We don’t need to tell you that these are uncertain times, with each week introducing new challenges as we all work to navigate through the various government and corporate responses to COVID-19.
With New Zealand and Australia reporting cases of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) this document provides an overview of Lightwire’s response.
Lightwire is looking to proactively address the flow-on effects of the global situation that could impact our clients. This will help to ensure that our clients can make well planned and considered decisions relating to their telecommunications and wider business functions moving forward.
Stock Levels
If you have an upcoming order to make with us, we recommend you place the order now, as there may be stock shortages or time delays relating to shipping. We are currently receiving weekly updates from our vendors.
New orders of routers, firewalls or phones may well experience longer lead times as supply chains are disrupted.
Provisioning
If carriers such as Chorus or NBN.co look to limit installations to limit social contact, this will have an impact on order lead times. Orders will continue to be accepted, however, lead times may become best effort.
We are reviewing the risk to our rural wireless installers on a daily basis as well, and at some stage it is very possible that provisioning of wireless services will be disrupted to some extent.
Support
Lightwire has always provided its staff with a well-appointed and connected home office, which means we are ideally placed to continue support and admin functions regardless of whether working from home is encouraged/enforced. As such, we see no reason to suggest that support or admin functions will be impacted.
At a high level, below is an update on measures currently in place as communicated to our team;
- Companywide remote working test: a big part of how we can get through any outbreak successfully will be our ability to continue to work remotely should we need to. We will be trialling a compulsory “remote working day” within the Lightwire team shortly. It is designed as a gap analysis on our preparedness for the whole organisation to work remotely. We understand that Lightwire’s Customer Care and Field Teams are the outliers, so we are working on plans for these team’s preparation.
- Sickness: if you feel sick, stay home. We need everyone as fit and healthy as possible and the spread of any illness will compromise the Teams overall health. This is our expectation irrespective of COVID-19.
- Updates: these will be sent out regularly via email. Please also ensure you are subscribed to and monitor the Health & Safety channel in Teams.
- Travel: At this stage for New Zealand & Australian workers we have approved travel nationally. Travel to countries outside of current approvals will need to be discussed with the head of People & Culture and your Manager as there will likely be travel restrictions that need to be assessed.
- Vaccinations: we are inquiring if we can bring our annual vaccinations forward to ensure that our Team can maintain their strong immune systems and it is not compromised by getting the flu.
- Good Hygiene: continue to practice good hygiene habits. Wash and dry hands thoroughly, using good cough etiquette (into elbow or tissue), don’t put your hands near your eyes or mouth.
- COVID-19 Symptoms & Health Advice: for COVID-19 the New Zealand Health advice and information contact is Healthline Team on 0800 358 5453. Australian workers can call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080. Symptoms include fever, coughing, difficulty breathing. Difficulty breathing is a sign of possible pneumonia and requires immediate medical attention. We don’t yet know how long symptoms take to show after a person has been infected, but current World Health Organization assessments suggest that it is 2–10 days.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Account Manager or email support@lightwirebusiness.com
