COVID-19: What Chortek is Doing to Prepare and What You Need to Know

What Chortek is doing to prepare for disruptions due to COVID-19

Things are moving pretty fast right now with responses to COVID-19. Chortek wanted to take a moment to keep everyone up to date with what we’re doing, how we’re planning on handling client services in case we need to make more drastic changes, and how we can help your business prepare for remote work if needed in the coming months.

Prevention and Hygiene

Internally, we are encouraging our employees to protect themselves by following good health hygiene practices as recommended by the CDC. We have sent out the following advice:

  1. Avoid contact with sick people or animals.
  2. Wash hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds—scrubbing the front and back of your hands, fingers and under each nail. If soap and water is not available, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
  3. Stay home if you or a family member are sick—do not come into the office or report to a client site.
  4. Do not travel if you are sick. This is especially important as symptoms of COVID-19 are similar to other respiratory illnesses, and airlines and airports are screening and/or taking heightened precautions, including potential segregation or quarantine, for travelers who are displaying symptoms of respiratory illness.
  5. If you take public transportation or are in any crowded location, follow local guidelines and wash or sanitize your hands according to the instructions in point #2 after your travel or event is complete.
  6. If you become sick, seek medical care immediately. It is advisable to call your doctor, emergency room or urgent care center before you arrive and tell the doctor about your symptoms and any recent travel.
  7. Please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for more details.

RSVP for our webinar, “Staying Productive While Mobile,” to learn how to prepare your business for remote work. 

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Photo of Michael Senkbeil, NET Partner at Chortek LLP

Availability and Contingency Planning

Working remotely

Chortek has a culture of flexibility and technology that allows our staff to work remotely, if need be. Our IT group is making plans to ensure we have capacity that will allow more team members to work remotely. All staff members will be working one-on-one with members of the IT group to be sure they are properly set up and have instructions for working remotely.

We are encouraging staff to take their laptops home at night in case they need to stay home on short notice.

Client service

In this and all other times, Chortek is committed to maintaining a high level of service to all of our clients. We are also dedicated to following practices that keep your workplaces healthy.

  1. Individuals who are working onsite at a client will follow the health hygiene practices and tips for keeping offices safe and healthy that are outlined above, as well as any additional precautions required by you.
  2. If there is any anticipated impact to client deliverables or deadlines, we will communicate early and often with you.
  3. We will coordinate with clients on all on-site work as to whether your personnel will be available or if there are specific guidelines you want us to follow. We will stay prepared to adjust as circumstances change.
  4. Again, we will communicate early and often with our clients and our internal team. 

Is your business ready for remote work? RSVP for our webinar, “Staying Productive While Mobile.”

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Chortek LLP office - empty cubicles

How Chortek Can Help You Stay Connected While Remote

Chortek employs a number of technologies and business processes which already enable our team to be highly mobile and productive:

Zoom video conference and collaboration services are used on a daily basis by many of the Chortek team.

If COVID-19 impacts require that we reduce in-person travel and face-to-face meetings, we will increase use of Zoom. It’s a great way to have a video-enabled conversation. Zoom seamlessly allows us to share our computer screens and documents. This tool also allows us to remain easily accessible to each other internally at Chortek, so we can bounce ideas off each other or collaborate internally.

Mobile devices

Mobile devices are key to productivity at Chortek. Most of our personnel uses a laptop computer as their primary daily computing device. We are well-prepared to remain productive, even from home offices.

Internet and voice services

Fiber optic internet and voice services at our headquarters ensure reliable connectivity for our systems and our team. This further ensures efficiency when working away from the office.

VPN & Multi-Factor Authentication

These services allow our team to securely connect to our systems via any Internet connection.

VOIP

VOIP phone services allow us to be reachable and receive voicemails from any work location.

If you are unsure of any of these technologies at your own business, we can help.

If you would like assistance reviewing your mobile work technologies, please give us a call at 262-522-8226 and we’ll be happy to assist!

One of Chortek LLP's Zoom Rooms

Upcoming Webinar: Staying Productive While Mobile

We’ll also be holding a special webinar on Tuesday, March 17, at 10:30 a.m. about “Staying Productive When Mobile.” We were planning on having this webinar later this year, but due to increased interest in working remotely from COVID-19, we wanted to offer this education early. You can RSVP using the button below.

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