For growers considering supplemental lighting, cost is a major factor to consider, said Dr. Marc van Iersel, a professor at the University of Georgia and co-founder of Candidus, a supplemental lighting control company.
Recently, he hosted a webinar with GLASE titled, ‘Lighting approaches to maximize profits.’ It is available in full here.
Determining cost
GLASE, in coordination with the Cornell College of Agriculture and science, created a lighting cost calculator for supplemental lighting need.
“What this calculator does is show how much supplemental light you need over the course of a year in order to make sure your crop receives 17 mols of light. Seventeen mols is a common amount for growing lettuce,” van Iersel said in the webinar.
Using lettuce production as an example, the calculator outlines two different scenarios for growers depending on if they are growing in a poly greenhouse with an estimated 62% light transmittance rate or in a glass greenhouse with an estimated 70% transmittance rate. While the color-coded maps — which detail how much supplemental light is needed each year for a specific area — are similar, there are differences in certain parts of the U.S., including Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia and South Carolina.
He added that growers in glass greenhouses need less supplemental light because they receive more natural sunlight due to the higher transmittance rate.
“Once you know how much supplemental light you need to provide and you know how efficient your lighting system is, plus the cost of electricity, it becomes really easy to calculate cost,” van Iersel said.
The amount of mols needed does vary by crop. Tomatoes, for instance, have a DLI target of 25 mols. As a result, the map looks different even with the same transmittance rate.
“Tomatoes require more light,” van Iersel said. “It’s a lot more light as compared to lettuce.”
In the coming months, van Iersel said an online calculator for growers to determine costs for their specific zip code, crop and lighting type will become available. Neil Mattson, a researcher at Cornell, has also released a tool to help growers determine their lamp seeds. It is available at hortlamp.com
According to Marc van Iersel, a professor at the University of Georgia, light transmittance rates differ between poly and glass greenhouses.
According to van Iersel, the DLI has been used in greenhouse production for roughly 30 years and is primarily used for lighting recommendations.
“I think the daily light integral and using recommendations based on it is really useful,” he said. “But one thing we’ve been able to show is not all daily light integrals are calculated equally. How you provide that light over the course of the day also matters.”
Van Iersel said this is because of natural light variation. The amount of light and its variations depending largely on a geographic region.
In the webinar, van Iersel compared Elmira, New York, and Phoenix, Arizona. Elmira’s varied greatly due to the changing weather based on the season. In the winter towards the end of the year, for instance, much less light (as measured in mols) was created naturally. So, a grower in Elmira would need more supplemental light. By comparison, Phoenix still saw a dip in natural light towards the end of the year. However, because Phoenix does not have the same winter climate as Elmira, it doesn’t drop off nearly as much. It also varied much less day-to-day over the course of a year.
“In Phoenix, because it is typically sunny all year, there is just must less variation,” he said. “But you still have less light in the winter.”
For growers, that means understanding how the daily light integral is applied in their specific region. In the webinar, van Iersel showed a rudbeckia study where the same DLI – in this case, 12 mols – was applied over four different time frames (12 hours, 15 hours, 18 hours and 21 hours) vs. a control group with no supplemental light. The results showed, generally speaking, that plant growth improved as the photoperiod expanded.
“What we found is that as we go from a 12-hour photo period to a 21-hour photo period, we got a 33% increase in above-ground growth,” he said. “We also got a 22% increase in root dry weight.”
As for profit, van Iersel said the key is to use this data and find the right balance of spending on lighting in relation to pricing.
Take-home message
One other note van Iersel offered is that current research suggests that stability is best when applying light. That means it is better to apply the same amount of light vs. a variation during a growing cycle. An overlooked tool in helping that is using different greenhouse control systems to keep light levels consistent.
He also said it is essential to work with a lighting company that can help estimate various costs and develop a specific plan.
“If you’re working with a company that doesn’t have those resources available, you’re probably working with a lighting company that doesn’t know what they are doing,” van Iersel said.
