News

Dear Sioux Falls Area Businesses,

The Sioux Falls Development Foundation is encouraged by the strong community-focused and #OneSiouxFalls response displayed by employers during the COVID-19 event. We are resilient in Sioux Falls, and that is evident by the leadership displayed by the business community.

With the impacts of COVID-19 on our local business community already in effect, in addition to good hand hygiene and common-sense precautions with your employees and patrons, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation encourages all local businesses to consider the following:

Taking Precautions with COVID-19:

• For your business: Prepare for negative economic impacts.
  • Capital: Create, confirm, or expand your line of credit.
  • Staffing: Develop staffing plans for varying levels of customers and revenue (what does an 80% scenario plan look like?).
  • Insurance: Check with your insurance provider to understand your coverage and options.
• For your customers and employees: Make your place of business as hygienic as possible and communicate what you are doing to customers so they feel comfortable visiting. Check, modify, and communicate HR policies regarding remote working, sick-leave, and compensation during health crisis. Try to ensure your policies are as flexible and non-punitive as possible. Sick employees should be encouraged to stay home.
• For your workflow: Cross-train employees for key functions so that daily schedules can continue relatively uninterrupted by potential employee absences. Where relevant, consider staggering start and end times to reduce large numbers of people coming together at the same time, and create and test remote employee collaboration systems (consider apps such as Slack and Zoom).
• For your cashflow: Communicate with your landlord (or tenants) and lenders about expectations and request flexibility (it's better to have that conversation now).
• For yourself: Eat well, sleep, and exercise. Taking care of yourself in this time of stress will improve your resistance to infection and your resilience in managing difficult business situations. And of course, wash your hands, and don't touch your face.

For the Sioux Falls Development Foundation:

For us to best serve the business community, we need to know what you are planning. To that end, please take this 1-minute survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9SRKS63

Our goal is to minimize the impact on our community by looking to our public health experts for guidance related to COVID-19. Here are some additional resources for your reference:

• Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus 2019: The CDC will update this interim guidance as needed and as additional information becomes available.   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fspecific-groups%2Fguidance-business-response.html
• Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19: The guidance, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is designed to help companies respond in the event of coronavirus in the workplace.  https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf
• SBA Disaster Assistance in Response to the Coronavirus: The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering designated states and territories low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses suffering substantial economic injury as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).  https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19

• COVID-19 Panel Discussion – A Facebook Livestream Event: On March 18 at 4 p.m., the Chamber will host a virtual panel discussion on business considerations surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.  http://www.siouxfallschamber.com/coronavirus.cfm

• SD Department of Health: NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) Updates and Information:  https://doh.sd.gov/news/coronavirus.aspx

If you have questions, please call the South Dakota COVID-19 Information line at 1-800-997-2880.
For more information on COVID-19 in South Dakota, please visit covid.sd.gov.

The Sioux Falls Development Foundation is committed to equipping our business community with practical resources to support them during this time.

Thank you for all that you do,

Sioux Falls Development Foundation Staff