Dentaltown June 2020 - 18

WEEK 2
One week into the shutdown, the governor announced an official "stay-at-home order"
encouraging all residents to practice social distancing. With that order in place, I didn't feel
right requiring my staff to continue coming in for their paycheck, so I had the office manager
distribute a message I'd drafted to all 17 employees. I guaranteed everyone their average weekly
wage but wouldn't require anyone to come in to work.
Some days I was alone in the office; others, a handful of employees came in and continued
some previously initiated projects. I started on a mountain of personal side projects-replacing
worn-out outlets, fi xing dripping faucets and shutoffs, installing battery backups for all the
computers and rerouting cords and cables to clean up everything's appearance. I finally got
around to some phone calls I needed to make, including one to a locksmith to rekey the office
locks because many of my staff's keys didn't work perfectly in all of the locks.
Coming off the phone call with the locksmith, I had a new project: Replace the door hardware
myself! For half the price I was quoted, I could replace all the handles and knobs with new ones
sporting that fancy Microban coating. I got to work. You know what else might be nice? One of
those electric door release buttons for the waiting room door! Added to the list and checked it off.
I got a lot of projects done without all that "pesky dentistry" getting in the way. Plus, I got
to head home earlier and spend more time with my kids during the week!
During all these projects, I was getting updates on trends and policies through colleagues
on Dentaltown and trying to make sense of everything I was seeing.

Extended
As we approached the end of Week 2, the shutdown got extended.
I wasn't too concerned about money at that point-I had cash in the office account that could
cover payroll and loan payments for some time-but I was thinking that this situation could go
on for a long time. What was my plan? How low could my account get before I really started
to lose my mind? How long could I realistically continue to guarantee my staff their typical
wage? I said to myself at the start of everything that I wanted to take care of my employees-I
wanted to provide for them as long as I was able to. Like many other Americans, some of my
employees live paycheck to paycheck, and missing one or going on unemployment would be
devastating to their household.
My accounting firm had a web meeting scheduled that weekend to talk about the CARES
Act and how it may affect small businesses financially. It also talked about SBA loans, emergency
grants and the Paycheck Protection Program.
I have new things to consider. What's going to be best for me, my staff and the office
account? There's too much up in the air on exactly what way I should move forward. Is the
bump in unemployment going to be prorated? Are my employees going to end up better off on
unemployment? Should I apply for the PPP right away to limit my financial losses during the
shutdown? I didn't have enough information to make a decision then. Fortunately, I was home, it
was the weekend, and my kids and chores do a darn good job of distracting me from office woes.

JUNE 2020 // dentaltown.com

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Dentaltown June 2020

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