Methods for mitigating toxicity in fresh wood substrates
Features - Growing Media
This is the second article in a two-part series highlighting the potential occurrence of wood substrate-induced phytotoxicity as well as methods for mitigating those risks.
Fig.1. Crops can be successfully grown in 100% hammer-milled wood substrates once the wood toxins are mitigated and if sufficient fertility and irrigation regimes are supplied.
Photos Courtesy of Brian E. Jackson
Reduced plant growth in fresh wood-based substrates has been attributed to several factors including fertility, irrigation, and most commonly toxins (phytotoxicity).
Evidence of this condition has been published and observed for decades when growing in substrates that contain certain types and percentage of fresh (non-composted) and untreated wood materials.
The wood chemicals (secondary metabolites) responsible for inhibiting seed germination and stunting herbaceous plant root and shoot growth, are vital to the health and defense of trees while standing, but they need to be removed or rendered harmless before being used as a substrate to grow plants. These wood chemicals, known as extractives, are a group of compounds (either volatile or soluble) that vary in type and concentration depending on tree species and origin (region of growth).
Extractives are found in higher concentrations in older trees (thicker bark and more heartwood) than in younger trees (thinner bark) and the amounts in any given tree can fluctuate with different seasons of the year. Additionally, the amount of potentially harmful extractives is higher in tree bark and heartwood compared to softwood.
With these as well as other factors being known, tree species, tree age, harvest season, and the presence of bark should be considered when selecting or acquiring wood feedstocks to produce substrate materials.
Fig. 2. Common machines used to make wood substrate products include hammer mills (A), single or twin-screw extruders (B), and twin-disc refiners (not shown) which produce varying amounts of heat (C-D).
Strategies for removal
Wood extractives, which research has shown to be less harmful to woody plants (rooted nursery liners for example) compared to herbaceous plants (seeds, plugs, transplants), can be successfully removed or mitigated by one of several strategies.
Better yet, once toxins are removed, growing quality plants in 100% wood substrates is possible as seen in Fig. 1.
Note that there are many variables to each of the following procedures that cannot be fully addressed in this article, but more information will be released in the future as research continues.
Fig. 3: Aging of harvested pine logs (A), chipped logs (B), processed wood substrate outdoors in piles (C), or processed wood substrate in totes (D) are all potential methods of mitigating fresh/green wood toxins.
Wood processing method
After feedstock selection, the type and method of processing that wood chips undergo is a critical step in removing harmful extractives.
There is roughly a half dozen commercial machine types used (globally) to produce wood substrate products but three are most common: hammer mills, single or twin-screw extruders, and twin disc refiners. Each of these technologies function differently to reduce/separate wood chips into fibers or smaller wood chip particles.
Each of the methods also differ in their initial set-up cost, operating costs, annual maintenance costs, the range of size and moisture content of wood chips they are able to process, and ability to produce different particle sizes and shapes.
The primary features of the different machines that are responsible for the reduction or elimination of harmful wood extractives are heat generation, pressure, friction, and/or dry or wet processing. Heat and pressure (together or separate) are known to drive off (volatilize) wood extractives into the air. Exposure to a water or chemical solution bath for some period of residency time has also been shown to effectively solubilize certain extractives from wood chips.
Either by one, or both of these factors, wood chips can be refined to smaller particle sizes suitable for substrates and at the same time have their inherent chemicals removed in the process. Let’s take a look how the three machine types differ.
Hammer mills, the cheapest and most common of the methods, are used universally for processing many types of organic materials. Hammer mills operate by pulverizing particles with swinging hammers (or knives) until the material is reduced in size enough to pass through a perforated screen (Fig. 2A).
Wood chips typically need to be dry (under 40% moisture content) when processed in a hammer mill to prevent clogging. During the operation of the mill there is some heat generated, but the amount and extent is mostly proven negligible in significantly volatilizing wood chemicals. There is, however, some minimal chemical volatilization occurring as a direct result of the reduced (smaller) particle sizes being exposed to the air and dried during processing.
