The Czech Republic was hit hard by the pandemic in spring this year, with the highest number of infected per 100,000 inhabitants at one point. Pavel Kocis, Managing Director of Prague-based EMC PR, outlines how they adapted to a new business as usual.

In the first half of October this year Prague resembled the first days of rain following the Chernobyl incident in 1986. I still remember how the streets emptied during that first spring rain as people hid in any niche available to protect themselves from streams of water they suspected were radioactive. The communist regime didn’t officially admit any danger whatsoever, but Free Europe and Voice of America – banned Western radio stations – made sure that all Czechs knew of the danger.

The streets of Prague looked similarly empty after 5 October 2020 when a state of emergency was declared by the Czech government. Schools, shops and restaurants closed. Including pubs – the centre of Czech popular culture. Only grocery stores, tobacco shops, drugstores and kindergartens could remain open. Furthermore, government recommended that all companies should move their employees to work from home.

The majority of people switched to a home office, which initially led to a surge in the workload of everyone in the agency. Clients suddenly had more time for briefings, to resolve backlogs, and demand answers to proposals with near impossible deadlines. However, that quickly changed as they themselves became inundated with video conferences, returning to a usual state of business after some time.

Business as usual in the eyes of different business stakeholders

We soon recognised that business as usual was seen differently by the top echelons. General managers, CEOs, top decision makers, as well as politicians and government officials were still going to the office.

In light of this, we decided to sit down together as an agency to decide whether we wanted to switch to a permanent home office or if we wanted to continue working from the office, albeit with precautions. The team‘s feedback was unanimous in that they didn’t want to work from home and they appreciated social contact more than ever. So, we started taking steps to increase the safety of our staff. We bought reusable FFP2 respirators with nanosilver, which not only filters but actively kill viruses. Everyone also received a disinfectant spray and the office was disinfected with an ozone generator every evening.

Like all organisations, our employees haven’t been untouched by the coronavirus, but none of these have been contracted through the workplace. We don’t have an open plan space and we all sit in rooms with up to three people. Of the handful of cases that have affected our team since the first wave in the spring, we are thankful that all are well and back in the office.

We are not alone in our approach. Many of our clients, both Czech and multinationals, are taking similar steps. Others are taking advantage of our office being open to have more meetings in person. We have also found that, while previously it would take weeks and months to schedule meetings with senior leaders, we can now often get an appointment the next day. Many are pleased to have the opportunity to meet in person and every meeting begins with a discussion about the response to the pandemic and speculation about the economic consequences. This leaves little time for negotiations so they tend to be fast and very productive.

Looking to the future

It’s now winter. The number of newly infected is declining as is the number of newly hospitalised. Kids are starting to return to schools and we hope that restaurants will open again soon.

We wait with bated breath for when we will all finally be able to have a beer together, which is the true expression of Czech freedom. While we lost two clients due to COVID since the spring, the agency is running at full throttle and we have won five new long-term contracts. We may just be lucky, but sometimes it pays to take risks – something that my generation who grew up under communism understands. In any case, taking a business as usual approach to our business has been integral to our success during this unprecedented period.