The company, which with 2,800 stores across the United States, calls itself “America’s Grocer,” launched a website to share what it has learned on staying open during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rodney McMullen, chairman/CEO, said the idea was to help other firms stay open and for closed businesses, such as bars and restaurants, to be able to reopen as efficiently as possible.
Step 1 was to post signage at time clocks, in breakrooms and employee restrooms about the importance of practicing hygiene recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The company also prepared huddle guides for leaders to use in talking with staff. Plus, the guide says, “don’t underestimate the power of your external messages to reach your employees as well.” Questions for leaders to consider:
- What internal and external channels do you have to reach employees and customers?
- What tools do leaders need to reinforce these behaviors with their teams?
After focusing on staff, focus on visitors and vendors. Consider in-store messaging to remind customers and staff to follow CDC distancing and hygiene guidance. Kroger plays this message every 15 minutes.
Following the recommendations may require hiring additional staff so employees can wash hands and sanitize their stations regularly, including registry, hand-held devices, card terminals, etc.
While there’s little evidence using reusable bags spreads disease transmission, Kroger is asking customers using the bags to bag their own products.
To promote social distancing, it has closed in-store bars or public sitting rooms, discontinued sampling, closed self-service bars and bulk-bin options, closed fitting rooms and adopted capacity limits based on the size of the facility.
The chain has stepped up regular cleaning proceedures. Every than that can be cleaned should have a designated person to clean it up. Kroger also adjusted operating hours to avoid its teams being exhausted.
Monitor employee health by checking temperatures at the start of each shift and encourage employees who feel sick to stay home. As part of this, cross-train employees so they can work in different areas if necessary.
Provide employees with de-escalation tips and provide employees with the latest safety protocol.
Some of the measures Kroger took are commonplace: It had office employees work from home, suspended business travel, encouraged use of digital meetings. Others aren’t quite so common: It prohibited non-employee truck drivers from entering stores, warehouses and manufacturing plants, spread out delivery windows and, when vendors do enter locations, expect them to follow governmental guidance.
Move when possible to contactless payments. It also is promoting store pickup where the goods can be delivered through the passenger window or loaded directly into the trunk.