The heat that is generated in a mill depends on the moisture of the wood chips being processed, rpms and operational speed of the machine, and time of year of processing. Twin-screw extruders (Fig. 2B) have opposing screws that apply mechanical energy to wood chips which crushes, shears, and squeezes them to separate the wood fibers. During the process the pressure can rise to 500 kilopascals (~75 pounds per square inch – PSI) and the temperature can reach 210 – 230 °F (100 – 110 °C). After passing through the screws, a sudden “relaxation” of friction and pressure creates a steam explosion which results in further tearing of the wood fibers.
The friction heat and pressure effectively volatilize many wood extractives, thus mitigating the phytotoxicity of the end product (substrate) even when used immediately (Fig. 2C-D).
The twin-disc refiner is a large disc mill operating at high speed and pressure (+/- 4000 kilopascals = ~580 PSI) with internal temperatures reaching 220 – 400 °F (110 – 200 °C). This technique often has a water bath phase where wood chips are pre-soaked in a pressurized heated vessel for several minutes before being forced through the rotating discs. In this scenario, there is a solubilization and volatilization phase of the process which are effective at removing harmful wood extractives.
Lastly, the practice of co-refining wood chips with some percentage or peat, bark, or other material has been shown to be effective in further reducing (by dilution) wood phytotoxicity in the substrate material produced. Co-refining wood with other materials can be done with any of the three machine types mentioned above.
Fig. 4: Drying wood products after processing (A), binding toxins with charcoal (B), soaking or steaming (C), or leaching containers (D) are all methods of mitigating toxins prior to or during crop production.
Photos Courtesy of Brian E. Jackson
Substrate preconditioning
These methods are aimed at hammer-mill processed wood products as a result of the lack of sufficient heat/pressure generated in the mill.
Extruded or disc-refined commercial wood substrates have not been shown to need additional corrective measures to reduce toxins.
For hammer-milled wood substrates, aging has been shown to be the best and most effective method of reducing green wood toxins. Aging of wood can occur at different stages including the storage of harvested trees for a period of months prior to processing (Fig. 3A), aging of wood chips (under shelter preferred; Fig. 3B), aging of processed wood substrate outdoors or under shelter (Fig. 3C), or processed substrate aged in totes (Fig. 3D).
Aging, often called “seasoning”, of wood chips in piles for two weeks has been shown to be as effective in reducing toxins as aging whole logs for six months. The season of the year that aging occurs also will affect the duration needed to effectively mitigate the wood toxins due to temperature and rainfall fluctuations.
Aging of processed substrate in totes has received the most research over the past decade with the general recommendation that 4-6 weeks be allowed for the process. Longer periods of time do not negatively affect the quality of the end product.
However, aging large piles of fresh pine wood (sawdust or processed fiber) similar to pine bark substrates has not been perfected at this time and seems to be less consistent, more time consuming, and more variable than other forms of aging.
Preliminary research suggests that processed fresh pine wood substrates can also be dried at high temperatures very quickly to reduce (volatilize) harmful chemicals (Fig. 4A), although the exact temperature and duration needed are not yet fully understood.
Industrial dryers/drying can add an additional cost to the substrates, but based on how cheap hammer milled substrates can be produced, this added expense still makes this a viable economic option.
Other practices that have been explored with varying levels of effectiveness include the addition of charcoal, brown coal/lignite, or pulverized biochar products to wood substrates to bind the toxins, preventing them from affecting plant growth (Fig. 4B). Substrate steaming (pasteurization) in soil carts (Fig. 4C) and substrate washing or soaking in cold and hot water have also been investigated but the results are varied and inconsistent.
Additional strategies explored in reducing wood toxicity include the inclusion of peat, bark, or coconut coir (non-toxic substrate materials) to wood, thus reducing the wood percentage in the final substrate (Fig. 5A). This has been the most practiced strategy over the past decade since hammer milled pine substrates were first investigated (2004 – 2008) to be used at 100%. Since then, the most common wood product inclusion rate has been 20–40%, thus reducing the threat of green wood toxins. Research continues on this topic and is needed before more hammer milled wood products are used reliably and consistently.
