Letter from the Owners

Letter from the Administrator addressing protocol changes for visiting with friends and family.  

Greetings fellow Thomas Allen Team members!

Over the past few months, I have addressed several types of wellness. In this email, I would like to address financial wellness.

Everyone has financial realities. For some, this has really hit home recently if a family member has been furloughed or laid off from their job.

The CARES Act has influenced some changes in 401 (k) distributions, loan payment suspensions, hardship withdrawals and other aspects of 401 (k) plans.

The use of HSA funds has been revised by the government to assist with some of the restrictive burdens to participants. You should stay current with these revisions so that you best leverage their benefits to you.

Things keep changing quickly as the financial impacts to workers and employers are taking a bigger toll. Remember that you have a very comprehensive Employee Assistance Program, access to excellent resources at American Funds for your 401 (k) and a very knowledgeable and caring Human Resources department available to answer your questions and assist with your concerns.

Stay well. Take care of yourselves, your family and your co-workers.

Regards,

Douglas Dempsey-Hess, PHR

Hello fellow Thomas Allen employees!

I am feeling like we are now fully “in it”. Enough time has passed that I am learning to accept that some very significant changes and impacts are going to be prolonged.

During this time, your needs for resources are evolving. The support you and your families need falls into a couple of categories. The most common categories are physical, emotional and financial support. To that end, I have attached a very comprehensive guide that offers many resources across a wide spectrum of topics. I hope you find it helpful.

These are tough times but we are tough people. Please take care of yourselves and each other. Accept the scary emotions and embrace the positive ones.

Enjoy this day!

Douglas Dempsey-Hess, PHR

Employee Resources

A letter of appreciation from the owners.

Our values get tested in the midst of a crisis. This is our opportunity, individually and collectively, to recommit and live out our priorities. One of our priorities must be taking care of ourselves physically to help reduce our stress. It is easier to BE strong when you FEEL strong! Attached is a resource to assist you in taking good care of yourselves. – Douglas Dempsey-Hess, PHR, Human Resources Manager

A Staying Healthy at Home Resource from Human Resources.

How are you doing? Are you beginning to figure out how to adjust to this very challenging and stressful “new world”?

Attached is a COVID-19 resources document distributed by the Minnesota School Social Workers Association. The document has links to community resources, activities for family and students, supporting students mental health needs, serving students with special education plans, and healthy habits and self-care.

Be safe. Keep looking forward. Remain cautiously calm. Together, we will make it through this!

COVID19 Resources

The attached document created by the Health Management team at Associated Bank Risk Consulting includes a number of resources for fitness, nutrition, mental well-being, children activities and more. 

Remember to take care of yourself!! 

Healthy at Home

This link is a 15 minute video from the MN Department of Health that provides prevention strategies, self-awareness & mindfulness, how we manage interactions with those we serve, and how we manage our lives overall.

Self-Care and applying Psychological First Aid for COVID-19 Responders

An update offering clarification on protocols for people who have reduced hours or no hours due to the COVID-19 situation.  The links below include the letter, a corresponding “cheat sheet” defining furlough, unemployment, & use of FMLA benefits, and the leave of absence request form.

Additionally, our Employee Assistance Program is available for employees. All employees have access to the EAP from Lincoln Financial (guidance resources) and employees who are enrolled in one of our Medica health plans also have access to the EAP offered through Medica. Both flyers are attached for your use.

Letter from Human Resources Director

Cheat Sheet on Furlough | Unemployment

Leave of Absence Request Form

Medica Employee Assistance Program

Lincoln Financial Employee Assistance Program

A letter from the Administrator sharing information about Thomas Allen communication and support plan to address the COVID-19 crisis.

It includes attachments to our Disaster Preparedness and Attendance policies.

March 17 Letter from the Administrator

Disaster Preparedness Policy

Attendance Policy

As an employee, if you have been exposed to or diagnosed with COVID-19, we ask that you inform the Human Resource department and your Program Director. For those individuals served who have been exposed or diagnosed with COVID-19, we have asked that the Program Director relay this information to the Administrator, Human Resources and Maintenance. We want to ensure that any/all additional measures are put into place to protect the TA work environment and ensure that we provide staff and the people we serve the support you need.

Returning from Travel via Airplane: Employees are not to report to a work site for 14 days upon return from travel. Employees in this situation can work from home if their responsibilities allow.

Travelling by Car: If you travel to an area heavily infected (a ‘hot spot’) with the virus, TA may impose the same return to work restriction as if you were travelling via airplane. Please consult with your supervisor prior to travelling.

Corporate Office and other Buildings: Corporate Office remains open but no visitors are allowed into the building. Please continue to communicate with Administrative Support regarding the items you need from Corporate. These items will be made available for you to pick up in the entry way. All other office sites have limited to no employees working out of the building. We plan to continue to assess and reduce the number of individuals working out of our office sites.

If the President or Governor calls for a lock down, all employees are expected to continue working.   Essential employees must still report to work. Essential employees are defined as those employees whose managerial or technical expertise is critical to the day-to-day operation of the business.  TA has developed a letter that will be provided to you indicating that you are an essential employee and can travel from home to your work site and back home again.

There are some needed items, especially for our homes, but also for our office locations, that are needed to keep the work environment safe. We are working towards getting data as to what each of our homes need and when they believe they will run out of needed items. We will prioritize the distribution of items based on this data. Extra supplies have already been purchased and/or ordered if they are available.

Asking staff to self-quarantine: What does this mean?
Work from home is not asking staff to quarantine.
Thomas Allen does have right to ask people to self-quarantine after airline use, exposure, symptoms, and diagnosis.
Definition of self-quarantine: to refrain from any contact with other individuals for a period of time (such as two weeks) during the outbreak of a contagious disease usually by remaining in one’s home and limiting contact with family members
NOTE: To reduce transmission of a contagious disease during an outbreak, individuals are typically asked by health officials to self-quarantine following known contact with an infectious person or after returning from a region where cases of the disease are widely reported.

CDC considers 100.4 as having a temperature. Anything below this and above 98.6 is low grade. It is not necessary to stay home in the low grade range unless you have other symptoms.
If an employee has a 100.4 or higher temperature they need to stay home. They can return after they have been fever free without the use of OTC medications for 3 days or 72 hours (normally it is 24 hours).
If you have a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 the following is recommended to discontinue isolation:
• If you had a fever, 14 days (normally it is 3 days) after the fever ends, and you see an improvement in your initial symptoms (e.g. cough, shortness of breath)
• If you did not have a fever, 14 days (CDC states 3 days) after you see an improvement in your initial symptoms.
Note: TA protocol is 14 days to ensure the safety of our workforce and those we serve.
We are not taking temperatures of employees; employees are asked to self-monitor. If an employee does not have a thermometer at home, they can ask to use one of TA’s thermometers.

follow guidelines from CDC and directives from physician regarding testing for the virus. Employees are asked to report all suspected and confirmed cases to the Human Resource department and their Program Director.

Staff that cross train and work for another department will receive their current rate of pay at the site they temporarily work.

Employee Training is now available online. Courses available include:

* Standard Orientation 1

* Standard Orientation 2

* Covid-19 Protection

* Medication Administration

Course access is available via a password protected page at https://learn.thomasalleninc.com/employee-training    You may obtain the password from your supervisor.