A for Assets have committed to follow the safety guidelines and recommendations as set out by the government, as per our coronavirus policy which all our staff have committed to following. Naturally, our core business is doing asset stocktakes in schools and currently school closures is a hot topic. I have just listened to the latest this evening from our prime minister and while it seems at the moment that schools will resume classes in term 2 unless the health advice changes, we have been planning for some time what we will do if they close. Firstly, it may end up being a better time anyway to do the stocktake if schools are closed. Aside from the fact that the equipment will not move around as much during the stocktake, it clearly is easier to practice social distancing with no students there. We only have one person on site for as long as the stocktake takes, not a whole team of people. Of course, this depends on at least some staff being at the school to provide access for the stocktaker. We will be exploring this option in the next day or so and posting updates here. We also think that once things resume after the coronavirus situations subsides, schools will be very busy places and having the stocktake out of the way may be appealing. It may be that whatever reason it is not possible for our staff to access schools for stocktakes however we have a plan for this situation. Naturally we cannot perform our core business function for the duration that we do not have access to schools. I have nonetheless committed to every single one of our staff that we will keep them on for as long as possible, in a reduced capacity if necessary. The physical stocktake done at the school is only part of the stocktake, there is also the associated admin work in preparation for the C21 work. There are matches to do, room registers to update, final lists of releases to present to school council and then action once school council approval is obtained, there are financials to obtain for additions, lists of assets to prepare that need their locations updated as a result of the stocktake, etc. Aside from the odd school being audited who needed their stocktake wrapped up quickly, for most of this term we have only done the admin side of the stocktake that is time critical such as the recording of the stocktake and preparation of the obvious releases. It is our intention to sit about a term behind with this work for the foreseeable future so that if both schools close and we cannot access them for that period, our stocktakers will have that work to do for quite some time. We can also prepare room registers for our upcoming stocktakes and even the schools who are due later in the year. It all needs to be done at some point. We have been very proactive and doing everything we can do to keep every single one of our staff employed including our casuals. We feel it is better if we can still run our business and contribute taxes to the government rather than take handouts as so many are going to be forced to do through no fault of their own. While much of our work can be done off site, the physical stocktake cannot and being able to still do physical stocktakes will clearly enable more much needed work to flow through for our employees. The answer to this of course will be determined by the government policy at the time which can change rapidly as the coronavirus situation changes. Our commitment is to take whatever actions are dictated or recommended by the government to minimise the health safety risk. Finally on behalf of our wonderful staff, our family and myself, we would ask that you consider getting your asset stocktake done as normal if it is due, possible and safe to do so, as that will enable us to operate as normally as possible and contribute to the economy and jobs. More updates will be provided as details comes to hand.
Wes Stecher Director at A for Assets Back to main page