COVID-19 Updates (Internal)
Last Updated: 2020-SEP-11 @ 3:30pm ET
As you may be aware, the recent and current strain of the Novel Coronavirus (herein referred to as COVID-19) continues to spread at the global level. The communication herein is part of our Pandemic Response Plan, a subset to our overall Business Continuity Plan and outlines our position, protocols, and recommended courses of action. Your health and well being matter to us, and we are committed to play our part while balancing our business needs.
Note: this page (intended for TGG members only) will be updated as the situation evolves and our TGG responses thereto adapt.
About COVID-19
The link below provides additional details on the definition of COVID-19. Be aware that news articles and communications in the public may interchangeably refer to this outbreak as COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 refers to the disease while SARS-CoV-2 refers to the virus that is caused by this disease.
General Guidelines
We are entering a period where many of you have planned travel as a break for you and your families. We recommend you consult the government travel advisory for your destination prior to departure and understand the availability of good healthcare. Before returning to work, please check the latest COVID-19 announcements (see links below) and if you are returning from a CDC level 3 country, could you please notify Alex or Brenda before coming into work. In these cases, we ask that you work from home for 14 days from the date of your return. Please, plan accordingly before your trip.
[Updated 2020-MAR-06 @ 4:00pm ET]
As of March 6, 2020 and until further notice, all TGG related Business Travel has been restricted to Essential-Only. Most of our clients have also declared similar guidelines. Where there are circumstances that are deemed “Essential”, could you please contact Alex or Brenda to co-ordinate?
Below are some general day-to-day guidelines:
- Stay home if you are sick: Give yourself the time you need to get well and avoid spreading illnesses to your colleagues in the office. If you need time off work, let a member of the TGG Management Team know and speak to the TGG Engagement Lead to jointly coordinate communication with any impacted client. Your best line of defense is to wash your hands often and follow cold and flu protocols.
- Actions to protect yourself and your family. There are many articles and posts on social media regarding COVID-19 — be sure the source is reliable. For your references, we have provided a few links considered reliable and up-to-date information on COVID-19:
[Updated 2020-MAY-06 @ 12:00pm ET]
** TGG Offices will remain closed until May 31, 2020.
We have and will continue to maintain an adequate supply of disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers at our offices. To ensure that all of us are playing our part in containing and mitigating the impact of COVID-19, could you please observe the following to ensure our working environments are safe and sterile:
- At least daily, use the disinfectant wipes to sanitize high contact areas in your designated workspace (e.g., key boards, monitors, desks, mouse, phones, arm rests, door handles). We would recommend using the disinfectant wipes first thing when arriving at the office and also when you leave the office.
- Upon arriving at the office, please ensure that you use the hand sanitizers at the office and use liberally throughout the day.
Also note, we have been advised by our Landlord that on a nightly basis, their Maintenance Team has increased the frequency of cleaning high touch point areas (e.g., door handles, light switches, rails, elevator buttons, kitchen and washrooms) with alcohol based cleaning agents.
Effective March 16 until May 31, 2020, TGG Toronto Head Office will be officially closed. During this time, should you require access to the office, could you please co-ordinate with Maris?
As part of transitioning to Working Remotely, could you please consider the following:
- If remote access into Client environments depend upon Client-issued equipment (e.g., laptop, RSA, etc.), please do not leave in the office. Also consider proactively co-ordinating with your contact(s) at the respective Client organizations to mitigate any foreseeable connectivity issues (e.g., account lapsing, laptop requiring re-imaging, etc.).
- Please do not leave any personal items of value in the office during this time and/or move these to a secure storage area (e.g., locked drawer, filing cabinet, etc.).
- Please take care of any perishable items in the refrigerator — any perishable items still remaining by end of day March 16 will be disposed.
Office equipment and access:
- All TGG offices and drawers shall be locked.
- Except for the WiFi routers, turn off all other office equipment (e.g., fans, printers, check adapters, etc.) and that wires laying on the floors are safely disconnected.
Please refer to Working Remotely tab for additional guidelines.
[Updated 2020-MAY-06 @ 12:00pm ET]
Guidelines for Working Remotely:
- Choose a quiet and distraction-free working space.
- Have an internet connection that’s adequate for your job.
- Dedicate your full attention to your job duties during working hours.
- Proactively advise those that may be impacted by this (e.g., peer TGG’ers, client personnel, etc.) to minimize disruption / impact on work.
- Adhere to client Information Security protocols when connecting remotely to client’s computing resources (e.g., use of client issued laptop, VPN tunnels, maintaining up to date Anti-X software on your computing devices).
- If you access client environments using client-issued laptops, please be sure to proactively contact the client to ensure there are minimal disruptions to your connectivity into the client environment (e.g., scheduling time to re-image machines where necessary, etc.)
- Viber is the official messaging platform used by The Goal Getters for short / informal communications among the team with “TGG All” as the broad Viber channel. Could you please let Brenda know if you are not a member of this group or have questions regarding installation and use of the Viber platform.
Tools for Working Remotely:
- TGG maintains Cisco WebEx accounts intended for pre-scheduled Client-facing or internal working sessions/operational meetings. To reserve this resource, log on to the respective TGG Cisco WebEx account.
- TGG also maintains UberConference call bridges for the same. To reserve this resource, include the respective call bridge as part of your calendar invite as a Resource/Location. Additional details may be found in our reference guides here.
- For ad hoc web conference purposes, consider using your individual Cisco WebEx account (note: limit to 3 attendees).
- [NEW] Leverage Viber for internal TGG conference calls as well as 1:1 screen shares.
- Please contact Brenda for any schedule conflict of the above resources.
- While the TGG Pandemic Response Plan is in affect, we will be closely monitoring usage and can increase the number of accounts available as required.
Additional Wellness and Productivity Tips:
There is a lot of information and mis-information regarding COVID-19 out there — always double check your sources.
- Use of Masks when out and about (as necessary):
- There are more merits to using a mask than not — as long as the masks are being used properly (i.e., stored properly when not in use, always using the same side, replacing the masks if and when the filtration ability is suspected to be compromised).
- COVID-19 has proven to be transmitting through the air as well — when people sneeze, cough, or even speak, particles are being released.
- A mask contains your own output
- A mask also provides some protection for output from others around you.
- Wash hands often
- 20-second rule — anything less may not be sufficient
- Being thorough — though common sense, pay attention to covering all areas of the hands when washing them — finger tips, between fingers, and back of thumb most often missed.
- Minimize touching your face:
- Wash your hands before doing so — rubbing of eyes, nose, and fingers in/near mouth is the most common way that you can contract a virus
- Social distancing:
- It is hard, but it does not mean cutting off contact with your family, friends, and colleagues — quite the opposite (albeit not physically), these are times in which we need to stay even more connected.
- Keep each other aware:
- If you suspect that you may have been in contact with COVID-19 or are exhibiting symptoms, please let us know asap — you can send an email to bcp@goalgetters.com , viber or call Brenda or Alex.
- We are here to support one another as well play our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19 so that our healthcare system can keep up with the virus impacts / is not overloaded.
- Use of Masks when out and about (as necessary):
Above all, make sure to set aside some “me” time to take a break, stay active, and healthy.
Your well-being is very important to us. In addition to updates on this web page, we will also be providing periodic updates to you as SMS Text Messages through our TGG BCP Line.
Please be sure to take timely responses when prompted.