b'square feet and employs about over 100helped staff to understand that if they full-time people. didnt feel well, that they were to stay When COVID first began there werehome. We were able to offer some addi-a lot of concerns. Obviously, we couldnttional benefits to aid in that as well.just switch all our staff to remote work.Such careful measures have led to People cant just build a lab in their home.long-term benefits for SGS, she adds.So, we had to address that situation rightWe saw a significant decrease in sick-away, Ver Helst says. nesses across the board. Well definitely First, SGS looked to see what jobs itbe relying more on virtual communication could move to remote setups to keepwith clients as time goes on as well.staff as safe as possible. That meantScott and the Seeds Canada team have analyzing each individual role. For thoseseen the same benefits.who had to remain in the lab, safetyI havent been sick and a year-and-protocols were developed in the eventa-half; its amazing what wearing a mask an outbreak took place. and washing your hands more often can We had to ask ourselves what woulddo for you. I find with remote audits and happen if there was an outbreak in ourinspections, Im able to do more than I lab, and what we would need to do incould if I had to travel. When you travel that situation. We ended up splitting ourphysically, you lose a day getting there staff into two separate shifts, which didntand a day getting back home. I can easily have physical contact with each other.see there being more remote activity that That way, if we did have an outbreak onbecomes a permanent part of our job, Amanda Ver Helst. one shift, we had another shift to comeScott says.compensate for that, she says. You cant do it all remotely all the There was a lot of navigating work- time, of course. There are times when you life-family balance. With schools beinghave to be there physically, but virtual shut down and kids at home, our staffcommunications definitely have their had to have the flexibility to manage theirplace in what we do.SWpersonal schedules as well during that time. At the same time, we had to keep our business open and operating at full capacity.But how do you keep a business run-ning during a global pandemic? Having a dedicated team is a crucial, says Ver Helst. WHERE We took a hard look at our businessON THE WEBand where the holes would have been if we would have had an outbreak, what we would have had to do in that situation. We started by following all of the Center for Disease Control measures that had been put in place. We took a look at the daily traffic patterns in our laboratory, where our personnel were moving around, so we could easily track them if we did have an outbreak, she says.Contract tracing was important. WeCheck out our Seed Speaks video interview on this very topic!Jennifer Scott. put mask mandates in place and startedseedworld.com/playing-it-safe-in-the-lab.doing daily temperature monitoring. We 60/ SEEDWORLD.COMJANUARY 2022'