Sydney-based global provider of workforce management solutions, Humanforce, has released a free tool to help retail businesses manage and protect casual employees and the community through the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Employee Trace Tool provides retail employers with enhanced visibility over their casual workforce during any period where COVID-19 may be present in the community. The tool works in conjunction with any source of timesheet or roster data to enable businesses to determine which employees worked on what day and time, in what location, and with who.

“Identifying the presence of COVID-19 and who has been exposed to a known carrier will be critical in helping limit the impact of the virus,” Humanforce founder and managing director, Bruce MacKenzie said.

“Retail businesses have a duty of care to not only their patrons and customers, but also staff to ensure that they can rapidly notify personnel of any exposure so that they can take appropriate action, including self-isolating, if needed,”

“Our aim with this new Employee Trace Tool is to assist all businesses that employ casual workers to make informed decisions in these critical days, weeks and months ahead.”

Humanforce’s Employee Trace Tool will track down anyone who has had contact with an employee who has a positive diagnosis, or anyone who worked a shift where a member of the public was found to have COVID-19, easier and quicker for retail employers.

“Humanforce has made the Employee Trace Tool available for free to any business, anywhere in the world, to support responsible COVID-19 responses, keep casual employees and patrons safe, and minimise the business impacts of this crisis,” MacKenzie continued.

“As COVID-19 spreads, employers of casual workers need to have adaptable processes – facilitating flexible working and shift-swapping, to ensure that they are properly staffed no matter the circumstances.

“Should casual workers find themselves in isolation, having to stay at home to look after school children or fall ill – this can have a significant impact on their employer. Businesses need to have systems in place that enable easy shift swapping to limit normal business disruption. The Humanforce app processes shift-swaps easily online, lessening the burden on employers to scramble to find cover when staff are unable to attend work.”