Fig. 5: Blending wood with peat (A), increasing fertility (B), reducing wood volume and increasing leaching/drainage (C) are some production strategies tested to grow plants in 100% wood (D).
Photos Courtesy of Brian E. Jackson
Production practices
If fresh hammer milled wood materials (or pine sawdust, though not recommended at this time) are used in substrates without any preconditioning, there are practices that could help reduce plant stunting and other growth defects.
The most proven effective way to reduce wood toxins in containers is to leach them with water. Leaching containers with clear water frequently for a week (or as often as possible without imposing more detriment to the plants) has been shown to be effective in removing the toxins from the container (Fig. 4D).
Leaching of substrate-filled containers with over-head irrigation prior to planting has also been successful for some growers. Experiments have been conducted on various container sizes, leaching frequencies, drainage rates, and limited or stratified wood layers and volumes (Fig. 5C) to better understand how to solve production problems with wood substrates if they occur. Secondary to leaching, doses of high fertility have in some cases been shown to overcome phytotoxicity of young herbaceous crops including germinated seedlings (Fig. 5B).
However, there are conflicting reports as to the role that fertilizer can possibly play in mitigating toxins, as it may be the leaching of the applied fertigation that is actually reducing the toxins. A combination of leaching and increased fertility can mitigate any negative growth, allowing for healthy plants to be produced in substrates with very high wood percentages (Fig. 5D).
As we continue to learn more about practical and cost-effective methods of reliably removing toxins from fresh hammer milled wood, as well as some sawdust and other wood industry by-products, it is likely that these cheap materials will be used more frequently as substrate components. As a result, these developments will drive the increased production of these cheaper wood products across the US (and in parts of Europe) which should keep costs low as a result of limited transportation distance and manufacturer/supplier competition.
And in the meantime, it should be noted that there are several commercial wood fiber products on the market that are toxin-free and available for immediate use.
The author is an Associate Professor and Director of the Horticultural Substrates Laboratory at NC State University. Jackson can be reached at Brian_Jackson@ncsu.edu.
Lauryn Polito
Departments - Student Spotlight
Student Spotlight brings you the perspectives of horticulture students and insights into the future of the industry.
Through career exploration, work experience and input from friends and family, Lauryn Polito now knows exactly what she wants to do with her life — own and operate her own greenhouse.
Polito, 19, is currently pursuing a degree in horticulture, with a concentration in floriculture and ornamentals, at Mississippi State University. But before college, Polito hadn’t yet realized her dream of being a small business owner.
“At the beginning of high school, I thought I wanted to be a physical therapist,” she says. “But after shadowing someone, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do. My mom looked at me one day and said, ‘Lauryn, why don’t you do something with plants?’ Because our back porch is covered with house plants.”
Polito took her mother’s words to heart and knew that it was the right choice for her.
“Going into college, my major was in environmental science and agricultural systems because I knew I wanted to do something involving plants but didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” she says. “After talking to my advisor and telling him I wanted to start my own business one day… he told me to look into horticulture. I thought it’d be the best major for what I want to pursue in life.”
The Trussville, Alabama, native says her classes have given her an even greater appreciation for greenhouses.
“I’ve enjoyed learning about the inner workings of greenhouse management. I actually didn’t know how big greenhouses could be, especially at commercial scale. Gaining that knowledge on the stuff I’m passionate about is great,” she says. “Living in a suburb, there are a lot of greenhouses and plant shops around us and they make me so happy. When I go in there, I could spend hours in there. I can just see myself doing that one day and being happy.”
Polito says that she’d love to incorporate a wedding venue into her future greenhouse so she can do floral arrangements as well.
“I’ve worked at a wedding venue for five years now and it’s one of my favorite things about coming back home from college,” she says. “In my experience there, I’ve gotten to work with a lot of florists and that was another way horticulture interested me.”
Polito adds she loves being around people and being outside, so she also took the time last summer to volunteer at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens as a camp counselor.
