NPEU President to Nonprofit Managers: Move All of Your Staff to Remote Work

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Katie Barrows, NPEU, 360-624-6936, kbarrows@npeu.org

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2020 - Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU) President Kayla Blado issued the following statement in response to the COVID-19 outbreak:

“As the spread of COVID-19 worsens in the United States and the World Health Organization defines it as a pandemic, the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union is urging the management of all nonprofits, union-represented and not, to take the steps necessary to close their physical offices and move all of their staff to telework.

Many organizations have already instituted voluntary telework. This is a good start, but is not enough to protect all workers and their families. As we know, workers often feel pressure to impress their managers and will sacrifice their health and well-being for the sake of their work. Even if managers have good intentions of giving staff the ‘choice’ of working from home, many workers will still come into the office, either because they feel pressured to or because they think they won’t be affected by the illness.

Additionally, organizations must make sure that staff have the resources needed to work effectively without having to pay for expenses out of their own pocket. Employees who have job responsibilities that require them to be in a physical office should be exempted from these duties without a loss of pay and without needing to use sick leave or other forms of PTO.

Experts agree that COVID-19 spreads through social contact. As an epidemiologist explained in The Washington Post, ‘Viruses spread on networks. They rely upon the ways in which we get together and allow infected folks to transmit unknowingly to everyone else. If we can stop that, we stop the epidemic. We just need to cut the links and suffocate the virus.’

Likewise, The New York Times explained that ‘flattening the curve’ by taking protective measures through social distancing is the best way to combat the virus. ‘A packed car — or a packed subway platform — is a great place to spread the virus. But reducing the number of people on the train or platform, by asking people to work from home or to stagger their working hours, enables individuals to stay farther apart, limiting the spread of the virus.’

Even if your staff appears healthy enough to combat the virus, they could have a chronic condition you aren’t aware of that compromises their health. They could be in contact with high-risk family members and others in the community and pass the virus on to them. 

While we wait on policymakers to make the correct public health decisions, your staff and their families are counting on your decisive leadership to keep them healthy. NPEU is urging you to close your office and move all of your staff to remote work, as soon as you can.”