Essential businesses assist staff, customers

As essential businesses remain open following government’s stay-at-home regulations, some have begun to put measures in place to ensure the safety of their workers during their daily commute, even as business levels drop.

Unipet CEO Dexter Riley said sales had decreased sharply once covid19 became an issue in TT, and he expected it to continue to decline significantly given the further restrictions on movement which came into place on Monday. He said there was still a mix of private and public transport vehicles coming to the stations to fill up. Riley said he has put measures in place to protect his employees from being exposed to the coronavirus while travelling to and from work, by putting a combination of shuttles and carpooling in place, where social distancing could be maintained, and the situation seemed to be working so far. He said the staff was appreciative and it was better than what was in place before, but each day was a new day with covid19.

At the Valsayn branch of Tru Valu Supermarket, a customer service representative said the number of customers had decreased over the last week. She said people were using the WhatsApp service being offered by the supermarket, where they can send a WhatsApp message with their grocery list, the items would be collected by staff and the customer can collect and pay at a specified time.

She said no employees have been sent home, but they are working on flexi-hours and were being paid their regular salaries.

While the majority are still using public transport to get to work, she said putting transport in place was one of the steps being considered in dealing with the coronavirus. Manager of the Lannyapp Lounge in St. Anns Kwame Robertson said there had definitely been a drastic decrease in business. He said the restaurant was offering curbside pick-up and delivery, which customers appreciated even though it had not helped financially.

He speculated that the decrease in buying food may have come about because people had been stockpiling food from the groceries and were now cooking from home.

He said none of the staff had been sent home but the rostering had changed. He said staff had always been paid based on the number of days they worked and this continued to be the case, although some staff may now be working fewer days than previously.

Robertson said the staff members being used all had their own transport and this made the situation easier.