“That was really fun,” she says. “It was a week-long thing and I got a group of kindergartners. We’d go on nature walks, and seeing little kids passionate about nature and loving where they were was really cool.”
Before she sets out to start her own business one day, Polito says she’d like to get a research job first in hopes to help end world hunger.
“I’m very passionate about world hunger and have been since high school,” she says. “I want to work with a large organization to help end world hunger and find the best methods to grow sustainable products for vast numbers of people.”
The author is assistant editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.
First and foremost, I hope that all of you and your families — no matter where in the world this letter finds you — are healthy, and dealing with this global crisis as well as can be expected. And with hope for the future.
We are all privileged to work, shoulder to shoulder, in an industry whose mission it is to bring people the sustenance and nutritional well-being that is embedded in what we do. After all, “horticulture” comes from the Roman words for “garden” and “cultivation.”
It’s a noble tradition.
In fact, the idea of controlled growing dates back to the Roman emperor Tiberius, who was able to eat a cucumber every day because his gardeners planted them in wheeled carts, which were brought into the sun daily, and taken indoors at night.
We have come a long way since then, but the principles remain unchanged: Harness the best of technology to give people — not just emperors — access to fresh fruits and vegetables in innovative ways that are proudly defiant of the seasons.
In fact, in the midst of a pandemic when we are all so focused on what we eat and the relationship between nutrition and the immune system, the role of horticulture done right is more important than ever. Whether you’re growing ornamental plants, cut flowers or produce, I know that many of you went to work every day during the lockdown, and afterward, not solely because you had to, but because you took the word “essential” to heart. We all owe you our gratitude.
At Hawthorne, we are here to support you. You, the men and women dedicated to providing the fresh and affordable fruits, vegetables and herbs the world demands, as well as the beautiful plants that enrich our living spaces in a time so many of us are stuck at home.
But that’s not all. You're also committed to meeting these soaring needs in ways that make the most of every cubic foot and square inch, so we can meet the needs of a tomorrow’s global population with an overriding ethic of sustainability.
To accomplish that requires relentless innovation, and that’s something that’s deep in our collective DNA — especially at Gavita. So let’s talk about lighting. I see a future of energy efficiency that goes deeper and further than anything the industry has seen before.
That means strides that optimize spectrum for different crops, using plant-based, genetic insights to bump yields on a crop-by-crop basis, with less environmental impact. It also requires advancing our understanding of “holistic horticulture” — the delicate dance between lighting and everything else a plant needs to thrive. Humidity, temperature, nutrition, growing media and controllers are part of an elegant and efficacious orchestration; working intimately with you, our tech support teams make that happen.
As I write this, the halfway mark of the year has recently turned. None of us could have predicted what we’ve been through, but despite everything, together we managed to produce millions of pounds of the best-grown food the planet can deliver. It’s a privilege and responsibility to have so many people rely on both of us, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sincerely, Chris Hagedorn, General Manager, Hawthorne Gardening Company
Learn more about Hawthorne Gardening Company and how you can get a free lighting layout athawthorne-gardening.com.
Post-pandemic checklist
Features - Management
A human resource guide to normalization of business operations.
Whether your company has 10 employees or 10,000, each will be sued the same way when employment laws are violated. Special consideration given due to the pandemic will not save your organization from being one of those. As we look at re-opening businesses and charting a path toward normalizing operations post-pandemic, how can companies accomplish driving their organizations back to profitability while at the same time minimizing or eliminating the risk of violating employment laws?
We’re covering five keys to normalize operations.
1. Planning
It may have been a while since you last reviewed your original business plan, or perhaps it was just before the pandemic hit with full force. Maybe you recently applied for a business loan (not the PPP or other SBA loan in the CARES Act) before the crisis. In any case, you have documents already created, which outline how you will (did) launch your business. Now, these very same documents will be an excellent guide to normalizing operations.
