Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some states are beginning to reopen and adjust to the new normal, which brings high hopes for the reopening of the security industry.

As more and more states lift their stay-at-home orders, many people are faced with a “new normal.” Each state has its own definition of what normal will look like for them in the next few months. While some states are staying closed for a while longer, other states have already moved into accelerated phased-openings.

While the security industry is considered an essential service, there are still protocols that many dealers are putting in place to ensure a safe and successful reopening of the security industry.

Multistate, a state and local government public relations company, has created a dashboard in which they track each state’s “openness” daily based on 11 key factors, like the types of businesses that are able to be open. States like South Dakota and Arizona have begun to re-open shopping centers and restaurants while states like California and Washington are beginning to only allow outdoor activities.

We spoke to several dealers to get their perspective on the new normal and what that looks like for their employees. Here are their top responses:

• Practice social distancing and safety at the office and on the job. Employees that are installing security systems are being asked to social distance and wear a mask to keep their customers and themselves safe. You can learn more about this in our social distance-installing webinar!
• Include more work from home flexibility. For employees that have the ability to work from home, employers are more encouraging of this type of environment and have said that they have seen productivity increase in certain cases.
• Increased communication. Many dealers are saying that a big part of the job right now is checking in on customers and gaining referrals. See how one dealer is seeing an increase in business because of it.

Back to Work

When it comes time to open back up for business, or ease more restrictions, it’s important that each business take their unique needs into consideration. Dealers have urged that transparency and a detailed plan for the reopening of the security industry have proven successful when communicating to their employees. In addition, many dealers are producing a detailed safety plan for their employees and for customer awareness. For more information on ways you can communicate to your customers during COVID-19 and beyond, see our recent blog post.