers can quickly reach out to the people that an infected employee may have interacted with. Companies should also provide employees with information on where they can get tested. “Informing employees where and how they can get tested and what the next steps will be is a critical part of the plan,” Min said.
Technology + human empathy = results
“Speed and scale are paramount in the world of contact tracing,” which is why it’s important to “meet people where they are,” Ambrosio said. This is where messaging can play a critical role, he continued. Messaging apps such as Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger as well as SMS are widely used by consumers, making messaging a convenient and familiar communication channel.
Especially when many people would rather read a text message than answer a call from an unknown number, messaging makes it easy to start the conversation with an automated message. And when more complex, empathetic conversations are needed, consumers can easily respond to the text and be connected to a human contact tracer at their convenience.
“It’s about giving people back their time,” Ambrosio said. “Give the person you’re communicating with the ability to get back to you when it’s best for them. What’s more, he added, associates can manage 4 to 8 messaging conversations concurrently versus speak with one caller at a time. For contact tracers, the ability to reach more people in less time has significant implications.
Plan for a long haul
How long should companies expect to maintain contact tracing services? No one can predict when the pandemic will end but signs suggest that a vaccine won’t be ready until at least the middle of 2021. Even then recovery will be slow, Mina noted. “It’s important to recognize that this virus is not going away any time soon,” he said. “Eventually we will be less susceptible to it, but for the time being, expect this to be front page news through 2021.”
Watch “Contact tracing best practices for a safe return to work,” on-demand at HR.com