The documents will merely be a guide, not a point-for-point blueprint, as the environment has changed dramatically. We are in a new COVID-19 world, so further precautions need to be taken. Much of the ideation for your business has been completed, so you will not be starting from scratch. Many of the systems, processes and procedures are already in place. Now it becomes about bringing back the labor force and doing so in a manner that allows for both safety and growth.
Two other documents that are helpful include a disaster recovery and an infectious disease control plan. Many small- to medium-sized businesses are discovering that they never developed these plans, or that their plans were substandard and are now learning the value of such a comprehensive plan. If you do not have such plans in place, it is a good idea to develop them promptly even before operations begin to normalize. Connecting with a consultant may be helpful to have them develop the plan(s) simultaneously with you as you normalize operations. The cost of the service will be offset by the speed at accomplishing both normalization and future plan development and implementation.
2. Operational considerations
When normalizing post-pandemic operations, there are two parts to consider — bringing back the workforce and daily operations. Bringing back the workforce is all about handling the headcount necessary to meet and exceed demand projections when the workforce may currently be working remotely, furloughed or laid off. How do you bring them back?
Just like when you made the difficult decision to reduce salaries, to furlough or to lay off your workforce, once again you must keep cashflow and cash reserves in mind as you now bring back your people. You must remain vigilant about cashflow and cash reserves. It will not be as simple as flipping a light switch on and voila — full operations again. It will need to be accomplished in stages — thoughtfully and mindfully conserving cash reserves and generating cashflow as employees are re-onboarded to meet the gradual increase in demand.
Daily operations concerns include ensuring safety. OSHA requires businesses "to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women." Even if your company has fewer than 10 employees, which ordinarily would not be subject to OSHA, following the steps outlined here may be critical to keeping your employees, your customers, and your community safe from the spread and resurgence of this silent, invisible and deadly virus.
If you already have an infectious disease control plan in place, you may be ahead of the game, and normalizing operations may be more manageable.
3. Staging the comeback
Out of crisis comes opportunity. Business leaders have a chance to revise elements of their business, top-grade talent, bring operations back in stages that make sense and chart an appropriate direction for the company. It is critical to share that vision with leadership and inspire them. As part of that vision, it will be necessary to determine what are the first and critical departments or functions to bring back.
Within each department and function, critical players need to be brought back first. They will be instrumental at laying the foundation to bring back the next group, and then the next group until finally, you have reached a normalization level of headcount to meet or exceed your business plan. Among the first functions to bring back, especially if they have not been involved to this point, is human resources. They will have a huge role to play in guiding the normalization of operations. By protecting employees and customers from exposure, they will decrease or eliminate the pandemic's spread to, or resurgence within, the community at large. In doing so, they would also help reduce or eliminate corporate risk.
Before you bring back groups, build out a timeline. It will look different for different size companies, as well as for various sectors. Growers will have different timelines, departments and functions brought back first than nutrients, plastics and other support manufacturers. Businesses that operate in open fields may have a different plan than those that are exclusively greenhouse. Your automation level may make one department more critical to bring back than another in the first round. The specific operations of your business will ultimately determine the order, departments, and functions, while the business plan, demand forecast, and product/service offerings will impact the timeline.
Let's not forget the importance of plants. Nature has its time constraints that will impact the crops, yield and diversity of the product that will be able to be grown and harvested. For those businesses that support the industry — containers, nutrients, lighting, equipment manufacturers and other suppliers — this will all trickle down through the supply chain. Maintaining close communication up and down the supply chain will help to map a useful timeline and a staged resurgence of your business.
4. Communication planning
The next critical step is communication. The message needs to be planned, crafted and executed at different levels. The first critical level is to the employees you are bringing back. As you mapped out your staging plan earlier, you may have decided that not all of the remote workers need to come back immediately or even at all (or to work onsite, that is). Communications directed to those who will be required to return and work onsite should acknowledge the quality work they have performed remotely during this crisis while providing them a business case for why they are needed to come back onsite. It will be helpful to include contact hours in this communication because it will help ease the transition by setting clear expectations.
Be prepared for some flexibility. There may be much apprehension as employees may not trust, or be comfortable with, their safety. Concerns about catching the virus or a resurgence of the pandemic are real fears that many have. This must be politely and respectfully acknowledged. As a business leader, this will be a time for high emotional intelligence to drive the success of your business and bring about normalization.
The next group will be those furloughed. Furloughed employees are those placed on a temporary but mandatory unpaid leave intended to help reduce labor costs without incurring separation costs like severance packages and outplacement services. These individuals are still on the payroll, may be flagged in your Human Resources Information System (HRIS) as either active or inactive (depending on the process, system and vendor relationships you have) and may have been provided either a defined return-to-work date or specified conditions that, when achieved, would lead to their coming back. This group is the second easiest to bring back. Like those who were working remotely, you will need to define the business case for their return to work onsite and the expectation for hours/shifts.
This group may have had their benefits continued by some businesses. Since furloughed employees maintain their employment relationship and the duration is generally short, medical benefits are often maintained.
If they received a reduced level of income but enough to cover the employee payroll deductions, nothing further needs to be done. If, however, the company has opted to cover the employee portion of medical benefit premiums due to the length of the furlough or significant reduction in pay for the furloughed employees, a decision as to how this will be handled will need to be made and clearly communicated to returning employees. There is no legal obligation for employers to eat this cost and employees should have been notified ahead of time if they would be required to reimburse the company for this cost. Either way, it needs to be communicated when bringing them back. Businesses do a lot that they don't have to do just as a way of caring for their employees. But these are unprecedented times. Cashflow and cash reserves may dictate more about what a business can do differently from what business leaders want to do for their employees. Transparency and compassion are critical.
The third group will be those you laid off and intend to bring back. Important to note is the difference between this group and furloughed employees. A layoff is a full separation from the company, even if the intention initially was temporary. As a total separation, your business may have incurred costs such as severance packages and outplacement services. There may still be notices to comply with relating to state and federal WARN acts (a topic we will address in detail in a later article). Additionally, these former employees will have had their benefits terminated if they had any, at the time of separation.
To bring this group back will be exactly like any new hire or rehire. As a result, you are not obligated to rehire everyone, but you do have to be careful. There are two types of pitfalls to avoid — disparate treatment and disparate impact. Disparate treatment is the most apparent — blatant, outright and intentional discrimination against a protected class. Disparate impact occurs when trying as hard as you think you can, you make a good faith attempt to treat all employees equally and reasonably yet, try as you may, the effect is that one or more protected class is negatively impacted significantly over non-protected classes. To aid in avoiding these pitfalls, consult with your strategic HR professional to craft a clearly defined business case as to why one person or group of people benefitted over others.
Once the group you desire to bring back from those laid off is determined, you will need to communicate with each person to gain their commitment to coming back. A phone call is the best practice to share the news and obtain a commitment. Whether you call first or not, you should also send a letter with details similar to what you shared with furloughed and remote employees outlining the business case that necessitates onsite work (if they will be working onsite), what their hours/shifts will be, and whether any remote work will be allowed. Since this process is the same as any new hire or rehire, you should already have a process and the tools in place to handle this phase. The template you use for an offer letter would be very appropriate as the written notice to bring this group back.
It is crucial that you and those of your team reaching out to all current and former employees remain respectful and demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence during this time. Yes, there is urgency, but you are dealing with people, and many are fearful and hurting — financially, physically, medically, spiritually and mentally. Acknowledge this and be respectful. How you bring employees back during the normalization of operations will say a lot about your character as a business leader, your values and those of the company, and will have a significant impact on retention and the future growth of the business.
5. Is there widespread testing?
There are still many unknowns relating to widespread testing or the availability of a vaccine. Because of this, employees may be reluctant to encroach upon social distancing or even to come back to work. What can an employer do?
First, designate an isolated entrance area through which all employees will enter and a different one where all employees will exit. To comply with fire safety, you may need a couple more separate entrances and exits depending on the size of your business. Be creative. It could be a tent on the front lawn area or a separate room off an entrance to the building. The goal is simply to determine the best we can if someone is infected before they contaminate the rest of the facility and then isolate that individual from those who were already cleared to work or are leaving the premises. As employees enter, standard practice would be to check their temperature. If they are not exhibiting a fever, they can then come into work.
There is a lot unknown about the availability and viability of testing kits. Since they are neither widely available nor highly accurate yet, it is not recommended to pursue testing at this time but keep an eye on this issue as the situation continually evolves. Costs, reimbursements, tax implications, the confidentiality of personal health information, and the qualifications of those administering and reporting the results are just a few of the many considerations that would need to be considered. Regardless of whether more precise testing or only the temperature testing will be conducted, be sure to adhere to existing ADAAA, GINA, HIPAA and other employment laws that protect health information and confidentiality. These are unprecedented times, but the crisis does not take precedence over existing law.
The second consideration is personal protective equipment (PPE). There is no question that the country faces severe shortages of face masks, hand protection and other protective gear, so there is a limit to what an employer may be able to provide to employees. Make every reasonable attempt to obtain as much PPE as possible as quickly as possible, but also to look at what you may allow employees to bring on their own. Some have made homemade, washable masks. You must comply with OSHA if you are have 10 or more employees, so there are specific requirements you may have to enforce. Even if you are fewer than 10 employees, there is a concern about potential spread to colleagues, customers and the community at large, so consider reasonable steps.
The third consideration is social distancing. Masks or no masks, adhering to the CDC's recommendation of maintaining 6 or more feet of separation throughout the workday will reduce the chance of spreading. The type of business, work to be performed, equipment used, ventilation and the like all should be taken into consideration. It may permit for some not to wear PPE while making it mandatory that others do. To the degree possible, if the nature of the work, exertion level and ventilation make it less likely that employees will be able to maintain social distancing guidelines from the CDC or where there is a higher likelihood that contamination may carry farther than the recommended 6 feet, appropriate PPE would be the best solution. Where such is not the concern, PPE may not be necessary.
The fourth consideration is personal hygiene and facility sanitation. In all cases, whether using gloves or not using gloves, be sure all employees are washing hands frequently. OSHA has developed various signage that should be posted in bathroom and washroom areas but may also be appropriate where your labor law posters are kept and in other places around the worksite. Employees should avoid touching each other, even the typical handshake, high five or fist-bumps in celebration of a job well done.
While sanitation supplies such as bleach, disinfectant wipes and other solutions are in high demand with meager supply, look at alternatives. Remember, ammonia is also a disinfectant, just like bleach. You can make bleach solutions but be sure to dilute appropriately. Never combine bleach and ammonia (fumes are deadly when mixed). Many businesses have set-up and take-down processes in place for shift changes or for the start and end of day. If it's not already a part of these processes, add wiping down surfaces and equipment with sanitized wipes or disinfectant cloths. Have maintenance or janitorial teams walk greenhouses, office buildings and other site locations wiping down door handles, light switches and railings throughout the day.
Planning is key to getting your business back to normal operations. If you plan out the gradual build strategically and communicate to each group of employees appropriately, you will have a higher chance of success re-opening the business. Daily operations will have to look different. Cleanliness will be more critical than ever. The extra efforts around set-up and take-down, shift changes and even the daily opening and closing of the office will now need to be built into daily expectations. Signs, postings and enforcement with compassion will help ease the fears many employees have. Taking these steps will reduce the chance of spreading the virus, as well as prevent a resurgence that impacts employees, customers, and your community.
May we all reach a level of business normalization soon and get this economy back on track. Until then, please, continue to keep yourselves, your families and your employees safe and healthy. We are all in this together.
About the authors: Michael Maggiotto Jr. PHR, SHRM-SCP is a senior human capital advisor at BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group, mmaggiotto@bhcagroup.com. And Matthew Pope is the director of business development at BEST Human Capital Advisory Group, mpope@bhcagroup.com.
Chris Manning
